Bullion Xpress

Bullion Xpress: Slot Overview

When trains hit the scene, they absolutely transformed travel and were one of the critical drivers of the Industrial Revolution - never before could people and goods travel so far, so quickly. These days, trains are no major deal; they make up part of the background of life, they're there. Still, there's something romantic about train travel, well, some train travel, maybe not the sardine-can crush commute to work. But, thundering along wide open vistas in comfily appointed seats, pulled by a mighty locomotive, is not without its charm, and this romantic angle is played up in developer Play'n GO's online train slot Bullion Xpress.

Considering just how big a country like America is, getting from one side to the other had to be a lot more comfortable from a train seat than bumping along a barely there road on a wagon. America appears to be where Bullion Xpress is located as a locomotive steams through a rocky, parched landscape, and a bushy moustachioed railroad tycoon guards the M-Counter. Gold quite literally lies all over the place as if Fort Knox popped and rich stuff erupted across the countryside. The music is as jolly as you like, helping make Bullion Xpress an optimistically presented train game, where the focus isn't just on choo choo trains but on grabbing gold, oodles of gold, on an anything goes frontier.

Bullion Xpress' game grid is a 6x3 play area with just 10 paylines evaluating winning combinations. The game's volatility sits in the medium-high spectrum, with a 7 out of 10 rating, and an RTP of 96.29% is the most generous configuration. Stakes of 10c to $/€100 may be picked, and that's it for betting selection and primary stats, all aboard.

Cards with spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts, and stars printed on them are the lower pays, awarding 3x to 5x the bet for 6-of-a-kind, while rings, pocket watches, loot bags, piles of gold, and safes are the high pays, worth 25x to 100x for 6-of-a-kind. Wilds appear on all reels, substituting all symbols except scatters.

Bullion Xpress: Slot Features

Rolling up on the features track, we've got the M-Counter, the Fortune Frenzy, and a Bonus Blitz round.

M-Counter

All symbols except scatters may land with a multiplier of x2 to x25 attached to them. All of these multipliers are collected by the M-Counter before wins are evaluated, and the total value multiplies all wins in the current spin (not including additional rounds from the Bonus Blitz). The M-Counter resets every round.

Fortune Frenzy

A train continuously moves above the reels, and on every spin without a win, there is a chance to trigger Fortune Frenzy. When activated, the train stops and the conductor awards the sum of four railcar values from the train. Bronze railcars are worth 1x-4x, Silver railcars are worth 5x-8x, Gold railcars are worth 9x-12x, and Mystery railcars have a value of 4x-10x. If multipliers have been collected by the M-Counter on the same round, the Fortune Frenzy win is multiplied by the M-Counter.

Bonus Blitz

Scatters are present on all reels except the leftmost and rightmost reel, and hitting 3 or more of them triggers the Bonus Blitz. The bonus round is played on a grid with 8 columns and 2 rows, located in a charmingly respectable urban port of call. Players win 3 or 4 respins when triggered by 3 or 4 scatters, respectively. Each round, the train moves left to right while the row beneath it moves right to left. Both rows stop on each respin.

The goal is to land multipliers in the row below the railcars. Landed multipliers multiply the value of the railcar above it to create bullions, which are collected. Only railcars with multipliers below them award their value. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Mystery railcars have values of 1x-4x, 5x-8x, 12x-18x, and 4x-16x, respectively. Landing multipliers below a Respin railcar awards extra respins, lengthening the bonus. The amount of respins awarded is equal to the value of the multiplier. Possible multipliers in Bonus Blitz are x1, x2, x3, and x5, while respins are capped at 20.

Bullion Xpress: Slot Verdict

All aboard? Well, maybe not all, but there is entertainment to be had here for the right train spotter. Bullion Xpress is a slightly peculiar slot, from the grid set-up in the base game to the singular bonus round. 10 paylines seems unusual for a 6-reel game, though some of the high pay symbol values are on the chunkier side, plus there's the M-Counter multiplier to factor into the bargain as well, meaning it is possible, technically, to forge a decent result in the base game. If not, well, non-winning spins may trigger a prize from the Fortune Frenzy, as well, though these seemed to be rare while reviewing the game.

At times, bonus round activations seemed to be more frequent, and the Bonus Blitz is a bit different. The feature is essentially played on two rows, one of railcar prize values, one of blank spaces and multipliers, with the empty containers that fill with bullion beneath them provided as a cosmetic effect only. Occasionally, the round could surprise, when a load of multipliers hit, multiplying railcar values and filling up the containers with rich stuff. Never to any extraordinary extent, but Bullion Xpress' 6,000x max win means this ride can theoretically go places. Triggering extra respins is probably going to be a big help, since players are only awarded three or four respins at the start of the feature, which isn't a lot of room to manoeuvre in.

By the end of the review, Bullion Xpress came across as a bit gimmicky in some ways, but it is different, and offers railway enthusiasts alternative ways to potentially win a bit of bullion as they enjoy a bubbly celebration of steam in a golden age of rail travel.