Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode

Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode: Slot Overview

Some slot themes continue to endure, even when the last drop of blood had been squeezed out of them by a Fireball Tool Hardtail many moons ago. Mining is one, and software providers just can't resist leading gamblers underground on a hunt for nuggets. In this instance, developer Red Tiger is having a turn. The slot it has come up with is Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode, the third title in its Dynamite Riches range. The series is synonymous with unlocking features by collecting wild bundles of dynamite, except this time, the game can drop super versions of the features as well as those of the regular variety. There is also a super version of free spins, but will it be enough to breathe new life into a well-worn theme, or is it just another day down the digital mines?

Seen one mining slot, you've kind of seen them all, though developers put their own little touches here and there to help players tell these games apart. In The Mother Lode, we're underground, in a mine chock full of gleaming, sparkling gold rammed into the walls and lying on the ground, in a veritable mother lode of the stuff. The obligatory bearded miner guy is here too, so while Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode ticks the required mining slot visual boxes off, it doesn't do much that players acquainted with this type of game won't have seen before.

The original Dynamite Riches was played on a regular 5-reel, 20 payline grid, before mushrooming into a Megaways game for the second release. The Mother Lode settles back down on a 6x4 matrix, where there are 4,096 ways to win. The game has a progression feature which is tied to the bet level, so keep that in mind when picking a stake of $/€0.10 to $/€20 if you're planning to stick around for a while. The math model produces an RTP of 96.17% that can change when buying features and is highly volatile.

On the pay table are clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades, all awarding 0.8x for 6 OAK, then oil cans, lamps, helmets, bags of gold, and miner symbols. Landing 6 matching premium symbols pays 1x to 5x the bet. Wilds, whatever form they take, substitute all symbols on the pay table.

Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode: Slot Features

Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode sticks to the progress feature that the previous two had, which unlocks four different features. This time, there are super versions of the features, as well as a super version of the Gold Spins round.

Progress

Dynamite Wilds land on reels 2-5, and are collected by the progress bar. It takes 15 wilds to fill the bar, and once full, a new feature is unlocked. There are four in total, unlocked in this order:

• Remove Symbols - All card suit symbols are removed for the current spin. The super version removes suits and the oil can.
• Golden Wilds - Between 2 and 5 Golden Wilds land on the 4 middle reels. The super version adds 4 to 8 Golden Wilds.
• Multiplier - A compass spins to apply a win multiplier of x2 to x10 to the next win. If the multiplier triggers again before being used, it adds its new value to the existing one. The super multiplier awards a value of x5 to x25.
• Mega Wild- Up to 4 Mega Wilds may land on the 4 middle reels. Mega Wilds cover the whole reel and have a symbol multiplier of x4, indicating the number of symbols the wild counts for. Super Mega Wilds have a symbol multiplier of x5 to x10.

When a feature triggers, a blue light indicates a regular feature, a red light indicates the super version. After a feature is unlocked, a regular version of it is triggered on the next spin. The regular and super versions of the feature can randomly trigger from then on.

Gold Spins

Landing 3 Gold Spins scatters awards 7 Gold Spins. Should 3 scatters land during the feature, players get an extra +3 free spins. Landing 4 scatters during the round awards +3 spins and upgrades the bonus to Super Gold Spins. If Gold Spins trigger with an active multiplier, it is transferred to the bonus. During Gold Spins, features trigger more often.

Super Gold Spins

Landing 4 Gold Spins scatters awards 7 Super Gold Spins. If 3 or 4 scatters land during this feature, players get an extra +3 or +7 free spins, respectively. The same rules apply for the transfer of multipliers as in Gold Spins. During the Super Gold Spins round, features occur more often, and only the super version may trigger.

Feature Buys

Four features may be bought in Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode. The Mother Lode costs 6x the stake to have 10x the chance of getting features and super features, while Gold Fever at 2x provides 5x the chance of triggering Gold Spins and Super Gold Spins. Gold Spins can be bought for 100x or Super Gold Spins for 250x the stake. When buying features, the game enters a state where all features are unlocked. The current state is saved and restored when buy mode is exited.

Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode: Slot Verdict

Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode felt a bit like taking a familiar formula, tightening a few bolts, then sending players back underground with a larger stick of dynamite. The series started on a cosy grid before getting stretched by Megaways, and has now chosen to settle on a stable, 6x4 matrix, while sticking to the feature unlock pattern that drove the previous two titles. Red Tiger does love a persistent progression feature, and that hasn't changed. Casual spinners popping in for a few rounds of Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode are at a disadvantage, since it takes time to collect those Dynamite Wilds to unlock features. For the record, all four were released in approximately 350 spins during our test session, though someone could well take more or less time in their own session.

Sitting back to unlock stuff might be just the thing for armchair miners to enjoy, or not, depending on how worn out or enthused they are about mining slots. In the grand scheme of things, The Mother Lode doesn't unearth a lot that wasn't already there, but it has played around with certain elements to evolve the series. Three things stand out. One is substantially increased winning potential of 20,000x the bet, which puts the other slots deep in the shade. The other is feature buys, which were something Red Tiger wasn't really into when the previous Dynamite Riches came out. And the last is the super versions of features, which are able to add more juice than their less desirable regular counterparts.

Even with those additions, The Mother Lode never quite pushes itself beyond simply being a shiny entry in an overcrowded genre. The base game can drift, and doesn't really pick up until all four features are in the bag, which might take a while. Having super versions should be good enough to draw returning players back for a look, and the numbers backing everything up are fairly strong. Dynamite Riches The Mother Lode may not strike gold in terms of innovation, but it delivers a reasonably entertaining blend of progressive mechanics, super features, and bigger potential that should satisfy gamblers already invested in the series.