Gator Gold Gigablox Deluxe

Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox : Slot Overview

Hey folks, Yggdrasil Gaming has chosen to upgrade one of their prior slots called Gator Gold Gigablox by whacking a couple of extra bits onto its bonus round. The word 'new' in this case is a subjective term since the biggest change is the inclusion of a symbol upgrade system, the likes of which was made popular by Thunderkick in Pink Elephants. Outside this bonus round, changes are minimal, stats included, but enough to warrant a release with 'Deluxe' added to the title. Let's check it out.

If you have played the original Gator Gold Gigablox slot, feel free to skip this section and scoot over to features to discover the newly added parts. The rest is basically the same as before, meaning a colourful African setting, pretty standard, painting a picture full of acacia trees, grasslands, a bit of water, blue skies, and distant mountains. It's a view that was familiar before and just as familiar now. Some studios go all out to create a visual explosion when doing slots Africa; Yggdrasil hasn't set their sights so high, though Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox is pleasant enough to behold.

Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox is available on any device, offering stakes from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. As before, the gatoring happens on a 6x4, 4,096 ways to win game grid, made random by the inclusion of Gigablox. This device merges arbitrary reels together to create colossal Gigablox reels. For example, a spin might link reels 1 and 2 to create 2x2 blocks of matching symbols, as well as reels 4-6 to create 3x3 symbol blocks. It changes on each spin to keep you guessing. The math model hasn't changed much. Highly volatile, it spits out a win 22.8% of the time, leading to an overall return value of 96%.

Winning in Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox happens when identical symbols land on consecutive reels starting from the left-hand side. You guessed it; the symbols are the same too, so players get 9-A card icons as the low pays, worth up to 1-3x the bet, while highs are zebras, meerkats, wildebeests, cheetahs, and gators worth 3.5 to 6 times the bet for six of a kind. Logo tiles are wild, landing on reels 2-6 to substitute for any of the normal pay symbols.

Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox : Slot Features

The original gator game wasn't exactly bursting at the seams with extras, making the deluxe version feel like a richer experience. As well as Gigablox are wild multipliers, free spins, a free spins gamble, and a symbol upgrade mechanic.

When at least 5 free spins symbols are in view, the bonus round is triggered. Players win 1-3 free spins from each triggering free spins symbol. This time, before the bonus round begins, players have the option to gamble for extra free spins. To gamble, a wheel rotates, and if it lands on the green segment, more spins are awarded, but if it lands on red, all free spins are lost.

During free spins, two things happen that aren't in the base game. One is wilds may land with x2 or x3 multipliers, applied to any wins they are part of. The second is a new upgrade symbol which is present on the sixth reel in free spins and collected whenever they hit. Every 3 upgrade symbols collected upgrades all of the lowest high paying symbols to the next one in order of value. Also, when an upgrade occurs, +2 free spins are awarded. At full power, it is possible to upgrade all of the premiums to the top golden gator tile. One last thing, each free spins symbol landing during the bonus round awards additional free spins.

Bonus Buy

Eligible players can cut the wait for free spins and buy them if said if the option is there. The cost for triggering them immediately is 60x the bet and awards 5-30 free spins.

Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox : Slot Verdict

So is it worth trekking back to Africa to check on Gator Gold Gigablox' younger sibling? If you liked the first one, the answer is a definite yes because the changes Yggdrasil have made are largely positive ones which do not diminish the experience in any way. It's like ordering one of those chocolate-covered soft cone ice-creams and the ice-cream man or woman stabs a free flake into it for you – who's going to say no?

So has the deluxe version killed the original? Pretty much, since there is little to nothing the first one has to offer now that this one doesn't. Free spins are more dynamic, and the symbol upgrade concept adds an extra layer of entertainment when one or two symbols (or more) have been upgraded. When having more higher paying symbols on the board, you'd assume there are better chances of landing higher value wins. Interestingly, however, the overall potential is the same as it was before. This might make the deluxe makeover feel a little redundant in some ways, but the max win is 20,000x the bet, so it was pretty impressive to start with. Now there's just a newer way of possibly achieving it.

To sum up, the upgrades are welcome and add a new dynamic to the free spins bonus round. These are extras that wouldn't have gone amiss in the first non-deluxe Gator Gold game, though, which did feel a little thin in regard to features. Since everything else has basically stayed the same, Gator Gold Deluxe Gigablox ends up being something like a 1.7 release rather than a full 2.0.