Gator Gold Gigablox

Gator Gold Gigablox: Slot Overview

Editor’s note: This review evaluates Gator Gold Gigablox based on its early access state and may still be under development. We plan on giving the game an updated review should the final product be different.

Yggdrasil Gaming‘s Gator Gold Gigablox is the third in the Gigablox range, and each one so far has seen the studio pull in wildly different themes. From Japanese knick-knack shops to Hades‘ cavernous underworld, they’ve been a real whistle-stop tour of diverse locations. For Gator Gold, the developer has shipped their Gigablox mechanic to the warm climes of the African river lands for a whirl. As well as a dynamic reels system, players benefit from free spins, wild multipliers, and some impressive winning potential.

Gator Gold Gigablox has a clean, classic look about it, in part due to an oil painting-like backdrop made up of dry sweeping grasslands, acacia trees, mountains, and rivers. Yggdrasil has also imbued a sense of nobility to the animal pay symbols, each one possessing that wise expression they often have in slots as if they know some secret they aren’t letting on. Visually, there is nothing extraordinary going on. Gator Gold Gigablox’s familiarity links it to other classic games in this part of the world, such as Raging Rhino or even Mega Moolah, though it’s nowhere near as cartoon-like.

Trips to the river lands are possible on any device where players can select stakes from 20 p/c to £/€60 per spin. Stats are decent by most standards, starting with a theoretical return value of 96% and exceptional potential to match. High volatility amplifies the inherent unpredictability of the Gigablox mechanic, and massive symbols appear out of the blue to blow up the grid at any point. Mix in wild multipliers during free spins, and the system can be potent indeed. You won’t have to wait around long between wins either, as hits occur at a rate of nearly 1 in 4 spins, or 23% of the time, to be exact.

Gator Gold’s African action takes place on a 6-reel, 4,096 win ways grid, where each spin reveals symbols of various sizes. As well as normal 1×1 tiles, there are larger symbols of 2×2, 3×3, up to 4×4 in size. As an example, you might have 3×3 sized blocks on reels 1-3, 1×1 symbols on reel 4, and 2×2 blocks on reels 4-6. It switches, so like Megaways, you never know what is going to happen on each spin.

As for the paytable, 6 card royals make up the lower value symbols (9-A), while high pays include zebras, meerkats, wildebeests, cheetahs, and gators as the higher payers. He might look vicious, yet the gator character is pretty generous since he pays out for 2 of a kind while all others need at least 3. Winning combinations of 6 premium symbol values in length range in value from 3.6 to 6 times your stake. Wild symbols appear on all reels to replace any regular pay symbol type to complete a win. In addition, they pop up during free spins, where some come with multipliers attached.

Gator Gold Gigablox: Slot Features

Aside from the headline mechanic, Gator Gold Gigablox isn’t a game with a ton of extra features. In fact, there is just one, Multiplier Wild Free Spins. Free spin symbols are the gateway to the bonus game – 5 or more in view trigger free spins – the amount you win is equal to the number of scatter symbols on the reels. Landing additional free spins symbols during the feature awards +1 free spin each. What changes in the bonus game is that x2 and x3 wild multipliers are added to the reels to boost wins.

Gator Gold Gigablox: Slot Verdict

Gator Gold is a well-made game, but you really need to be into the Gigablox mechanic because there isn’t a lot going on otherwise. The base game relies on the shifting reel dynamic to provide the bulk of the entertainment to the exclusion of just about everything else. This dearth of extras isn’t an instant show stopper though, since Gigablox’s erratic nature does a great job of keeping you on your toes. Bigger symbols slam down every so often to chalk up a decent win, but if you crave variety in your gameplay, even Gigablox can start to wear thin after a while.

It’s good then that free spins trigger at a reasonable rate of every 127 spins, theoretically speaking. If a slot ever needs some sort of device to step up the action, then wild multipliers are a reliable way to go, and they’ve been put to good use in Gator Gold Gigablox. Lining up wild multipliers with some of those larger symbols in free spins can produce potential wins as high as 20,000 times your stake. This makes Gator Gold by far the biggest Gigablox game to date win-wise, far eclipsing the two that came before.

It does go to show that potential isn’t everything, however, and despite nearly double the rewards found in Hades, Gator Gold is far less engaging – even the theme is run of the mill. There’s nothing wrong; it’s just there is none of the curious cultural exploration or delightfully dark atmosphere its predecessors possessed. Gator Gold’s features can certainly perform under the right circumstances, and potential is nothing to be sneered at. Yet, despite the encouraging stats, if you feel the African wilderness theme has been played out or like a bit more variety or innovation, then Gator Gold Gigablox might come across a bit flat.

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