Gerard’s Gambit

Gerard's Gambit: Slot Overview

Here's a new one. Slots might have been called many things, but educational? That's not an adjective you come across every day in conjunction with online gambling. This could all be about to change, sort of, if Play'n GO has any say in the matter. The reason why is that the studio has labelled its release Gerard's Gambit an 'educational video slot machine', and it's unlikely you've seen so many destinations packed into one game. Gerard's Gambit is an unusual slot all around, which gets bigger and bigger as it progresses through 10 levels, each level offering a specific reel set and features. Let's see if we can make some sense of it.

In the beginning, Gerard's Gambit starts with a 3-reel, 1-row matrix with 2 different symbols and 1 payline in the middle of the screen. The location is Gerard's Mansion, but clearly, Gerard isn't content sitting by the fireplace reading first-edition versions of classic literature while enjoying some pipe smoke, maybe blowing a smoke ring or two. Cast your eye to the top of the screen where Gerard's, though really the player's, challenge is displayed. Complete the challenge, and Gerard's Gambit progresses to the next level and the next destination. Clicking on the globe icon lets players inspect the map.

As the levels progress, the gaming panel increases as well, though it doesn't get particularly large. At maximum size, Gerard's Gambit is played on a 5-reel, 3-row gaming panel with 10 fixed paylines and 12 different symbols. It's a medium volatile game (rated 5 out of 10), and with six RTP configurations, the highest is 96.2%. Players are able to select bets as low as 5 p/c up to $/€100 per spin to take part in a sort of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on the reels type experience.

Certain symbols change appearance depending on the current location; others, like pay symbols, remain more or less the same, though the number of them on the reel strips also changes, location dependent. For example, Level 1-2 has 2 low pays and 1 high pay worth up to 2 to 30x the bet, Level 2-3 has 3 low pays, 2 high pays worth up to 1 to 15 times the bet, and level 5-6 has 4 low pays, 3 high pays worth up to 0.4 to 6 times the bet. Till now, the grid is limited to 3 reels wide. Upon reaching Level 7-10, the grid opens up to 5 reels wide and contains 5 low pays, 5 high pays, awarding 2 to 20 times the bet for a 5 OAK hit. From level 2 onwards, wilds appear on the grid, present on all reels, and are able to substitute for all pay symbols.

Gerard's Gambit: Slot Features

Gerard's Gambit's 10 locations are – Gerard's Mansion, Egypt, Mexico, Greece, India, Egypt, Mexico, Greece, India, and back to Egypt again. Each level layers on features and is joined by 3 extra gamble options for good measure. In order, each Level goes like so:

• Level 1 (Gerard's Mansion): no extra feature.
• Level 2 (Egypt): Wild symbols make their appearance.
• Level 3 (Mexico): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins.
• Level 4 (Greece): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin.
• Level 5 (India): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Bonus symbols may land on reel 2 to award 20x the bet.
• Level 6 (Egypt): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Scatter symbols may land on reel 2 to award 5 free spins. Wild symbols stick during free spins.
• Level 7 (Mexico): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Bonus symbols may land on reel 2 or 3, and 2 of them may award 20x, 60x the bet.
• Level 8 (Greece): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be triggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Scatter symbols may land on reel 2 or 3, and 2 of them trigger 5 free spins. Wild symbols stick for free spins and landing a scatter awards +1 free spin.
• Level 9 (India): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Bonus symbols may land on reels 2, 3, and 4 and 3 of them may award 20x, 60x, 100x the bet.
• Level 10 (Egypt): Re-spins trigger with 2 or more wilds. Wilds stick during re-spins. Re-spins can be retriggered by landing additional wild symbols during a re-spin. Wins are evaluated on each re-spin. Scatter symbols may land on reel 2, 3, or 4 and 3 of them triggers 5 free spins. Wild symbols stick for free spins, and landing a scatter awards +1 free spin. Wild symbols expand on their reels.

Gamble Feature

The gamble feature comes with 3 options. One is a coin flip where correctly guessing heads or tails doubles the prize. Up to 3 flips are allowed for a maximum of 8 times the win. The next gamble option is the multiplier wheel, where a winning segment awards a 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, or 10x win multiplier. The last is Hi-Lo, where players may guess if the next card is higher or lower than the current one. Correct guesses double the prize – this can be done up to 2 times. The overall gamble limit is 500x the bet.

Gerard's Gambit: Slot Verdict

Gerard's Gambit is the sort of game that would make Phileas Fogg envious. The lead character in Jules Verne's classic novel hit like 9 countries in 80 days, whereas in Gerard's Gambit, players get the chance to journey through 10 levels. And unless players are really unfortunate, they shouldn't need anywhere near as many days to do so. Though, many levels are repeat visits, so maybe they don't all count? Whatever, making it through all 10 levels means a significant amount of travelling, but it's sort of like cruise ship travelling where passengers make half-day tours of the ports they pull into. Still fun, of course, but it must be tricky to soak up all the local culture in a few hours.

Back to Gerard's Gambit, where there are, broadly speaking, two ways of taking it. Well, three, if you count utter ambivalence. One is that Gerard's Gambit is an excellent trip around several popular tourist destinations, completing objectives, levelling up, getting more symbols, reels, paylines, and expanding bonus features along the way. The journey is accompanied by a suave gent with some sort of personal gambit in play. Players get plenty of opportunities for gambits of their own, courtesy of a trio of optional gambling extras. Quite a feast for post-win gambling proponents.

On the other side of the argument are those that may find Gerard's Gambit a little over-fiddly, perhaps unnecessarily so. Okay, the objectives required to progress through the levels aren't especially tough. For example, Level 1's goal is, 'Accumulate 3 wins!' so it's not exactly a Dark Souls level event. It's not the highest potential slot, though, and should the gambit pay off, players can win up to 3,000x the bet. Colossal wins aren't Gerard's Gambit USP, though. The satisfaction of completing goals and moving through the levels is the name of the game around here. If that suits, then here is a rather unique form of online slot gaming to try. On the flipside, if the singular structure doesn't appeal, then Gerard's Gambit might feel like a whole lot of travelling to get nowhere in particular.