Gold Boom

Gold Boom: Slot Overview

Games Global partner Slingshot Studios has followed on from its stage show-themed slot Rabbit in the Hat 2 by pulling the gameplay out of the magic setting and stuffing it into a mining one. Slightly different stats mean the resulting slot Gold Boom isn't a strict mathematical clone, but for all intents and purposes, it basically is a reskin. And so, we've effectively got the same game presented in one of online gambling's most used themes. Is it time to see if this is a recipe for good times or yawn-inducing stuff?

On a graphical level, there is very little about Gold Boom to go wild and crazy about. Unless, of course, for players who are thrilled to take a punt down mine shafts accompanied by one of those zany, white-bearded, blue overall-wearing, booted prospector types with a big hat and a twinkle in the eye for gold. These sorts of guys really get around. This one has a name, however, Doug Deep, to give him a sprinkle of individuality. The rest is about how you'd expect dressing up Rabbit in the Hat 2 in a fairly generic mining costume might look.

Gold Boom comes in three RTP settings, where the default figure is 96.14%. It is a highly volatile game, bumping around like a minecart on uneven tracks or whatever, and has bet levels of 20 c to $/€40 per spin. Mine carts actually travel along the top of its 5-reel gaming grid, each reel landing 3 symbols and where 20 paylines work out the wins.

Players collect a payout of 1 to 2 times the bet when 5 matching 9 to A card rank symbols line up, or 5 to 10 times the bet for hitting a line of 5 skulls with hard hats, lamps, barrels, picks, canaries, or miner symbols. Dynamite wild symbols are included on each reel. Wilds substitute for all regular pay symbols and are worth up to 50 times the bet if 5 of them make their own winning line.

Gold Boom: Slot Features

If you can find alterations to the features, you might be able to moonlight as a detective, as there don't seem to be any technical changes made to the Mine Carts feature, Collection Prizes, free spins, Upsizer, Bonus Recharge, and feature buy.

Mine Carts

In the base game, 1 of 5 mine cart types may appear randomly above the rightmost reel. A wild symbol must land beneath a mine cart to activate its prize. More than one prize can be awarded on the same spin. On each spin, mine carts move one reel to the left and are removed on the next spin when reaching the leftmost reel and not activating. Mine cart positions, Walking Wild Reels, and any held scatters are saved per bet amount. The mine cart awards are:

• Extra Scatter Mine Cart - awards 1 scatter symbol, which is held until 2 or more scatter symbols land on the reels, triggering free spins.
• Wild Multiplier Mine Cart - awards x2, x3, or x5 wild multipliers.
• Wild Reel Mine Cart - awards a wild reel.
• Walking Wild Reel Mine Cart - awards a walking wild reel, which moves 1 reel to the left per spin.
• Collection Prize Mine Cart - awards MINI or MINOR letters in the base game. Awards MINI, MINOR, MAJOR, or GRAND letters in the Collection Prize Free Spins game.

Collection Prize

Collecting all of the MINI, MINOR, MAJOR, or GRAND letters awards 15x, 50x, 250x, or 2,500x the bet, respectively. In the base game, a MAJOR spin or a GRAND spin may randomly trigger, providing the chance to land all letters on a special set of reels for that spin only. MINI and MINOR prizes can be awarded in the base game and in Collection Prize Free Spins. MAJOR and GRAND prizes may be awarded in Collection Prize Free Spins. MINI or MAJOR letter collection is stored per bet.

Free Spins & Bonus Recharge

Landing 3 or more scatters triggers the free spins feature. Free spins begin with mine carts above all reels, and a mine cart will appear on the rightmost reel on each spin. Before the round begins, a wheel spins to award 1 of 4 free spins features. The feature awarded is the only one that will appear during free spins: 20 Collection Prize free spins, 10 Walking Wild Reels free spins, 10 Wild Reels free spins, or 10 Wild Multipliers free spins. After the wheel spins, players are able to tinker with the options using the Upsizer. Costs for doing so are displayed on the screen. During the bonus, wild multipliers apply to line wins they are part of only, and free spins can be retriggered. Lastly, when the free spins round is complete, players have the option of buying 1 additional free spin for a calculated cost. This may be limited or unavailable while the bet exceeds a certain amount.

Feature Buy

The feature buy is where players can pay 50 times their bet to trigger free spins.

Gold Boom: Slot Verdict

Before launching into cynical, curmudgeonly crank mode, let's say a few nice things about Gold Boom. The conversion from magical stage show to underground resource extraction appears to have been a smooth one. Also, the features and gameplay are about as good as they were before. Yeah, that's about it. Rabbit in the Hat 2 wasn't a slot that razzle-dazzled with unexplainable illusions, and neither, by extension, is Gold Boom. Max win has popped up a notch, however, now hitting 5,650.4x the bet compared to the 5,000x of the rabbit slot.

Gold Boom isn't without a certain amount of charm. Maybe casino game makers purposefully pick mining and the accompanying loveable mining character to make it harder for gamblers to hate on a game when such a familiar face is present. You could come up with all sorts of theories about Gold Boom, though. Like, maybe Slingshot Studios created a mining version of an older game because it was simply enthused by the idea of combining digging in the dirt with gameplay the team really liked. Maybe it was a quick and easy rush job; maybe their Games Global buds requested it. Who knows. One of the few thought processes triggered by Gold Boom was that it's an exceptional game. Passable, satisfactory, maybe, but easy to leave behind buried in the dirt.