Golden Goose Megaways

Golden Goose Megaways: Slot Overview

On one level, the use of fairy tales in slots, since they are often stories told to children these days, is kind of weird. Then again, TV series like 'Once Upon a Time' or movies such as 'Snow White and the Huntsman' goes to show that adults can be entertained by fairy tales as well. Perhaps it's the way fairy tales are ingrained in the collective consciousness that makes them an online slot. Thanks to childhood tales, we all know the dangers of swapping the family cow for beans or building a house out of straw. Climbing beanstalks that stretch into the clouds probably isn't the greatest idea either, but with the lure of riches on the line, some will dare to anyway. Such is the case in Big Time Gaming's slot Golden Goose Megaways, where the Bonus Boy shimmies up a stalk to collect growable cash prizes for players, while in free spins, he does so with the aid of a rising multiplier.

The Jack and the Beanstalk story might have started at ground level with Jack being sent to market to raise funds for the family, but Golden Goose Megaways moves the tale along a few pages. For the base game and free spins, the gaming grid floats up in the sky amidst the clouds, where a gated castle can be found. The famous beanstalk is connected to the left side of the matrix, and it won't take long to see Bonus Boy scoot up it or run back from the castle along the reels, interacting with prizes sitting on their own wee clouds. Golden Goose Megaways lays on a fine enough view, very Jack and the Beanstalk-ish, accompanied by an unusual soundtrack which picks up in intensity during free spins.

Played on a 6-reel Megaways powered grid, each reel lands up to 7 symbols, producing a variety of ways to win, up to a maximum of 117,649. A highly volatile math model has been attached to the clouds and the stalks, while the default RTP comes in at 96.44%. Wagers go from 20 c to $/€30 per spin, with Win Exchanges and a bonus buy as possibilities.

Golden Goose Megaways' pay table displays 6 card royals from 9 to A, then a golden bell, a golden watering can, a golden box, and a golden harp. Payout values for landing 6 matching symbols range from 0.8x to 1x for the card ranks, then 1.25x to 25x for the golden stuff. The wild substitutes for all symbols except the scatter or the Egg. Wilds appear on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 only. All symbols in a winning combination are taken from the reels by the reaction feature and are replaced by symbols coming down from above. Egg symbols are replaced during reactions; scatters are not affected.

Golden Goose Megaways: Slot Features

Up in Golden Goose Megaways' clouds reside prizes that can be increased and collected on the player's behalf. It's a feature that is available in the base game and also in the free spins round, where the collector fellow has an increasing multiplier. A bonus buy and the Win Exchange round the features off.

Cloud Prizes

Sitting above reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 are Cloud Prizes, which begin at 2x the stake. Each Egg symbol that lands increases the Cloud Prize above its reel by up to 500x the stake. Eggs only appear on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Bonus Boy

A Bonus Boy may appear above the reels on each spin or reaction. When the Bonus Boy appears, he may collect a Cloud Prize, awarding the amount to the player. Collected Cloud Prizes reset to zero. In the base game, the Bonus Boy may multiply the Cloud Prize by 10.

Free Spins

In the base game, hitting 3 scatter symbols awards 10 free spins. Any landed scatter beyond 3 awards an additional 5 free spins. Cloud Prizes carry over into the free spins round when triggered by scatters. Also, Cloud Prizes carry over into the base game if the round was triggered by scatters.

Free spins come with an unlimited Cloud Prize Multiplier. The first Bonus Boy to appear has a Cloud Prize Multiplier of x1, the second has a multiplier of x2, and so on. Cloud Prizes are multiplied by the displayed multiplier. It is possible for the Bonus Boy to collect all 4 Cloud Prizes in free spins. The round is extended when 3 scatters land to award +5 extra free spins, plus 5 for any scatter beyond the third.

Win Exchange and Bonus Buy

When winning 80 times the stake or more in the base game, players may exchange 80x the bet for 10 free spins. Or, when winning between 25 and 80 times the bet, players may gamble the won amount for the chance to win 10 free spins on a red and green wheel. Finally, in the base game, players may just straight buy 10 free spins for 80 times the bet.

Golden Goose Megaways: Slot Verdict

Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the more popular fairy tales to wind its way into slots, and you can see why. The golden eggs, the daring, the imagery, it all lends itself nicely to a gaming environment. NetEnt jumped in with the 2013 smash hit Jack and the Beanstalk, as did Iron Dog Studio with Megaways Jack and The Magic Beans, among others. Not trying to be emotionlessly blasé, but these sorts of slots, in some ways, look very much alike. There's countryside, clouds, Jack, a stalk, and lashings of gold stuff. Fortunately, though, they don't all play the same, and Golden Goose Megaways takes this corner of the slot market on a different tangent.

A good tangent? Potentially, but Golden Goose Megaways could also be oddly unexciting. Part of the reason is that, for much of the time, the game lacked suspense. Cloud Prizes are clearly placed on display, and since they were usually low in value, big whoop. Bonus Boy did dart out quite regularly to collect them, but again, big whoop. Admittedly, this situation might very easily be reversed if there are big, chunky Cloud Prizes sitting up above the reels. In that circumstance, every time Jack climbed the stalk or ran from the castle, Golden Goose Megaways might be quite suspenseful indeed.

Never really happened during our test sessions, but hold onto your beans because according to the docs, Golden Goose Megaways is capable of delivering a free spins max win of 150,335x the bet (12,800x in the base game), so there's likely potential for decent hits here. So, whilst the game didn't really get off the ground much at review time, theoretically speaking, Golden Goose Megaways has the ability to lay some sizable golden eggs.