Mining Rush

Mining Rush: Slot Overview

Hard hat time players, software provider Pragmatic Play has heard the call of the shaft and has designed Mining Rush, a slot, which, as the name implies, is based on the bashing of rocks beneath the ground in order to get to the shiny stuff. It's a popular slot topic, no doubt, and a lot of Mining Rush is pretty standard fare. But, it's got an interesting sticky Nugget feature randomly coughing up cash on tumbles and solid stats, so how about we trundle out the mining gear to attempt extracting?

Pragmatic Play might have brainstormed one or two newer features, but the studio seems to have spent less time on Mining Rush's appearance. The gaming grid is a big one, and it's been placed in a run-of-the-mill mine shaft, accompanied by a run-of-the-mill mining character. You know, big-bearded, overalls, hard hat, the usual type. Graphically, Mining Rush has the expected Pragmatic Play shine, but it's pretty bog standard to look at.

Mining Rush's active symbol area is a 7x7 gaming grid awarding regular wins using a cluster pays system. Before swinging a pick around the place, players must choose a stake, and the options range from 20 c to $/€240 per paid game round. Down in darkness lies Mining Rush's highly volatile math model, and if digging around for the highest RTP available, that is the 96.56% version. The game does not have an ante bet, but it does have a bonus buy, detailed below.

As a cluster pays slot, winning combinations are created when 5 or more matching symbols are connected in horizontal or vertical directions. The symbols in the game are J to A royals, a pick, a gold cart, and a miner. Clusters made up of 5 matching symbols award 0.2 to 1 times the bet, whereas the biggest clusters of 15+ OAK award 20 to 150 times the bet. Wild symbols do not land in Mining Rush either in the base game or in free spins. The tumble mechanic spices up gameplay by clearing winning symbols from the reels after they pay out. Each time this happens, new symbols tumble down from above, filling the empty spots and giving players another shot at landing fresh combinations.

Mining Rush: Slot Features

Down in bowls of the planet, the extras to find are tumbles, the Nuggets feature, free spins, and a bonus buy.

Nuggets Feature

When 1 or 2 scatter symbols land and there is at least one winning combination on the spin, the scatter symbols transform into Nuggets. Nuggets appear with a level of 1, 2, 3, or 4 at random. Each time a tumble occurs on this spin, all visible Nuggets have a chance to pay a random cash amount. Each time they pay, +1 point is added to them, and every 3 points collected on a Nugget increases its level unless it is already at level 4. Possible awards are: Level 1 Bronze - 1x to 5x the bet, Level 2 Silver - 6x to 20x the bet, Level 3 Gold - 25x to 100x the bet, and Level 4 Diamond - 200x to 1,000x the bet.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7+ scatter symbols in the base game awards 8, 10, 12, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. When the bonus starts, the triggering scatter symbols transform into Nuggets with a random starting level. Nuggets are locked in position until the free spins round ends. During the feature, Nuggets can randomly pay a random amount of money according to their level each time a tumble occurs.

As in the base game, Nuggets gain +1 point towards levelling up each time they pay. Any scatter symbol landing on a free spin transforms into a Nugget and stays in place for the rest of the round if there is at least one tumble on the spin it hits on. For each new scatter symbol that transforms into a Nugget, an extra +2 free spins are awarded.

Bonus Buy

The free spins round can be bought for 100 times the bet. When buying the feature, 3 to 7+ scatter symbols will land to trigger it.

Mining Rush: Slot Verdict

One thing about Mining Rush is that players are unlikely to feel like they've accidentally wandered down a weird, unfamiliar mine shaft should they load the game up. Mining Rush looks very close to countless of other mining slots and the accompanying miner character is as familiar as the environment he inhabits. There is no need to create a freaky one-off game world in each and every slot, but Mining Rush's universal appearance wasn't the most exciting motivator to give the game a chance.

But, in the spirit of assessment, we plunged on, and what lay beneath the surface was not without a certain amount of fun factor. The star of the show is the Nuggets, and they have the ability to tease or reward. One reason why is that they trigger at random. So just cos you've got a bundle of Nuggets up on the board doesn't mean they're going to automatically nudge out cash just because tumbles are taking place. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Shrugs. What makes Nuggets more interesting is their ability to level up when they have paid out a certain number of times. Randomness still applies to levelled-up payouts, but at least minimum rewards are greater when moving to higher levels.

And you never know, reach Diamond level and those 1,000x prizes might be coming lucky players' way, which would make up a decent chunk of the game's 10,000x win cap. That's a sizable figure capping off what is a so-so game in some regards, not one of Pragmatic Play's showcase releases, but something with enough sticky Nugget novelty to consider digging in the dirt for.