The Goat

The G.O.A.T: Slot Overview

Back in the day, being called a 'Goat' in sports was not a great thing. The word was sometimes used to describe athletes messing up at the worst time in a game, typically contributing to their team losing. Then in 1992, Lonnie Ali established Greatest of All Time Incorporated, or GOAT Inc, to license superstar Muhammad Ali's intellectual properties. In 2000, LL Cool J dropped an album titled G.O.A.T., inspired by the boxing legend. The term was further cemented in the public consciousness after American Football star Tom Brady appeared in GQ magazine holding a baby goat, and the word entered the Merriam Webster dictionary.

That leads us to The G.O.A.T from Blueprint Gaming, which is not sports-related. Instead, The G.O.A.T has an unusual blend of wealth iconography, snow, and of course, goats. One goat really, who appears in a variety of forms on the game board and appears to own the property where the game is located. The clue here is the big 'G' he's put on the roof of his chalet, which can be seen to the left of the screen, while the rest of the view is a winter scene on a mountainside, as snow falls, covering the surrounding trees. It's a weird mix of different things, but The G.O.A.T has the right amount of sass and gameplay to make it all work.

The G.O.A.T also has a Big Time Gaming feel about it as well, in part due to the layout of the game grid, which uses 6 reels, displaying 4 symbols each, and an upper bonus reel holding 4 silver or gold multiplier symbols. Unlike the Megaways mechanic, however, the number of symbols on the reels never changes, so players get a fixed 4,096 ways to win at all times. Medium to high volatile, any device is suitable for getting your GOAT on, where stakes of 10 p/c to $/€100 may be set.

At least three matching symbols in adjacent reels from the left-hand side creates a winning way, and there are ten pay symbols on hand. The first six are 9-A card ranks, paying 0.4-0.8x the bet for six of a kind, whereas the four premium symbols are gold watches, sports cars, jet planes, and the goat as the top symbol. Landing a full line win of six high-value symbols gets you a payout of 1 to 10 times your stake. One more regular symbol to close this section is the regular wild, which substitutes for any of the normal pay symbols to help complete wins.

The G.O.A.T: Slot Features

The G.O.A.T keeps players busy with a bunch of features, including The G.O.A.T Symbol, three special symbols, a Bonus Activation collection feature, a bonus gamble, and two free spin rounds to choose from.

The G.O.A.T Symbol

The G.O.A.T symbol appears on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5 and reveals either X Wilds, X Wins, or Diamond symbols. The multiplier value above these symbols on the top reel is added to them. On the main grid, X Wilds expand to become full reel multiplier wilds, whilst X Wins multiply any wins in view, and the value attached to any Diamonds is added to the Bonus collection meter.

Bonus Activation

Collecting 100 or more Diamond symbol values allows players to pick one of 2 bonus games, which comes with 10 free spins. However, before the meter is full, hitting certain collection points lets players gamble what they have collected. Successful gambles trigger free spins, while unsuccessful gambles start the meter from zero again. The two bonus games on offer are:

• X Wild Free Spins - If the golden X Wild symbol is revealed during this feature, it expands to cover the whole reel and is locked in place for the remaining free spins. Each golden X Wild revealed also adds +1 extra spin. Free spins can be retriggered by filling the diamond meter.
• X Wins Free Spins - During this bonus round, when X Wins symbols are revealed, they multiply any wins in view and add their value to a global win multiplier for the remainder of the feature. Any revealed golden X Win symbol awards +1 spin, and the bonus is retriggered when the Diamond meter is filled.

G.O.A.T Bet

These will be jurisdiction dependent, and where available, give players two betting options. Activating the Increased G.O.A.T Chance option increases the stake by 25%, whilst also increasing the chance of hitting G.O.A.T symbols. The second option is buying free spins. The cost of doing so depends on how many Diamonds have been collected in the meter. If the meter is empty, the cost to fill it is 81x the base bet.

The G.O.A.T: Slot Verdict

The G.O.A.T was a little bit like playing Relax Gaming's Iron Bank and, by extension, Beast Mode, though not so much the latter. The reason why is the colourful goat character and the stack of features Blueprint Gaming has added in. Speaking of which, it feels like Blueprint might have turned a corner in game design recently, or at least, they're going through a sort of modernising experimental phase. The G.O.A.T and the one before it, Viking Fall, are two examples of the studio deviating away from the more 'regular' Blueprint experiences we've come to expect. However, Viking Fall was an obvious copy of ELK's Gold range of slots, but hey, change often occurs in small increments.

The G.O.A.T is more of its own beast and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. There's a Megaways vibe going on, though, as an evolution of the format rather than an imitation of it. The features have been nicely balanced as well, the Diamond collection system provides a visual goal to work towards, and The G.O.A.T symbol keeps the base game alive. More so, theoretically, if you're okay with spending a bit extra per spin via the G.O.A.T Chance. Even buying free spins to sidestep the collection process comes with a reasonable price tag. Both bonus games have their merits for sure. The X Win growing multiplier can reach impressive proportions, and the sticky wild multiplier, while rare, can certainly be useful. Wins are capped at $250,000 or 50,000x the bet (whichever comes first). While you can likely forget about landing anything even remotely close to 50,000x, The G.O.A.T does pack the sort of features that can perform.

The G.O.A.T might not be the actual GOAT, but there is plenty to commend it. As well as the absorbing gameplay, the confident alpha-goat in designer label lederhosen-ish apparel gives the game a charming individuality, all adding up to a neatly playable slot.