Wolf Gold Ultimate

Wolf Gold Ultimate: Slot Overview

North American wildlife slots are a dime a dozen these days, and players are likely to be well acquainted with what the theme has to offer. One of the drivers for this slot style's popularity is surely Wolf Gold, Pragmatic Play's contribution to the venerable genre, which joined the wolves and the moons with a respin feature and free spins dropping GIANT symbols. Since then, the studio has dabbled with Power Jackpot, Dice, and Scratch Card versions and has gone into full revamp mode to make a Wolf Gold Ultimate edition.

Wolf Gold came out in 2017, and it shows, but Wolf Gold Ultimate isn't exactly a technologically advanced-looking slot, either. Perhaps that's on purpose, since theme-wise, Wolf Gold Ultimate is all about experiencing the great outdoors away from busy, modern living. Out here are the soaring cliffs, sparse plant life, rocks, wide-open skies, and wildlife this slot genre is famous for. Wolf Gold is one of the more popularly well-known examples of this style of gaming, so the chance of playing Wolf Gold Ultimate might get a few hearts a-racing.

In the bonus round, Wolf Gold Ultimate drops numerous gaming grids on players, but in the main game, it's always just one 5-reel, 3-row matrix driving the show. Crossing the grid are 25 paylines awarding money for landing winning combinations from the leftmost reel onwards. A medium volatile math model has been programmed in, producing a maximum RTP of 96.57%, while 25 c to $/€250 can be staked per spin. For an extra 60% on top of the bet, the ante bet may be activated, which doubles the chance of triggering the Money Respins feature.

Classic casino J to A card royals are Wolf Gold Ultimate's low-pay symbols, paying out 2 times the bet for a 5 OAK hit. Following them are cougars, horses, eagles, and buffaloes as the highs, awarding 8x to 20x for a 5-matching symbol combination. Wilds hit on all reels and substitute for all symbols except Money symbols. Wilds have the same value as the buffalo if making wins of themselves.

Wolf Gold Ultimate: Slot Features

Like a gangrenous limb, Wolf Gold Ultimate has hacked off the free spins with Giant symbol feature and used the extra space to beef up its Money Respins round.

Money Symbol

Money symbols can land on any reel. When they appear, they do so with a bet multiplier of 0.4x to 15x, or the 20x Mini, 50x Minor, 100x Major, or 1,000x Grand prize.

Money Respins

Landing 6 or more Money symbols anywhere on the reels in the main game triggers the Money Respins feature. Money Respins are played on three 5x3 grids and one 5x1 grid. However, in the beginning, just a single 5x3 grid is active. The round starts with 3 respins, and each time a new Money symbol hits, the respins count returns to 3. All landed Money symbols stay locked in position till the bonus round concludes.

Hitting 9 Money symbols on the first grid unlocks the second grid. Landing 18 Money symbols on the first two grids unlocks the third grid, and hitting 32 symbols on the first 3 grids unlocks the final 5x1 grid. On the 5x1 grid, Money symbols can have special values:

• Collect - collects Money symbol values from the same reel it lands on from all grids. If other Money symbols land on the reel on future respins, it collects those values, too.
• Plus Cash - adds a value of +3x to +15x to all Money symbols on the same reel on all grids. Does not apply to the Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand.
• Multiplier - hits with a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, or x5, which applies to all symbol values on the same reel on all grids.

The Money Respins round ends when there are no respins left, or all grid positions are filled, then all in view Money symbols award their values.

Feature Buy

The Money Respins feature can be bought from the main game for 80x the bet. When bought, 6, 7, or 8 Money symbols land to trigger the round.

Wolf Gold Ultimate: Slot Verdict

Ultimate? Hmm, debatable. Wolf Gold Ultimate remains pretty close to the original Wolf Gold, though, with a somewhat juiced hold 'n win round and sans Giant symbol free spins feature. Presumably, free spins have been chopped out of the picture to direct more of the RTP at the respins feature. In the older game, free spins were a nice counterweight, offering a bit of variety, and Giant symbols covering the middle three reels were eye-catching. No biggie, but the feature might be missed by some fans of the first. Not so much if you're of the opinion that hold 'n wins are all.

By the same token, there are hold 'n wins, and there are hold 'n wins. Wolf Gold Ultimate's Money Respins feature might have special symbols if you can make it to the 5x1 fourth grid, but this is no Money Train game, nor was it likely ever meant to be. Despite the inclusion of the Multiplier, Plus Cash, and Collector, Wolf Gold Ultimate's Money Respins are still quite basic, dry white toast gaming. Land you a Money symbol, collect its value at the end. Neato. The 1,000x Grand is a possibility, and at full pop, Wolf Gold Ultimate's 5,000x win cap is double the winning capabilities of Wolf Gold, so that's something. Furthermore, where Wolf Gold's max win had a 1 in 5 billion chance of occurring, Wolf Gold Ultimate sweetens the deal, sort of, at 1 in 476,190,476.

But still, as bemoaned at the start of the verdict, Wolf Gold Ultimate isn't really all that amazingly Ultimate. However, whether it's ultimately considered mid or not, Wolf Gold is a big name in the biz, so there are bound to be punters lining up to have a crack at this hold 'n win-centric edition.