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19 June 2024 
Zulu Gold Slot Review 2021
Few slots from Elk Studios have succeeded in inducing as much excitement as their Gold Series, and now the infamous explorer Kane is back yet again in Zulu Gold!
Kane has certainly seen his fair share of the world and the illustrious secret treasure hidden within forgotten temples, and he’s seemingly hungry for even more as an expedition in Lesotho turns into another treasure hunt when he learns of a temple within the infamous KwaZulu-Natal district.
It is said that animals come to the temple to sacrifice gold to their gods. If that doesn’t scream money, then we don’t know what does. Let’s join Kane once more in this Zulu Gold Slot Review and witness this expedition for ourselves!
Zulu Gold Slot Theme
We’ve had a little break from the Gold Series since our last adventure in the Nepalese mountains, but now in all, it’s glory comes Zulu Gold and its incredible design in every aspect.
The graphics of Zulu Gold and the theme it uses does well to get you interested instantly with Zulu Temples, great sounds and the majestic African Animals.
Elk Studios has always done very well in bringing their theme to life in all of the Gold Series slots, and Zulu Gold is no exception.
Zulu Gold: Betting and Symbols
The betting options in Zulu Gold are very extensive, giving everyone the chance to have a crack at becoming an explorer like Kane. The lowest option here is £/0.20 per spin, and the highest option is £/€100. There’s plenty of options in between the two, so everyone should feel catered for here in Zulu Gold.
Zulu Gold is the first Gold Series Slot to utilise Elk’s relatively new X-iter features, which changes the bet size in return for features or bonus buys. More on that below!
When it comes to symbols, it only seems right that our experienced explorer Kane gets the top spot for all of his daring adventures. Following on from him is an Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo symbol. Low paying symbols are tribal cave inscriptions, and there’s a number of special symbols too.
There’s Wilds, Wild Walkers, Charged Wilds, Zulu Stacks and Big Symbols, which bodes well as a sign of an action-packed slot.
Zulu Gold: The Base Game and Features
Zulu Gold is a 6 column, 4 row slot with between 4,096 – 262,144 ways to win. To form a win, you’ll need to connect at least 3 of the same symbol from left to right on consecutive reels, starting from the left-most reel.
All symbols that are part of a win will explode, leaving spaces for additional symbols to fall into play via an avalanche.
Each avalanche increases the number of rows in play, up to a maximum of 8 rows.
- 4 Rows – 4,096 Ways
- 5 Rows – 15,625 Ways
- 6 Rows – 46,656 Ways
- 7 Rows – 117,649 Ways
- 8 Rows – 262,144 Ways
Rows keep increasing as long as wins keep coming, but on the next spin you’ll start with 4 rows and 4,0965 ways yet again.
The potential of Zulu Gold is pretty good just through the number of ways to win, but to make it even better comes the symbol modifiers.
Special Symbols
Zulu Gold has a number of special symbols to up the potential, including a number of different Wild Symbols
- Wild – Regular Wild, substitutes for any symbol except Bonus, Multiplier, Wild Walker and Charged Wilds
- Wild Walker – The Wild Walker is a special Wild that moves and leaves a trail of Wild Symbols behind. This symbol is persistent between avalanches
- Charged Wild – The Charged Wild is a Wild with extra lives. This symbol only consumes a life when it contributes to a win.
Zulu Gold also has a number of non-wild special symbols
- Zulu Stacks – Zulu Stacks are simply a stack 2, 3 or 4 identical symbols that may land on any drop. These may be any symbol except for the Wild Walker, Charged Wild and Bonus Symbol.
- Big Symbols – Wild Symbols and any low,. mid and high paying symbols exist as standard 1×1 symbols, Super 2×2, Mega 3×3 or epic 4×4 symbols. Big Symbols clear any 1×1 symbols below them, except for Wild Walkers, Charged Wilds, Multiplier or Bonus Symbols
It’s clear to see that Elk Studios has taken some of the best from the previous Gold Slots and integrated them into Zulu Gold. These special symbols are great on their own, but they’ll be especially important within the Free Spins round.
Zulu Gold Free Spins
You’ll need at least 3 bonus symbols to obtain Free Spins in Zulu Gold
- 3 Scatters – 10 Drops
- 4 Scatters – 15 Drops
- 5 Scatters – 20 Drops
- 6 Scatters – 25 Drops
The number of ways to win in Zulu Gold starts at 4,096, but there will be a safety level as you win to ensure that you start the next drop on more ways. The safety level will advance one row for every new drop that resulted in a win.
In Free Drops there is a multiplier symbol. 3 or more of these in view will add the sum total of all multipliers to the total multiplier. If only one or two land, then they will persist on subsequent drops until enough are obtained to increment the multiplier. The multiplier will always start at x1, and you’ll really want all of the features to come together in harmony here for potentially massive wins.
Of course, those outside of the UK have a little bit more in terms of options via the X-iter feature.
X-iter Feature
The X-iter feature is unfortunately disabled for UK players, because it’s essentially a bonus buy option with a few added extras. The X-iter feature has been seen a few times in Elk Studios slots now, and each time they utilise it to fit the current slot.
There are 5 different come modes in total to chose from, with each varying in value.
- X-iter 1 – Guarantees a winning spin at the cost of 5x the selected bet
- X-iter 2 – Guarantees 3 symbol drops with at least one Zulu Stack at the cost of 25x the selected bet
- X-iter 3 – Guarantees a standard bonus game at the cost of 100x the selected bet
- X-iter 4 – Guarantees 3 symbol drops with a Wild Walker at the cost of 250x the selected bet
- X-iter 5 – Guarantees a game round with entry to the bonus game with persistent multiplier symbols at the cost of 500x the selected bet
The only thing we’d say here is try to be a bit careful. Selecting one of the features changes the bet, and the spin button instantly activates it. We’re sure this has been triggered accidentally once or twice.
Zulu Gold: Our Verdict
The Gold Series from Elk Studios are very popular for a reason. The features and potential that comes with them is mind-boggling, and the theme and backstory of Kane the explorer tells more than a few tales of an intrepid explorer and his quest for riches.
Zulu Gold has 10,000x win potential which would make anyone scream loud enough to bring down the roof on any ancient temple. Unfortunately the RTP looks a little bit lower than average at 95%, but in the long run this won’t make a huge amount of difference to players, these values are calculated on billions of spins after all.
Zulu Gold is highly volatile, and experience has shown us that quests to the temple are often unsuccessful. When things do go right though, you can expect Zulu Gold to perform brilliantly.
Overall, we think an addition to the Gold Series was long overdue, and Zulu Gold reminds us just how great these slots can be.
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