Gem Ghosts Demo
Gem Ghosts Slot Review
Bullshark Games has us stumbling among a ‘hidden gem’ as we enter the haunted mine of Gem Ghosts. Join a ghostly treasure hunter as he explores the depths of a long-forgotten mine, home to 12,000x your bet worth of hidden gems.
Bullshark Games has become a popular software developer within the iGaming industry, utilising Hacksaw Gaming’s OpenRGS platform to release games and gain traction with a wider audience. After many innovative releases, Bullshark Games has become a recognisable provider within the iGaming industry.
After convincing a fire-breathing dragon to part with his beloved treasure in Charm of the Dragon, we’re intrigued to spend the day with a ghoulish Miner in an attempt to pocket hard-earned rewards, but will all our hard work be in vain?
Gem Ghosts certainly has a few skeletons in its closet (pun intended) that we’re hoping to reveal throughout gameplay. First on the agenda is triggering the Respin Feature, where only Wilds remain on the grid, with the potential to double in value – the bigger the value, the more see-through our new friend becomes.
With a fixed RTP of 96.24% and a high (5/5) volatility reference, a successful dig can lead to rewards of up to 12,000x your bet. Without further ado, let’s dig our way through a series of exciting features and face the illustrious Cluster Pays mechanic once more!
Base Game & Features
Gem Ghosts is the latest highly volatile, 6-reel, 6-row Video Slot from Bullshark Games, operating a Cluster Pays mechanic. Fixed payouts between 0.1x and 150x your bet are applied to wins of 5-26 matching symbols.
The highest-paying symbol falls to the Diamond Cart, followed by hats, lanterns, pickaxes, shovels, and A, K, Q, J, & 10 card suits. Additionally, the Wild symbol substitutes for all symbols except Scatters, applying a payout of 150x your bet for 27+ instances in a single spin.
Thanks to the Cluster Pays mechanic, each winning combination is removed and replaced with a variety of paytable symbols via the Avalanche Feature. This allows the progression of additional wins to occur within a single spin.
Wild Symbols
During gameplay, Wild symbols can appear on the reels with a random Multiplier between x2 and x100. Wild symbols that are part of a winning cluster will be multiplied by their respective values. When 2 or more Multiplier Wilds are part of the same winning cluster, their values are added together and applied to the total win.
Respins Feature
If, at the end of a spin, there are at least 3 Wild symbols on the grid, the Respins Feature is guaranteed to trigger. Once active, all current Wild & Scatter symbols will be held in position, while all other positions spin again.
Additional respins are awarded if a new Wild symbol falls into an available position. Each Wild symbol in view will reveal a random Multiplier between x2 and x100, which is awarded at the end of the Respins Feature.
Lastly, if 3 or more Scatter symbols are held throughout the feature, the Free Spins mode is awarded.
Featurespins & Bonus Buy
Players within permissible and acceptable regions can purchase the following Bonus Buy/Featurespins options:
- Bonushunt Featurespins: Each spin is guaranteed to be 5 times more likely to trigger a Free Spins mode for 3x your bet (RTP 96.31%)
- Spooky Featurespins: Guarantees a minimum of 3 Wild symbols with random Multipliers for 50x your bet (RTP 96.31%)
- Haunted Harvest: Collect Wild symbols with boosted Multipliers for 100x your bet (RTP 96.25%)
- Phantom Treasure: Operates the same functions as Haunted Harvest, only a second Free Spins mode is guaranteed for 300x your bet (RTP 96.35%)
Each of the above options has a fixed volatility score of ‘very high’ except BonusHunt Featurespins and Phantom Treasure, which hold an ‘Extreme’ volatility rating.
Gem Ghosts has a fixed max win potential of 12,000x your bet. If a single game round exceeds this, the current mode ends, and the player returns to the base game with the qualifying amount.
Gem Ghosts Free Spins
Triggering the Haunted Harvest mode requires 3-4 Scatter symbols to land within the base game or Respins Feature. Once active, players will enter a special Collect Phase, followed by a single Free Spin.
During the Collect Phase, Scatter symbols will remain on the grid and transform into Wild symbols with a random Multiplier between x2 and x100. The feature will begin with 3 Respins, and each time a new Wild symbol hits, it will reset the total to 3. When no additional Wild symbols appear on the grid, the Collect Phase ends.
During the final Free Spin, all collected Wild symbols will remain in position. When no more wins appear on the grid, an Extra Free Spin may be drawn from the game, but this is not guaranteed.
If this happens, the game will return to the Collect Phase, keeping all previous Wild symbols in position from the last spin, along with their respective Multipliers. However, the already existing Multipliers will double in value before the final Free Spin.
Phantom Treasure
Alternatively, landing 5 Scatters in a base game spin or Respins Feature triggers the Phantom Treasure mode. This mode follows the same mechanics and mannerisms from Haunted Harvest, only 2 Free Spins are awarded instead of 1.
Our Honest Verdict
Players who were quick to label Gem Ghosts as a ‘traditional Mining slot’ will be eating their own words right about now, and admittedly, so are we. Bullshark Games has taken the idea of Mining and transformed it into a unique and fresh experience, accompanied by a lovable ghost character and colourful, cartoon animations.
Although Gem Ghosts follows the traditional guidelines of a Cluster Pays slot, behind the scenes of gameplay are certain attributes we’re unfamiliar with. Throughout the base game, you’re entertained by Wild symbols and the Respins Feature, both of which can come together to create something quite rewarding.
What we mean by this is that when a group of Wild symbols (a minimum of 3) fall within the same spin, they trigger the Respins Feature, which activates their Multiplier values for sizable winning payouts. Pragmatic Play’s Release the Kraken Megaways offers something similar in the base game, only here, Wild symbols don’t float about the grid.
What really caught our attention, though, is the Haunted Harvest and Phantom Treasure modes. If you don’t do your homework beforehand, you’ll be rubbing your eyes and wondering if you read the splash screen right when it said ‘1 Free Spin’ – just to clarify, yes, you did read that right.
Like Chaos Crew, both modes are split into a Collect Phase, followed by a single Free Spin (or two if you triggered Phantom Treasure). It’s during the Collect Phase that you want to land as many Multiplier Wild symbols as possible to even make a dent in the 12,000x max win potential.
The positioning of Multiplier Wilds is crucial for the final Free Spin, as paytable symbols fall back onto the reels and connect to form winning clusters. If you’ve got a fair distance between them, you’re not going to accumulate much, if anything, in terms of potential. During testing, we were victims of a fair few dead modes, where Multiplier Wilds failed to connect to anything significant.
However, it helps to trigger the Phantom Treasure mode, which grants not one, but two final Free Spins, but it comes at the expense of landing 5 Scatter symbols in a single base game spin, unless, of course, you’re in a position to purchase it via the Bonus Buy tab.
All in all, Gem Ghosts is unique, fun, and unlike any Mining slot we’ve encountered. Bullshark Games knows how to impress their audience, and it shows in releases like Gem Ghosts – keep doing what you’re doing, Bullshark!
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
