Gems, Bombs & Gold Slot Review
Secure your helmet, fire up your headlamp, and prepare to blast your way into the depths of Gems, Bombs & Gold, courtesy of Just For The Win – The most explosive excavation you’ll ever undertake!
Dig your way through dusty tunnels until you find yourself in a rich mine of shimmering gems, volatile bombs, and nuggets of pure Gold. Swing your axe hard in the base game and carve out rewarding clusters of precious gems, but hard labour alone won’t cut it.
Ignite a series of bomb symbols and watch as they destroy adjacent tiles, transforming them into winning clusters, and if the blast is big enough, you can reveal a flush of cash, which is hauled straight into your win chest…but don’t hang up your equipment yet, that was just the first layer.
It’s not our first rodeo exploring the depths of dangerous Mines in search of forgotten gems, so we like to believe we’ve got a certain expertise in this profession. When we think of the Mining slots theme, our minds are instantly drawn to Gold Digger Megaways & Diamond Mine 2 Megaways – two iconic classics that remain as popular today as they were upon their release.
Just For The Win shares our passion for games, which is evident in their growing portfolio. Foxy Fortunes & Dark Waters 2 Power Combo are their more recent instalments, while Nugget Frenzy was their first mining experience (that we know of).
With a fixed RTP of 96% and a high volatility rating, Gems, Bombs & Gold can produce up to 10,186x your bet in max win potential, but will we be lucky enough to take home a cut? Let’s find out…
Base Game & Features
Gems, Bombs & Gold is the latest Mining slot from Just For The Win, consisting of 5 reels, 5 rows, and a Cluster Pays mechanic. Wins occur when 5-25 matching symbols land horizontally or vertically adjacent on the grid.
The high-paying symbols are made up of Purple, Red, Blue & Green Gems, awarding fixed payouts between 0.5x and 50x your bet. Alternatively, the game’s low-paying symbols are displayed as A, K, Q, & J card suits, offering payouts between 0.2x and 8x your bet, where applicable.
Multiplier Wilds
Throughout gameplay, special Multiplier Wilds can appear on all reels, substituting for all symbols except Bomb, Scatter, & Super Scatter symbols. Each time a Multiplier Wild hits, it will reveal a random Multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10.
Every Multiplier Wild that is part of a winning cluster will have its value applied to its total win. If more than one Multiplier Wild is part of the same winning cluster, the values will be added together before being applied to the total win.
Special Symbols
During each spin in the base game and Free Spins mode, special Bomb & Coin symbols can appear on the reels, awarding the following outcomes:
- Bombs: Explode and affect adjacent symbols in a horizontal & vertical area. The bomb and all affected symbols will transform into a new paytable instance. Please note that Wilds, Coins, Scatter, & Super Scatter symbols will not be affected by the explosion.
- Coins: Appear anywhere on the grid, revealing a random Cash Prize between 0.2x and 250x your bet. When 5 or more Coin symbols form a winning cluster, the sum of all Cash prizes within the cluster is paid out.
Gems, Bombs & Gold Free Spins
Triggering the standard Free Spins mode requires 3 Scatter symbols to land on reels 1, 3, & 5 in the base game, awarding 10 Free Spins.
During this mode, each Multiplier Wild that appears will remain in its current position until the end of the feature. When a winning cluster of Coin symbols occurs, at least 1 Coin symbol will remain fixed in its position within the cluster, retaining the total value of all Cash Prizes from the win.
Furthermore, if any sticky Coin symbol is part of a winning cluster, its value is added together with all other Coin symbols to create a new Sticky Coin symbol, while the remaining Coin symbols in the cluster are removed.
Super Free Spins
Alternatively, landing 2 regular Scatters & 1 Super Scatter on reels 1, 3, and 5 in the base game triggers the Super Free Spins mode, awarding 10 Free Spins.
During this mode, 3 random symbols (a mix of Multiplier Wilds & Sticky Coins) are randomly positioned on the grid. Finally, landing 2 or 3 Scatters awards an additional +5 and +10 Free Spins, respectively, both in Free Spins and the Super Free Spins mode.
Bonus Hunt & Bonus Buy
Players may purchase one of the following Bonus Hunt & Bonus Buy options:
- Bonus Hunt: Triples your chance of triggering a Free Spins mode in the base game for 1.5x your bet per spin
- Multiplier Wilds + Bomb: Guarantees to award Multiplier Wilds & Bomb symbols in the next spin for 5x your bet
- Free Spins: Instantly triggers the Free Spins mode with 10 Free Spins for 100x your bet
- Super Free Spins: Direct access to the Super Free Spins mode, where 10 Free Spins and 3 Special symbols are awarded for 400x your bet
The RTP module for each of the above options is fixed at 96%.
Gems, Bombs & Gold has a maximum win potential of 10,186x your bet. If a single session exceeds this, the current mode ends, and the player returns to the base game with the qualifying amount.
Our Honest Verdict
With such an extreme number of Mining-themed slots already available to us, it’s hard to get excited about another in its collection. Gems, Bombs & Gold looks like your average Mining slot, featuring everything you’ll need to pull off a successful excavation.
We’ll admit, the graphics are of good quality, as are the soundtrack and effects. The grid is filled with a variety of glowing gems and rewarding Coin symbols, which fit nicely with the Mining setting. While it’s easy to mistake this game as a pay line or ways to win slot, it surprisingly falls under the Cluster Pays mechanic.
The Cluster Pays mechanic usually goes hand-in-hand with the Avalanche Feature, which allows winning clusters to be destroyed and new symbols to fall in, but sadly, Just For The Win left that part of gameplay out.
Another easy assumption to make is that Coin symbols belong to a Hold & Win Feature, when in actual fact, they don’t. Instead, they create winning clusters on the grid and return their total combined Cash Prize. If we had to choose between this option and the Hold & Win feature, we’d choose this in a heartbeat – it’s far more appealing and less long-winded.
During Free Spins, Multiplier Wilds remain on the grid, as well as their current values. The best outcome would be to have a series of Multiplier Wilds close to each other to create multiple wins per spin. What’s even more beneficial is that one Coin symbol will remain on the grid, taking on the total of all winning Coin cluster values.
In other areas, Gems, Bombs & Gold includes a maximum win potential of 10,186x your bet. With what’s available here, we strongly believe that it could achieve such a figure, under the right circumstances.
All in all, Gems, Bombs & Gold is a fast-paced and engaging slot from Just For The Win, offering all the right features and mechanics that will no doubt attract a wide audience of players.
*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.
