Gold Train Slot Review
A steam engine rolls slowly across the screen, dragging carriages heaped with gold coins past a grid barely bigger than a postage stamp. What makes Gold Train worth a second look is that it refuses to waste the format: where most three-reel games treat the bonus as a door that’s either open or shut, this one lets the base game load it, spin by spin, so the round you eventually get is one you spent the whole session building. Pragmatic Play have quietly built the most patient fruit machine you’re likely to spin.
The maths backs that up with a 97.16% RTP and low volatility on a 3×3 grid with three paylines. The ceiling is 600x the bet, with stakes running from 0.03 to 240.00 per spin. It’s a tighter, older-fashioned machine than something like 888 Gold or Triple Pot Diamond, though it shares their fondness for keeping things compact.
Base Game & Features
This is a three-reel, three-payline game where all symbols pay from left to right on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost one. Wins are multiplied by the bet per line, and only the highest combination on each line counts. It’s simple, fast, and there’s very little to learn before you’re spinning properly.
Bets are built from two settings: coins per line and coin value. The bet menu shows the number of lines, the current total bet in both coins and cash, and the controls for changing both values. That’s how the stake range stretches all the way from 0.03 to 240.00.
The balance and total bet labels toggle between coins view and cash view if you prefer to track one or the other. Pressing the plus or minus buttons opens the bet menu directly, so adjusting mid-session takes one click. The controls are standard, and they do their job without getting in the way.
The train itself is the wild, substituting for every symbol except the scatter and the UPGRADE, and it’s also the richest symbol on the reels. Beyond that, the paytable is a short ladder of railway-flavoured classics. Values below are in coins at the base denomination, and every win is multiplied by the bet per line.
- Wild (train): 3.00 for two, 300.00 for three
- 777: 2.40 for two, 18.00 for three
- Conductor Hat: 1.80 for two, 14.40 for three
- Green Flag: 1.80 for two, 12.00 for three
- Bell: 0.60 for two, 9.00 for three
- Triple Bar: 0.60 for two, 6.00 for three
- Double Bar: 4.80 for three
- Single Bar: 3.00 for three
Two things stand out from that ladder. The wild pays out at a full 300.00 for a line of three, some sixteen times what the next-best 777 returns, so it’s the symbol worth watching for. And the four bar variants pay for three-of-a-kind only, which makes them the small change of the reels.
Special Symbols
Three symbols sit outside the regular ladder. The scatter triggers the bonus from anywhere on the reels, the UPGRADE adds carriages to the bonus, and the gold coins symbol builds the bonus up before it even starts. All three feed the same system, which is where the game’s real interest lives.
The scatter pays no award of its own; landing three or more of them anywhere on the grid is purely a trigger. The UPGRADE lands on the reels alongside the regular symbols and, each time it appears, adds more carriages to the bonus. The gold coins symbol works from reel three only, and its effect is felt one feature later rather than immediately.
Autoplay is on hand if the steady spin rhythm suits you, with set numbers of automatic spins and a skip option that jumps past the feature introduction and end screens after a short pause. Spin speed cycles between normal, quick and turbo. Space or enter on the keyboard starts and stops the reels.
None of it changes the maths; it just changes the pace at which you watch the train load. The settings menu adds an intro screen toggle, ambient sound and sound effects switches, and a game history page. Small touches, but they’re all here.
Gold Train Progressive Bonus Feature
Hit three or more scatter symbols anywhere on the reels and the Progressive Bonus Feature begins. The feature awards a series of random prizes represented by train carriages, and the minimum starting count is ten. Each carriage pays out as it’s delivered, so a longer train is a better train, full stop.
The round plays out as a procession. Carriages roll in one at a time, each revealing either a prize that’s added straight to your total or a gold coins symbol that adds four to ten more carriages to the same run. The feature keeps going until the last carriage is spent. A single lucky stretch of coin symbols can extend the round well past what it started with.
The interesting part is how the train grows before it even leaves the station. In the base game, whenever the gold coins symbol lands on reel three, it awards four to ten additional carriages at random for the next bonus feature. There’s no cap on how many carriages can be stacked up this way. A patient base game session can roll into a genuinely long bonus.
The UPGRADE symbol does the same job in its own way, adding carriages each time it lands during ordinary play. Between the two, the bonus you eventually trigger is rarely the bare ten-carriage version. The counter tracking your accumulated carriages sits on screen throughout, so you always know how long the next train will be.
A prize ladder sits beside the reels during play, with carriage values that move with your stake rather than sitting at fixed amounts. The feature win is added to any payline win from the triggering spin, and everything is settled in coins at your chosen denomination. That’s the whole machine: three reels, a short ladder, and one bonus that grows from both directions.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.8/10
Playing Gold Train feels like shovelling coal: small, repetitive actions that all count towards the same fire. The base game is thin on its own, three reels and modest line pays, but every spin is doing quiet work, and the counter creeping upwards is the reason you’d choose it over a three-reeler that pays and forgets.
Its strength is that the bonus is never a fixed event. The train leaves the station longer than it started, every time, because you spent the session loading it. Its weakness is the destination: 600x is the whole prize for all that patience, and low volatility means the fare along the way is small change.
This is one for players who enjoy the build as much as the payout, ideally at modest stakes where the 0.03 minimum stretches a long way. If you chase big ceilings and dramatic swings, there are faster trains to catch. For steady spinners, Gold Train runs on time, and the gold arrives eventually.
Gold Train FAQs
-
What is the RTP of Gold Train?
The RTP is 97.16%, which is comfortably above the industry average and generous for a three-reel format. -
Is Gold Train high volatility?
No. Gold Train is a low volatility slot, so wins tend to arrive steadily but in smaller amounts rather than in rare large bursts. -
How does the Progressive Bonus Feature trigger?
Hit three or more scatter symbols anywhere on the reels to win the Progressive Bonus Feature, which awards a run of random prizes carried by train carriages. -
What does the gold coins symbol do in Gold Train?
On reel three in the base game it adds four to ten carriages at random to the bonus feature that hasn’t triggered yet, and when it appears inside a carriage during the feature it extends the run currently in progress by the same amount. -
What does the wild substitute for in Gold Train?
The train wild substitutes for all symbols except the scatter and the UPGRADE. It’s also the game’s richest symbol, paying more for a line of three than any regular icon on the reels. -
What is the maximum win on Gold Train?
The maximum win is 600x the bet. -
How many paylines does Gold Train have?
Gold Train has three paylines on a 3×3 grid, with all symbols paying from left to right on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Gold Train?
Stakes run from 0.03 to 240.00 per spin, which covers everything from penny play to serious high-stakes sessions. -
When is Gold Train released?
Gold Train’s release date is 29 June 2017.
