Venture to the island of Cash-a-Mundo and look deep into the mouth of the of the Volcano and strike gold with Play’n Go’s newest cluster pays game, Gold Volcano Slot. This volcano has laid dormant until now, an eruption is imminent. Will it rain riches or will the lava consume your balance?
Play’n GO are arguably one of the leading providers at the moment when it comes to cluster pays mechanic games, if not the leading provider. With games like Wild Frames and Reactoonz under their belt, you know they can pull them off well.
How does Gold Volcano compare?
Volcanic Venture
Gold Volcano is themed upon the island of Cash-a-Mundo, where a volatile giant Volcano is set to erupt. Red hot magma lies simmering at the bottom of the screen, with the odd quiver indicating that this volcano is ready to blow.
The music is a dramatic theme, with an air of danger to it, further accentuating that this volcano is no longer dormant. The reels display an interesting set up, with a 3-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3 set up, mimicking the shape of a volcano.
Once again, Play’n Go have decided to go with a Cluster Pays mechanic for this game, which means that you need not worry about pay lines. 4 or more symbols that are connected horizontally or vertically will form a win.
Top symbol in this game is a crystalized golden nugget, with various other precious looking gems or stones coming in as other high paying symbols. Low paying symbols are card suits Club, Heart, Spade and diamond.
The game also features Wild Symbols, with a regular Wild and A Wild x2 present that will substitute for all paying symbols.
Betting options cover an extensive range, with the lowest bet available being 0.10, and the highest at 100 with a lot of different options in between to cater to every kind of player.
Base Game & Features
As previously mentioned, 4 or more matching symbols are needed to form a win, and much like Play n Go’s other cluster pays games, its packed with different features.
The game features a traditional cascade mechanic as well, except in Gold Volcano, symbols will be pushed up to fill the empty spaces, rather than fall downwards. Gold Volcano is packed with different features.
Pressure
Wild symbols are randomly created when winning symbols are removed, which opens it up for more consecutive wins. Wild x2 can also appear, and more than one that is part of a win will multiplier with each other, rather than add together for a total multiplier.
Dormant Features
Gold Volcano has Dormant Features, which are enhancements to the game that are triggered on any non-winning spin.
- Rumble – Symbols are shaken and relocated elsewhere on the board, which could turn non-winning combinations into winning ones, and a scatter is added.
- Lava – An additional layer of random symbols is created, allowing for more winning combinations
- Excavate – Between 3-5 Wild Symbols are added to random locations.
Crystallisation Feature
Scatter symbols perform a less conventional function in Gold Volcano. Collecting 3 of them will turn all high paying purple symbols currently in play into the top symbol. When 6 are collected the red high paying symbol will Crystallise, and when 9 are collecting the green high paying symbol will crystallise.
Progress towards this is reset between spins.
Eruption Free Spins Feature
In the base game, each cascade will cause the magma level at the bottom of the reel to rise by 1, and 6 will trigger an initial 5 free spins. During the Free Spins bonus, symbols erupt upwards and outwards to fill additional spaces outside of the volcano, erupting into an 8×8 grid which opens up the game for a lot more wins than are usually possible.
6 cascades trigger 1 extra Free Spin, and Crystallisation progression is not reset between spins like it is in the base game.
This is where Gold Volcano really shows what it’s made of. A combination of an 8×8 Grid, potential extra spins and Crystallisation can you up for some very lucrative wins if you’re lucky.
Our Verdict of Gold Volcano
Play n Go have long since been known for their quality, fun and interesting games, and this is definitely one of them, its also unlike any other of their best slots.
Although Play n Go have an obvious fondness for Cluster Pays slot, they’ve managed to take this formula but still make something new, with a lot of different features available, and they’ve even integrated the theme of the volcano into the game with the 3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3 in the base game.
Gold Volcano isn’t massively volatile, with a medium/high rating, but with a top win of 10,000x it’s certainly still attractive, offering a bigger top win than some other Play n Go games might.
The game also has an RTP of 96.20%, meaning that theoretically, you can expect to see a decent proportion of your bets returned as winnings.
It’s nice to see something a little different, with some compelling game play as well as a captivating theme. If you enjoy Play n Go games and appreciate their aptitude for innovation, then you’ll definitely enjoy Gold Volcano.