Ox Riches

Ox Riches Slot Review

Two grinning fortune-keepers flank a pot overflowing with gold coins at the top of the screen, one robed in blue and gold, the other in a red outfit and conical hat, all framed in thick gold filigree against dark teal cloud-scroll silk. Ox Riches dresses like a shrine to prosperity, and it plays like one too: every route through the game eventually leads to the same coin-collecting round, chasing the same four fixed jackpots.

That single-mindedness is the appeal. Playtech has built the game on a 5×4 grid with 243 ways to win, and the studio’s coin-and-jackpot pedigree runs deep, from Fire Blaze: Jinns Moon to Sahara Riches Cash Collect and the ways-win classic Buffalo Blitz.

Three separate features feed the same ladder, and one of them even lets you pick which round you’d rather play. The pot under those smiling faces isn’t decoration; it’s a promise.

Base Game, Symbols and Paytable

Wins are evaluated across 243 ways, so matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left pay regardless of position. There are no selectable paylines to worry about. The Wild appears on reels two, three and four only, and substitutes for every symbol except the Coin.

The scatter, a hammer-and-coin medallion, pays in any position: 8x the total bet for three, 18x for four and 38x for five. Scatter wins are multiplied by the total bet rather than the line stake, which is worth knowing when several land at once.

The premium symbols carry the Chinese zodiac theme, with the Ox out in front as the richest payer on the board. At the game’s standard 50-credit stake for 243 ways, the paytable reads:

• Ox – 5 for 500, 4 for 50, 3 for 20, 2 for 5
• Blue Pig – 5 for 70, 4 for 30, 3 for 15
• Red Cat – 5 for 60, 4 for 20, 3 for 10
• Green Rooster – 5 for 50, 4 for 15, 3 for 7
• Gold Rat – 5 for 30, 4 for 10, 3 for 5
• Coin – pays in any position and carries the feature prizes

Those paytable values are expressed in credits at the 50-credit benchmark stake, so they scale with the bet you actually choose. The gap between the Ox and everything else is steep: five Ox symbols pay 500, while five of the next-best zodiac symbol pay 70.

The Coin deserves particular attention. It pays nothing on its own line, but it’s the symbol the entire feature set is built around, and enough of them on screen at once opens the main event.

Prosperity Spins

The headline feature triggers when six or more Coin symbols appear on screen at the end of a spin. The triggering Coins lock in place, and every other position turns into its own individual spinning reel. Three free spins are awarded to start.

From there the counter works like every good hold-and-respin round: land one or more additional Coins in any position and they’re held too, with the spin count reset to three. The feature can also arrive through the Prosperous Choice feature, in which case all 15 positions turn into individual spinning reels from the outset.

Prizes are paid at the end, not as the feature runs. Each Coin reveals either a credit value or a jackpot tier: Major, Minor or Mini. The round ends when the spins run out or the Grand Jackpot is won.

Paytable prizes aren’t awarded during the feature, so the Coins are the only currency that matters once it begins. Every empty position is a fresh chance to extend the round.

The Jackpot Ladder

Four fixed jackpots sit above the reels: Grand, Major, Minor and Mini. All of them are tied to the total bet rather than to a pooled prize, so every rung moves if the bet changes. They’re winnable through several routes:

• Grand – all 15 positions on screen filled with Coins, during a spin or at the end of Prosperity Spins
• Major – one for each Major Coin held at the end of Prosperity Spins
• Minor – one for each Minor Coin held at the end of Prosperity Spins
• Mini – one for each Mini Coin held at the end of Prosperity Spins
• Any tier – matched as three of a kind in the Jackpot Pick feature

Multiple Major, Minor and Mini jackpots can pay out in a single Prosperity Spins round, which is where the feature’s real ceiling sits: a board full of jackpot Coins stacks several prizes on top of each other. When the Grand lands, all credit values shown on screen are paid in addition to it.

Jackpot Pick

A second route to the ladder exists. Each time a specific symbol lands on the reels, the Jackpot Pick Feature might trigger; two of them landing doubles the probability, and three triples it. There’s no guaranteed threshold, which makes it a genuine surprise when it arrives.

When it does, a jackpot win is guaranteed. Twelve symbols appear on screen, each hiding a character, and you match three of a kind to claim the corresponding tier: three Grand characters win the Grand, three Major win the Major, and so on down to the Mini.

If it triggers alongside other features, Jackpot Pick resolves first, followed by whatever else came in on the same spin. It’s the only feature in the game with a guaranteed payout attached.

Prosperous Choice

The third feature is a fork in the road. During the base game, three or more consecutive trigger symbols on three consecutive reels from the leftmost reel set it off. You’re then shown two symbols and choose one, revealing either the Prosperity Spins feature or a Free Games feature with 8 free games.

It’s a pick with real weight to it, since the two rounds play completely differently: one is a slow coin-collecting build, the other a free spins run through the standard paytable. The Free Games option is the only route to a conventional free spins round anywhere in the game.

If both Prosperous Choice and Prosperity Spins trigger at once, Prosperity Spins is awarded first, followed by the choice. The ordering means a lucky spin can deliver both rounds back to back.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

Ox Riches is mostly waiting for gold. The base game ticks along on modest ways wins while you watch the Coins, and what separates it from plainer coin-collectors is that it gives you three different doors into the same treasure room, plus a choice of which round you’d rather sit through.

Its strength is that variety: few games in this mould stack a hold-and-respin round, a guaranteed-win pick feature and a player-chosen fork on top of one another, and the reset-to-three counter keeps every Prosperity Spins round alive until its last spin. Its weakness is the ceiling. The jackpots are fixed multiples of the stake, so there’s no life-changing number at the top of the ladder, and nothing in the base game compensates for that.

This one suits players who enjoy the slow accumulation of a coin round and are happy to trade outsized potential for regular, structured bonus play. Chasers of five-figure ceilings will want more than this pot holds. For everyone else, the two smiling fortune-keepers at the top of the screen are honest company: the gold here is modest, but it’s gold all the same.

Ox Riches FAQs

• How many paylines does Ox Riches have?

  Ox Riches uses 243 ways to win, meaning matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left pay out regardless of their exact position.
• What is the grid size of Ox Riches?

  The game plays on a 5×4 grid of five reels and four rows.
• When is Ox Riches released?

  Ox Riches’ release date is 20 December 2020.
• Who makes Ox Riches?

  Ox Riches is made by Playtech.
• How do you trigger Prosperity Spins in Ox Riches?

  Prosperity Spins is won when six or more scattered Coin symbols appear on screen at the end of a spin. The triggering Coins are held in place and all other positions turn into individual spinning reels, with three free spins awarded to start.
• Can Prosperity Spins retrigger?

  Yes. If one or more additional Coins appear in any position during the feature, they are held and the number of free spins remaining resets to three.
• How do you win the Grand Jackpot in Ox Riches?

  Fill all 15 positions on screen with Coin symbols, either during a single spin or at the end of the Prosperity Spins feature. The Grand can also be won through the Jackpot Pick feature by matching three Grand characters. All Coin prizes shown on screen are paid in addition to the Grand Jackpot.
• Are the jackpots in Ox Riches fixed or progressive?

  They’re fixed jackpots based on the total bet. If the total bet is changed, the jackpot values change with it, and multiple Major, Minor and Mini jackpots can be awarded at the end of a single Prosperity Spins round.
• What does the Prosperous Choice feature offer?

  When three or more consecutive trigger symbols land on three consecutive reels from the left, you choose one of two symbols to reveal either the Prosperity Spins feature or a Free Games feature with 8 free games.