Gold Volcano slot review

By Playn GO

Gold Volcano Basic info

Game provider Playn GO

Release Date 7/2020

RTP 96.20%

Game Technology HTML5

Popularity Medium

Min bet $0.10

Max bet $100

Max Win bet x 10000

Gamble Feature Cascading reels, Freespins, Expanding reels, Multiplier wilds, Random wilds

Layout 8x8

Devices Support all devices

Configurable Winlines No

Volatility High

Progressive Jackpot No

Get ready for an eruption like no other with Gold Volcano. This slot will turn any preconception of Cluster Pays engines on its head.

Whereas in most other titles the tiles fall from heaven, in Gold Volcano the tiles are pushed up from the ground below. Hand of heart, it took me a while to get used to this. But I did enjoy the novelty, especially when a scatter tile moves from the grid to the crystallisation meter.

The game is played on a grid of 8 reels holding, from left to right, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, and 3 tiles. This gives the game its volcano-like structure. Once the tiles take their place, any 4 or more connected tiles will trigger a payout.

There are a host of other features at play here but ultimately what you want most is to see that volcano erupts and spew free spins all over the place.

Gold Volcano slot win combination

Symbols

There are two types of symbols in place – the precious gems which are the high-paying tiles and the card suits which are the lower-paying ones. There is also the scatter tile which is a crusted magma stone.

The big wins happen when there are large clusters of the same kind of tile next to each other. For example, 30+ Gold tiles will pay out 1,000x but since these are quite hard to get to the below values are taken from the middle of the scoreboard.

The symbols in clusters of 10, from highest to the lowest consist of:

  • The gold gem paying 7.5x
  • The green gem paying 5x
  • The orange gem paying 4.5x
  • The purple gem paying 4x
  • They yellow spade paying 1.2x
  • The purple heart paying 1x
  • The red club paying 0.8x
  • The green diamond paying 0.6x

Features

  • The Dormant Feature is triggered randomly when the game is non-winning. It can be either of the following 3 features (or sometimes these can also be triggered straight after each other).First up there is the Rumble which will cause all tiles to scramble into different positions. One Scatter will also be added here.

    Then there is the Lava feature which will cause a mini-eruption causing a mystery-tile layer on top of the reels to appear.

    Finally, the Excavate feature will cause between 3 and 5 wild symbols to be added into random locations within the volcano.

Gold Volcano slot lava feature

  • In the Pressure feature two different wilds can appear. A normal Wild will substitute for every tile apart from the scatter.But then there is a Wild Multiplier which acts as a wild but it also multiplies the win by 2x.
  • Crystallisation feature – Every scatter collected will go to fill up the crystallisation feature.Every 3 scatters collected will then turn a particular symbol into gold. The purple gem is first followed by the orange and green one. The progression resets during the base game meaning you might not see much use of this. But during the bonus round spins the crystallisation bad doesn’t reset.
  • The Eruption Feature (aka Bonus Round) – Every time there is some form of symbol cascade (either through a win or a scatter is sent to the crystallisation meter) the magma level rises by 1.If there are 6 of these cascades within the same spin then there is the much-awaited eruption.

    The Eruption Feature is quite fun to experience. For every spin, there is a grid eruption that extends the reels to 8×8. Here the crystallisation meter doesn’t reset and there is also a chance of also activating both the Dormant and Pressure features.

    Apart from that 6 additional cascades will add an extra spin to the 5 you start with.

Conclusion

Volcanoes are volatile by nature and this slot isn’t any different. Its volatility is set to high (around 7/10) and this can certainly be felt throughout the game.

On the one occasion, I did manage to enter the bonus round I only got a win of 11x. This was quite disappointing considering the amount of money it took me to get there. I also never managed to enter the bonus round without the help of any of the other features. It was thanks to the Dormant features that the eruption was created.

That’s not to say that I cannot see the potential for some great winnings, especially when it comes to the bonus round and all the extra features in play. However, on this occasion, it wasn’t my turn to experience any big wins.

Leticia Miranda

Leticia Miranda

Slot Games Analyst

Leticia Miranda is a former gambling reporter who knows everything about slot games and is happy to share her knowledge. She has covered a broad swath of topics and trends on gambling and is always full of new ideas and energy. Leticia also has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and is passionate about writing.