Mining Pots of Gold

Mining Pots of Gold: Slot Overview

If you thought leprechauns used magic to fill the legendary pots of gold that they leave lying about at the end of rainbows, well, we might have to revisit the hypothesis. That is if Mining Pots of Gold from Games Global partner Gameburger Studios is anything to go by. Mining Pots of Gold takes two of the most popular, or most overdone, topics in slots (mining and leprechauns) and mashes them together into a big ol' pile of… well, why don't we come to a final conclusion together after giving Mining Pots of Gold a spin or two?

Above ground is where the tale begins as a right-of-centre gaming panel sits beside a pot of gold below a rainbow, on top of a quivering pile of dynamite sticks. Behind all that is a rocky, bouldery area, bits of grass, flowers, and a cloudy blue sky. It's not the most eye-catching game around, but it did start to shimmer as it progressed. Mining Pots of Gold feels like it stands in a similar category as games in the Rainbow Riches range due to its low-budget, generic, retro looks. The tune is jolly, but if Gameburger Studios actually threw their hearts and souls into making Mining Pots of Gold, it would be a bit of a surprise.

Mining Pots of Gold's volatility might raise a questioning eyebrow, too, amongst players looking for a casual mining/leprechaun mash-up, as it has been rated 'very high.' The RTP comes in four configurations, and the default figure is 96%. At this level, the hit frequency is 18.84%, and stakes of 20 p/c to ￡/€60 are on offer for selection. Hits occur across 20 paylines, which line the game's 5x3 reel matrix.

A bunch of fairly standard symbols populate the paytable. These are J to A card ranks as the lows, then boots, a hat, a harp, a bag o' coins, and a cart o' nuggets. Landing a winning line of 5 low pay symbols is worth a payout of 2 to 6 times the stake, or a 5 premium symbol hit pays out 10 to 50 times the bet. A fist-pumping leprechaun appears on the wild symbol, present on all five reels. Wilds substitute for all symbols except scatters and multiply a win by x2 when substituting. Wilds can appear stacked on the reels, and they pay up to 100 times the bet for a 5 wild winning line.

Mining Pots of Gold: Slot Features

Wild symbols lead to what is quite possibly Mining Pots of Gold's most exciting moment – the Wild Blackout. This feature is joined by Bouns Enhancers and the actual bonus round.

Wild Blackout

Wilds may land on all positions in the base game to form a wild blackout. When this happens, 2,000x the bet is paid in addition to line pays.

Bonus Enhancers

Bouns Enhancers are little overlay tokens that can appear on scatters. When they appear, they contribute to their corresponding Bonus Enhancer meters. The number of tokens collected by each Bonus Enhancer determines what will be awarded in the bonus feature:

• The green one is the Bonus Prize token and contributes to the Bonus Prize Indicator and awards a number of Bonus Prizes. Up to 9 Bonus Prizes can be collected in the base game.
• The blue Bonus Prize token contributes a 0.5x increase to the multiplier indicator. Up to an x10 multiplier can be collected in the base game.
• The pink Bonus Prize token contributes a bonus spin to the Bonus Spin Indicator. Up to 12 bonus spins can be collected in the base game.

The Bonus Enhancers reset when the bonus feature is complete – up to 3 Bonus Prizes, x2 Bonus Multiplier, and 5 Bonus spins when returning to the base game.

Bonus Game

Dynamite stick scatters are collected on the pile when they land on reels 2, 3, and 4. This may randomly trigger the bonus feature. When triggered, play moves below ground, and 20 four-leaf clover bonus symbols appear on the screen. The number of Bonus Prizes achieved in the base game flips the same number of bonus symbols over to display prize values. On each spin, bonus symbols may flip to reveal a prize. Plus, prizes can randomly be multiplied by the multiplier achieved in the base game – to a maximum of 12 prizes. When spins run out, the value of all prizes on the screen is awarded. In addition, the number of Bonus Prizes can award an extra prize as well – 5, 10, 15, 18, or 20 Bonus Prizes add a payout of 5x, 15x, 30x, 50x, or 1,000x the bet, respectively.

Mining Pots of Gold: Slot Verdict

So, was a jolly time had by all? Well, yes and no. The initial reaction wasn't the greatest, thinking that here comes another one of these pots of, masks of, whatever of slots from Gameburger Studios, but Mining Pots of Gold is actually quite different to others it is distantly related to, which we've reviewed. One of the most desirable outcomes remains getting enough bonus prizes on the screen to collect cash from a list of values like a regular 9 Masks of Fire game, but there's actually a lot more going on than that. Is it enough to battle through the generic, cost-cutting looks and sounds in an attempt to get to the gold? Eh…

There is very likely to be a cohort of players ready and willing to lap Mining Pots of Gold up, though, fair dues. It's got quite a substantial build-up effect as Bonus Enhancer Tokens leap from scatters onto their respective collection meters. The frickin pile of dynamite can be a real holdout, looking like it could blow at any moment, taking out the entire mountainous scene along with each and every leprechaun in the area, but just not triggering. Eventually, it would, and the bonus round was quite unique. Not hugely profitable, though, as max winnings in Mining Pots of Gold top out at 4,000x the bet.

Mining Pots of Gold, it's hard not to envisage this one ending up being quite divisive. On the one hand, if you think the world's got more than enough mining and leprechaun games already, then bringing both things together into one jolly, knee-slapping, ore-busting place will feel about as desirable as a sand wedge strike to the goolies. For those in this camp, Mining Pots of Gold's eye-aching old-fashioned design will likely be straight-up meh. However, there might be a squad of gamblers out there for whom Mining Pots of Gold will be right up their street, and more power to them. It's hard to see much middle ground here.