Hot Gems Xtreme

In the Hot Gems Xtreme slot, players embark on a mining adventure to unearth a variety of precious gems, which are visible in the background. This slot boasts a unique cascading symbols feature, where matching combinations are removed from the board after payouts are calculated. The game also offers several other bonuses, which we will explore in this review.

Hot Gems Xtreme features six reels, up to 262,144 paylines, and a minimum bet of 0.20 per spin. This slot game is developed by Playtech, a renowned company with a vast collection of top-rated games. Playtech's previous releases include Kingdoms Rise: Shadow Queen, Pyramid Linx, and Silver Bullet Bandit Cash Collect, among others. Additionally, Playtech has developed numerous live dealer games, and their Well Well Well Live is a popular choice among players.

Hot Gems Xtreme features a variety of standard icons, represented by different gemstones in pink, purple, yellow, red, orange, green, blue, and white. These icons can award players with up to 0.6 times their original bet. The game's premium symbols include a lamp, pickaxe, minecart, and miner. Combinations of six of these symbols result in payouts of 0.6x, 1x, 2x, or 3.75x the original bet, in that order.

The game also includes special symbols, such as TNT and a question mark, each with its own unique mechanics. A wild symbol, represented by a diamond, and a scatter icon, displayed as the opening of a mine, are also featured.

Hot Gems Xtreme boasts a plethora of bonus features, in addition to its cascading symbols mechanic. One such feature is the 'Growing Reels' mode, which adds an extra reel after any matching combination appears. New symbols then fill the space from above, and if more combinations appear, the process repeats, up to a maximum of 8 rows.

Two special symbols have their own unique features. Dynamite symbols explode, destroying all surrounding symbols and leaving a wild in their place. Another extra row is also added. The question mark symbol is the 'Walking Mystery' icon, which transforms adjacent symbols into question marks. These symbols roam the board before settling into a position and revealing one of the symbols from reel 1, potentially forming a winning combination.

All standard symbols can also appear in giant variations, occupying either 2x2 or 3x3 positions, which immediately drop to the bottom of the screen. Symbols beneath them are removed, and new ones fall from above.

Finally, the free spins mode is triggered when three or more scatter symbols land simultaneously. Players receive 10, 12, 18, or 25 free spins for landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 bonus symbols, respectively. All the previous mechanics apply during this round, but any extra rows added will remain for the rest of the round, capped at a total of 8 rows. It's possible to retrigger the free spins mode, with three scatter icons awarding three extra spins.

Hot Gems Xtreme boasts an extensive array of symbols, bonus features, and stunning visuals. One of the standout bonus mechanics involves expanding reels, which can trigger a massive 262,144 paylines when all eight reels are active.