The online casino entertainment boundaries are always there to be pushed, and every now and then a casino software studio will step up to the plate and give it a good whack. Today, that proverbial whack comes in the form of Gems Bonanza, which is going with a completely different formula to what the studios have been sticking to of late. We’re talking eight reels, with cluster pays and cascading reels. Not something that’s never been seen before, but definitely not tackled on a regular basis. There’s plenty of valuables that can be awarded to you through all the different features, so let’s go in with our carat microscopes and take a closer look.
The iGaming studio that felt like stepping out of their comfort zone to get Gems Bonanza over the line is Pragmatic Play. They’ve been busy lately, having just released Return of the Dead and Ultra Hold and Spin, both of which were really fun to play with exciting features and entertaining themes. As far as slot machines online go, this one doesn’t have a theme that is quite as gripping as other titles out there. Still, it packs tons of features into the experience, and it’s all available on mobile casino platforms as well as regular desktop play. As mentioned, there aren’t any paylines, as the reels payout according to symbol clusters, while the reels don’t spin but rather see symbols tumble into the windows. Every symbol that makes us a winning cluster is removed, with the remaining symbols falling into their places, with new symbols then falling into the reels to fill the empty spaces. Should a winning cluster occur again after this process, then it all happens again.
We can’t be too certain of how much Pragmatic Play has setGems Bonanza’s jackpot at, but the most you’ll be able towager on any given spin is £100, and thebiggest win multiplier is 10,000x your bet. The minimum bet is a minute 20p,which the majority of players will most likely start at and work their ways upto wagers that give much more favourable returns.
In online slots with powerful themes, there will oftenbe a big emphasis placed on the symbols to heighten the impact of the themes.In Gems Bonanza, the icons aren’t really too aesthetically pleasing, althoughthey are all gemstones which is basically what the game is all about. You’llusually see a formula that splits the symbols into lower and higher valuecategories. However, all the icons in Gems Bonanza are in fact gemstones,although they all do have differing win values.
There is one special symbol that will give you plentyof added value at moments in the play, and this is the wild.
There’s quite a complex free spins feature called GoldFever, and it sees you moving up through tiers, the next one more rewardingthan the last. In order to make your way into the Gold Fever feature, you needto collect winning symbols –symbols that gave you winning clusters – and whenyou’ve collected 114 ‘points’ then you’ll enter level 1. The feature goes allthe way up to level 5. Each level awards a multiplier on wins, starting at 2xin level 1 and ending at 10x in level 5 if you can get there.
In the base game, you’ll sometimessee random colours appearing behind landing symbols. If a winning cluster formsover one of these colours then a bonus feature will drop. There’s blue, pink,brown, red and green, and the bonus features they deliver range from giantsymbols and new symbols to wilds.
Lastly, you also can use your cash to buy the GoldFever feature.
There’s quite a bit more detail to the bonus featuresin Gems Bonanza, which you’ll notice when you play. Quite a lot of effort hasgone into the making of this slot, and we’re pretty sure Pragmatic Play’sblood, sweat and tears won’t go unnoticed. It is because the game is leadedwith bonus treats, while the cascading reels and cluster pays are also aspectsplayers love. Sure to be an absolute gem among iGamers.