Hot Gems Xtreme

It’s time for players to take a trip down into the mine, as they excavate an assortment of different gems, most of which can be seen in the background. The first feature of note in the Hot Gems Xtreme online slot is the cascading symbols mechanic, which removes all matching combinations from the board after any potential winnings have been calculated. A variety of other bonuses can also be found in this title, all of which are covered in this review.

Hot Gems Xtreme comes with a total of 6 reels, up to 262,144 paylines, and a minimum stake size of 0.20 per spin. 

This slot was created by Playtech, a company that has a considerable portfolio of top-rated games to their name. Some of their previous releases include the likes of Kingdoms Rise: Shadow Queen, Pyramid Linx, and Silver Bullet Bandit Cash Collect. They have also created a selection of live dealer games, with Well Well Well Live being one of their most popular. 

The standard icons in Hot Gems Xtreme are represented by different gemstones. In total, there is a pink, purple, yellow, red, orange, green, blue, and white variation, which can award players with up to 0.6x their stake. Next up are the premiums, featuring a lamp, a pickaxe, a minecart, and a miner. Should six of these form a combination, players will be awarded with 0.6x, 1x, 2x, or 3.75x their bet size, in that order. 

Special symbols include TNT and a question mark, both of which have their own associated mechanics. There is also a wild symbol, shown as a diamond, and a scatter icon, displayed as the opening of a mine. 

In addition to the cascading symbols mechanic, Hot Gems Xtreme is loaded with a variety of bonus features. The first one is known as 'Growing Reels', which will add another reel after any matching combination is formed. New symbols will then drop in from above to fill the space, and should any more combinations appear after this, the process will repeat, up to a maximum of 8 rows. 

Two of the special symbols have their own features, with dynamites exploding to destroy all surrounding symbols, removing them from the board. A wild will be left in its place and again, an extra row will be added to the board. The question mark symbol, on the other hand, is known as the 'Walking Mystery' icon. Should it appear, all adjacent symbols will transform into question marks, too, before they all roam the board. After they have settled in a position, they will all show one of the symbols featured on reel 1, which can help players to form a combination. 

All standard symbols can also appear in a giant variation, spanning either 2x2 or 3x3 positions, with these immediately dropping to the bottom of the screen. Symbols below them are removed from play, and new ones are dropped in from the top.  

Last but not least is the free spins mode, which is triggered when three or more scatter icons appear simultaneously. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 of these bonus symbols will award players with 10, 12, 18, or 25 free spins in that order. During this round, all of the aforementioned mechanics remain in play. However, should an extra row be added, it will stay in place for the rest of the round. Again, this is capped at a total of 8 rows. It's possible to retrigger this mode, too, with three scatter icons awarding an additional three spins. 

Hot Gems Xtreme is loaded with a huge variety of symbols, bonus features, and impressive visuals. One of the most notable bonus mechanics revolves around expanding reels, which can activate a total of 262,144 paylines when all eight are in play.