Gold Strike Bonanza
By Blueprint Gaming
Overview
Gold Strike Bonanza from Blueprint Gaming transports players into a classic gold rush adventure, deep within a rugged rocky gorge. This slot embraces a deliberately retro, land-based casino aesthetic, delivering cheerful graphics that evoke nostalgic gameplay. Played on a traditional 5-reel, 3-row grid with 10 fixed paylines, it offers straightforward action. As a Medium volatility game, it balances frequent wins with the potential for substantial payouts, including an impressive €/$250,000 Max Win. Players seeking familiar mechanics combined with high-value gold nugget collections will find this prospector-themed pursuit incredibly rewarding and engaging.
Gameplay & Features
Decent symbol values provide the thrills in the base game until three or moredynamite scatter symbolsland to trigger free spins. The number of free spins you get is 10, 15, or 20 when 3, 4, or 5 scatters are in view. In free spins, theprospector symbolmakes its entrance. The prospector iswild, so it replaces any regular pay symbol to help complete wins. More importantly perhaps, is the way the prospectorcollects gold nugget symbols. When gold nugget symbols land, they display acash value of 2 to 2,000x the bet. If any are in view at thesame timeas a prospector symbol, all of thecash prizes are collectedand awarded to the player. Hold your horses pardner, there's more. Each time a prospector symbol lands, it iscollected on a meterrunning along the top of the reels. Collecting enough of them awards additional free spins and multipliers. Collecting4 prospector wildsawards +10 additional free spins and anx2 multiplier. Collecting4 more prospector wildsawards +10 additional free spins and anx4 multiplier. Collectinganother 4 prospector wildsawards +15 additional free spins and anx10 multiplier. Note that themultiplier applies to any gold nugget symbols the prospector collects, not any line wins. In addition, there is a chance the prospectorrandomly triggersone of thesemodifiersduring free spins:
Gold Rush– gold symbols are held in place and reels respin. If at least 1 extra gold symbol land, another respin will occur. Big Blast Bonanza– the prospector throws dynamite on random reel positions, changing them into gold symbols
Final Thoughts
If you expect to find novelty when you fire up a new game, maybe be transported somewhere you've never been before, then it would be better to give Gold Strike Bonanza a miss. Practically everything from its ubiquitous mining theme, old fashioned appearance, and recycled features are unoriginal to an almost distracting level. It kind of made us wonder why you'd bother playing this and not the progenitor slots that came up with the ideas in the first place. It might not have been so noticeable if Blueprint had used theBig Bass Bonanzaconcepts with an interesting theme. But here we are, pickaxing for gold, one more time, with a bushy-bearded prospector all plaid and overalls. Gee, this guy gets around.
There really isn't much to dissect in terms of gameplay. Gold Strike Bonanza certainly has the retro vibes the studio was going for, making it basically Fishin' Frenzy with nuggets. Solid symbol values are appreciated in the base game, and the bonus is where players get a chance to start reeling in the gold money symbols. To be fair, when you get down to it, the entertainment is just as good here as it has been elsewhere, and a prospector pulling in precious metal symbols does make logical sense. The game comes with Blueprints standard 50,000x win cap but the actual potential is no doubt far below that. However, the gold nugget symbols are higher here than they usually are - that 2,000x one in particular. It is also possible to win a larger number of free spins, plus you get an x4 on the second trigger rather than an x3.
If you're partial to a traditional money symbol collection slot where everything feels familiar, then Gold Strike Bonanza should well suffice. Yet, there is a stack of these slots floating around now, and Gold Strike Bonanza's tweaks struggle to set the game apart from the bunch.
