Gold Strike Bonanza Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Gold Strike Bonanza Review

With Big Bass Bonanza being such a massive hit, it’s no wonder different copycat releases are starting to crop up all over the place. Gold Strike Bonanza does very little to attempt to conceal the obvious influence, although you’re taken from a cozy fishing expedition to the toil and sweat of the hard life of a gold mining prospector.

The audiovisuals are deliberately dated to give off that retro vibe, not unlike what you get in the original Fishin’ Frenzy. The base game is as barebones as we imagine the old prospector’s life to be, and he’ll help you collect gold nugget prizes up to 2,000x in the bonus round. Extra spins and multiplier upgrades are available as well, but there is nothing here we haven’t seen many times before.

Gold Strike Bonanza Slot - Reels Screen

Gold Strike Bonanza Slot Review Features

The top-tier Dog symbol pays 200x your stake for 5 of a kind, while the other premium symbols pay between 20 and 50 x your stake for the same. There are no wild symbols to help you out in the base game, as the prospector cannot appear and collect gold until the bonus round triggers.

You need 3+ Dynamite scatters anywhere in view to trigger the Bonus Round, and you get 10, 15 or 20 free spins when you land 3, 4 or 5 scatters, respectively. The Prospector Wild now comes into play, and it can land on any reel. As a wild, the prospector steps in for all regular pay symbols to help complete winning combos, but it’s also a Collector symbol.

All gold nuggets that land come with cash prizes attached, and if you land the Prospector Wild at the same time, the gold nugget prizes are collected.

The nuggets are worth between 2x and 2,000x your stake, and the Prospector himself is then collected in the multiplier and extra spins trail you see above the grid. The trail works as follows:

• Collect 4 prospectors to win +10 free spins and an x2 gold nugget multiplier.
• Collect 4 more prospectors to win +10 free spins and an x4 gold nugget multiplier.
• Collect 4 more prospectors to win +15 free spins and an x10 gold nugget multiplier.

In addition to the above, the Prospector may trigger 1 of the 2 following modifiers at random times in the bonus round:

• Gold Rush - makes gold nuggets sticky as the remaining positions respin, and the process repeats if you land at least 1 new gold nugget.
• Big Blast Bonanza - dynamite thrown from the prospector changes positions into gold nuggets.

The 200 Spins Gold Strike Bonanza Slot Review Experience

We grinded along in the base game with little to nothing to show for it, until we finally hit the 3 dynamite scatters we needed to trigger the bonus round. This happens at 0:54 into the 3:46-minute highlights video, and you can see how much gold prizes and regular winnings we racked up by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

We tried to like this game, we really did, as it incorporates elements from different releases we do enjoy. There was something annoying about the way the prospector “dances” each time you win a smaller nugget though, and the retro audiovisual style is somehow not as cozy with this mining theme as it is in the original Fishin’ Frenzy. There is also the fact that everything in the game is so obviously borrowed from other successful releases, so there is nothing original to see here.

You’ll have to rely on decent symbol values to get you through the base game grind, as there are literally no features to help you out.

The bonus round can go on for a good while though, as winning extra spins didn’t seem all that hard. However, even with gold nuggets worth up to 2,000x your stake, you’ll be hard pressed to close in on the announced 50,000x potential (capped at £250,000). The random prospector modifiers can help, of course, but they don’t come along all that often.

Pros

• Top-tier dog symbol pays 200x for 5-oak
• FS w/ up to 2,000x gold nuggets to collect
• Prospector collected for extra spins and multiplier
• 2 randomly triggered prospector modifiers
• Win up to 50,000x your stake (£250,000 cap)

Cons

• 95 % RTP is below average
• Core elements are lifted from other games

If you enjoy Gold Strike Bonanza Slot Review you should also try:

Bigger Bass Bonanza - is, as the title more than indicates, a bigger and bolder version of the original smash hit, and the fisherman wild collects cash fish prizes in the bonus round, as usual. The fisherman is also collected in the trail above the grid, awarding extra spins and multipliers up to x10. The max win is 4,000x your stake, and it can come from a single cash fish.

Bonanza Megapays - is a follow-up release from Big Time Gaming, and it’s basically a jackpot version of their highly popular and iconic mining slot that broke the Megaways engine into the mainstream. The bonus round still comes with the classic unlimited progressive multiplier, and the Mega Jackpot starts at €300,000.

Fire in the Hole - is one to try if you want a more complex and feature rich mining slot experience, and this popular NoLimit City release comes with cascading wins that unlock bottom rows. You’ll also benefit from xBomb Wilds that increase the win multiplier, and you can win up to 60,000x your stake in the enhanced hold-and-win style bonus round.

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