Lava Gold

Overview Lava Gold

BetSoft in their latest game invite players to be cast back into the Jurassic period, where enormous dinosaurs roam the earth and amazing plants populate an alien landscape before the imprint of humankind. If dinosaurs weren’t enough of a thrill on their own, this slot also features an active volcano, which can be heard exploding and rumbling throughout the game. This game unlike conventional free slots casino, runs a cluster pay dynamic, meaning that wins are created by landing clusters of the same symbols together.

Features for this incredibly animated and realistic slot machine include cluster wins, avalanches, and a great free spins round. The free spins round is especially enticing, considering that the middle reel with every spin will be full of matching symbols, guaranteeing you pay out from the first spin. This feature also comes with a multiplier bonus. This multiplier grows by 1x for every spin, meaning that by the end you will have a 10x multiplier applied to your win.

Theme and Symbols

The theme for Lava Gold is almost certainly inspired by the classic film Jurassic Park. It has to be said that this game is built to a standard that is almost film-like in its quality. Indeed, when you open the game it immediately has a slide that boasts ‘true cinematic gaming’ and they are not wrong. From the incredibly detailed dinosaurs to the hugely realistic volcano bubbling away in the background, the quality of this game is stunning.

Speaking of the background, BetSoft has put a great effort into situating players into the Jurassic era. From the point of view of the screen, players look out through the edges of a thick jungle onto a placid lake. Further off in the distance to the right of the reels is the towering volcano which bellows great plumes of gritty ash into the sky as you spin the reels. Various dinosaurs you will notice traverse the screen too, including flying pterodactyls.

The board for Lava Gold has been cleverly designed to look like it is made from still cooling lava. Its black rock border is delicately detailed with small veins of lava which speaks to the excellent care and detail that have gone into creating this slot. Apart from that, the board is one big hollow space ready to receive cluster symbols.

The symbols for this slot are a mixture of classic low-value 10, J, Q, K, A card symbols (decorated to look like they are made of lava) and picture symbols. The picture symbols are greater in value. These comprise a dinosaur’s foot, dinosaur eggs, a screaming pterodactyl, the head of a T-Rex as well as a curious purple gem. The T-Rex is worth the most out of these. The only real special symbol for this game is the wild symbol which is decorated as an exploding volcano. There is no free spins scatter as the free spins round is triggered in a different way using a meter, which we will come onto in the features section of this review.

Game Play

Lava Gold is played on a 5-reel cluster pay dynamic playing window with 5 symbols per reel. To create winners in this game, players must land 5 or more matching symbols next to each other to create a winning ‘cluster’. The matches are only counted when vertically and horizontally aligned. The betting range for Lava Gold is 10p to £100. To change your betting level per spin you can use the bet adjuster tool located at the bottom of the screen in the middle.

Further information regarding the slot, including a display of the paytable, can be accessed by clicking on the settings menu. The spin button is located on the right-hand side of the reels. The same space will be filled with the auto-spin button if you set up that option in the settings.

The volatility for Lava Gold is rated on the low end of the spectrum. The return to player percentage for Lava Gold is 96.02%, which is roughly average for a game such as this. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is a pretty poor 161x your stake.

Features

There are two main bonus features for this game. The first is the game’s cluster wins/avalanche dynamic. The cluster mechanic works as you’d expect it to, you don’t match symbols across the board as you do in conventional slots. Instead, you land them in clusters of 5 or more. The symbols in each cluster, each of which has its value, payout according to that value. The larger the cluster, the larger the payout. When you trigger a cluster win, the symbols involved in that cluster are immediately removed and replaced by another set form above. This is what is referred to as the avalanche feature.

This feature gives you more chance to win from the same spin. The feature will only stop when the new symbols that fall do not trigger a win. The maximum size cluster that it is possible to form is 25 symbols.

The second feature in this game is the free spins round. To trigger it you need to form different clusters from the lowest to the highest paying symbols. You will notice that to the right of the playing window is a meter. This meter is called the Lava meter and has the game’s symbols on it. Each time you land a cluster you will fill that symbol’s space on the meter. Once all of the symbols on the meter are full, the bonus will be triggered, giving players 10 free spins. You can get each of the symbol meter charges throughout the game, you don’t need to land them all in one spin.

You should also be aware that the meter will drop to zero if you change the bet level mid-way through a game.
Before each spin in the bonus round, the middle reel will become full of the same symbol, guaranteeing you a win from the off. The free spins round also comes with a multiplier modifier which grows from 1x to 10x with each consecutive spin. The multiplier is attached to the win of every relevant spin. The avalanche feature however is not active in the free spins round.

Conclusion

On the plus side, the low volatility nature of this slot means that bonuses are triggered often which helps player create better wins. Plus, the theme and graphics quality are out of this world. On the downside, however, the top payout is very small, plus the features could be a little more generous. However, if you are looking for little wins and fun over massive lucrative potential, this is a game for you. BetSoft has created something bold, exciting, and cinematic with Lava Gold.