The Grand Galore

Introduction

Elk Studios, a developer from Sweden, has taken the expression ‘go big or go home’ to another level with this impressive glamour-filled slot. Named The Grand Galore, the developers did not just go ‘big’, they went ‘grand’ with their new slot. With expanding reels, a ridiculous number of ways that they can win and higher than normal potential, this slot is really one to watch. As for the rest, such as the design and the gameplay itself, we are on the fence with but let’s carry on and we will let you know what we think.
Preparing the players to be stunned by the magnificent riches in store, this slot has steered away from the impressive graphics and atmosphere for a more clear-cut design; the whole thing is overly simplistic. Obviously, we know that some of the most expensive things in the world are the more subtle pieces, we do not think this should apply to slots and we really wish that there was more glitz and glam with this one. There’s nothing to look at, and while the focus should be on the reels, there needs to be something else to entertain us with. The soundtrack is a laid-back house-like theme, which makes up a little for the lack of visuals.

The Grand Galore is a 6-reel, 4 row grid with an initial starting ways to win at 4,096. With the chance to have up to 10 symbols on a reel, this ways to win increases to a potential 1,000,000! Thanks to this, big rewards can be expected with up to 10,000 times the stake from a single spin. Alongside all of this, there is respins, expanding reels and stacked respins!

Bet Strategy

This slot boasts a 20p to £100 per spin wager range which is relatively average for the slots we are seeing on the market at the minute. This offers all players, whether they be high rollers, or like smaller bets for moderate wins, the chance to win big as they spin, with a maximum of 10,000 times the stake; this offers the player £2,000 to £1,000,000!
On the RTP front, it sits at 96% which is the average of the current free slots on the market. This means that roughly for every £100 you put into the machine, you will get £96; however since this is calculated over millions of spins, with every spin on the machine random, and therefore is not necessarily what you will be looking at!
There is also a high volatility, sat at 8/10 by the ELK mathematicians, which we think is great for the kind of slot it is. As far as hit frequency is concerned, the players can expect a win every five spins, or 22.9% of the time, which is surprising considering there is respins on every win the player lands, more in the features!

Symbols

Wins are made my landing three or more matching symbols on the reels starting on the first reel and continuing left to right. Winning symbols can land on any row, giving an initial 4,096 ways to win. However, with the expanding reels, the potential is endless.
There are nine regular symbols for the player to win with – these include four low paying, four mid-paying and a premium. There’s not needed to prepare to be dazzled, especially for the low and mid-paying. Landing six of the lower-paying symbols A, K, Q or J gives the player 0.3 to 0.4 times the stake, while the mid-paying gems aren’t a whole lot better, giving 0.5 to 0.9 times the stake when matching six.
The only saving grace where the symbols are concerned is the fact that there is a premium symbol – the golden cat. This looks a little like the stunning lion statue which is situated outside of the MGM Grand on the LV strip! Landing six of these will give you a total of 5 times the bet in rewards.
The only other symbol is the golden letter ‘W’ which acts as the wild; this can substitute for any symbol except for the bonus. A pay line of all wilds will pay at the same rate as the cat – 5 times for six on a pay line.

Features

The main purpose of this slot is to present the impressive expanding reels mechanism that ELK Studios have brought to life. Players will get to experience this mechanism in a variety of respin functions, along with free spins that can be triggered. After a win, an additional row will be added at a random place on the reels. Next, the new symbol positions and the winning symbols will then respin for an additional chance. Reel expansion and respins will continue on the reels until there are no new wins or the player reaches the total of 10 rows high. If all reels are 10 positions high, then there is the maximum of 1,000,000 way to win!

The player can also get Stacked Respins, where two or more rows connect during the respin on the same reel to display the same symbol. Players may also get Synched Respins, where 2 to 5 reels adjacent to one another will are selected at random to sync and land on the same symbol.
There is a sparkling diamond scatter which, when landing on the reels as 3, 4, 5 or 6, will give the player 10, 15, 20 or 25 free spins, respectively. Free spins can also be retriggered during the feature in the same way and there is no cap on the amount you can retrigger. After every five wins, the Grand Synched Respins is triggered on an ever-increasing number of reels from 2 to 5. Also, reels 4, 5 and 6 will expand consecutively to 10 rows!

Conclusion

A quick final thought, this is a good slot, with unnoteworthy graphics and a poor show as far as the actual feel of the game is. However, with the interesting gameplay mechanism, there is something appealing about this unique little slot.