Gold Digger Megaways: Slot Overview
Gold Digger Megaways is a slot that surprises in a
couple of ways. On the maker's 🍉 side, Gold Digger turned out to be an unforeseen hit of
sorts and one of iSoftBet's most played slots during 🍉 its release year in 2024. For us,
Gold Digger Megaways loaded without any mention of the ubiquitous Hold&Win label, which
🍉 seems to be on everything iSoftBet does lately. Oh wait, there it is, clearly displayed
once you're past the load 🍉 screen. It makes sense since the original was all about
tapping open the right rock to trigger a fairly sophisticated 🍉 streak respin bonus round
full of all sorts of modifiers. Fans will be pleased to know it has returned, this 🍉 time
boosted by the power of Big Time Gaming's Megaways engine and a new character.
Gus is
back too. The moustachioed 🍉 miner hangs out on the left side of the screen, lobbing
modifiers at the grid, and offering general commentary or 🍉 words of encouragement. Then
there's his loyal canine Boomer, also assisting players from time to time. Mining games
abound, as 🍉 you are no doubt aware, and even though Gus looks like 50 other slot miners
out there, he and his 🍉 doggie pal are an amiable duo that add a bunch of personality to
the game. Aside from them, the view 🍉 of the mine competes with a larger game grid than
before, plus a Gold Bet option, feature buy button, and 🍉 a box of gold-bearing ore in
the corner.
Gold Digger moves from its traditional 5x3, 20-payline game grid to one
made 🍉 up of 6 reels plus a top tracker reel to provide up to 117,649 ways to win. The
lowest number 🍉 of possible ways is 324, or when engaging the Gold Bet, 10,000 is the
lowest number of Megaways. The Gold 🍉 Bet adds 50% extra to the regular stake value,
which ranges from 20 p/c toR$/€20 per spin. A medium volatile 🍉 game, RTP varies
depending on how you play the game, from 95.97% in regular mode, 95.98% when using the
Gold 🍉 Bet, or 96.86% when buying the bonus round.
As for the paytable, eight regular pay
symbols are used in the game, 🍉 forming wins when matching tiles land left to right from
the first reel. The four low pays are J-A card 🍉 ranks worth 0.5 to 0.75x the bet for
six, whereas high pays are lamps, picks, gold carts, and Gus worth 🍉 1.5 to 25x the bet
for six of a kind. Appearing only on the top tracker reel, wilds substitute for 🍉 any
symbol except gold nuggets to form winning combinations.
Gold Digger Megaways: Slot
Features
When the original Gold Digger slot dropped, the 🍉 Hold&Win series was more or
less a twinkle in iSoftBet's eye, rather than the mainstay it has developed into. As
🍉 such, the bonus round was known as Gold Link Respins back then. Now it's called Gold
Hold & Win Respins 🍉 and is joined by Cascading Wins, Mining Modifiers, plus a bonus
buy.
Cascading Wins
Every winning symbol is removed from the reels 🍉 and replaced by
cascading symbols falling from above or to the side in the case of the tracker reel.
This 🍉 may lead to new wins and the cascading stops when no more combinations are
created.
Mining Modifiers
On any spin in the 🍉 base game, one of these modifiers may
randomly activate:
Max Megaways – the reels are filled with symbols, so the max 🍉 number
of Megaways is produced.
– the reels are filled with symbols, so the max number of
Megaways is produced. Mystery 🍉 Blast – mystery TNT boxes land, which Gus blows up to all
reveal the same identical symbol.
– mystery TNT boxes 🍉 land, which Gus blows up to all
reveal the same identical symbol. Boomer Bonus Add – Gus lets Boomer loose 🍉 to sniff out
an extra gold nugget. This always triggers the Gold Hold & Win Respins bonus round.
–
Gus lets 🍉 Boomer loose to sniff out an extra gold nugget. This always triggers the Gold
Hold & Win Respins bonus round. 🍉 Boomer Lose To Win – Boomer is summoned to change a
losing spin into a winning one or trigger a 🍉 bonus.
Gold Hold & Win Respins
Landing 5 or
more gold nuggets in the base game triggers the Gold Hold & Win 🍉 Respins. This bonus
game is played on a separate reel set where only gold nuggets or special reel booster
symbols 🍉 may land. Here, 3 respins are awarded, to begin with, and every time a new
symbol lands, it resets the 🍉 respin count. When respins run out, the accumulated prize
is awarded. Gold nuggets have values of 1x to 20x the 🍉 bet or jackpot values. These are
Mini, Major, or Mega, worth 25x, 50x, or 100x the bet. Reel boosters behave 🍉 like
so:
Blues Gems add one additional space to their respective reel until they reach the
top of the mine.
add one 🍉 additional space to their respective reel until they reach the
top of the mine. Green Gems increase all landed nuggets 🍉 to the next possible
value.
increase all landed nuggets to the next possible value. Red Gems award an extra
life that 🍉 is used once when respins run to zero.
award an extra life that is used once
when respins run to zero. 🍉 Purple Gems increase the win multiplier by +1 each time.
Multipliers are applied to total winnings when the bonus ends.
One 🍉 more feature is
Boomer's Boost which activates randomly and sees Boomer add extra nuggets or boosters
to the grid.
Bonus Buy
Another 🍉 potentially useful extra the original Gold Digger did
not have is the chance to buy the bonus. The cost for 🍉 doing so is 75x the bet and
guarantees 5 gold nuggets will hit.
Gold Digger Megaways: Slot Verdict
Players who dug
Gold 🍉 Digger should be delighted with the re-release. iSoftBet hasn't just stretched the
original game out to fit on an enlarged 🍉 Megaways grid but have injected a few new bits
as well. Gus' friendly presence was felt throughout Gold Digger, now 🍉 the introduction
of Boomer, his dog, ups the likeability stakes in what was already a highly personable
game.
Boomer isn't just 🍉 a cheerful chum to have around; his modifying abilities
actually came in pretty handy during the test. He literally saved 🍉 one bonus round by
dropping an extra life onto the reels on the final respin, thereby resetting the count
back 🍉 to three. At its core, the respins bonus round remains the same, with a couple of
alterations. One is the 🍉 larger reel set than before; the other is you don't have to
collect three gems to benefit from their modifying 🍉 abilities. Just one is enough. Plus,
you've got Boomer in there doing his thing and three modest jackpot nuggets as 🍉 well. On
the whole, it's not a gigantic change, but the updates felt like they streamlined the
experience, making it 🍉 at least as fun as it was before, if not more so.
Gold Digger
Megaways ended up being a successful remake 🍉 in practically all regards. It boasts an
extra character, ups the charm, adds additional features, and offers an expanded bonus
🍉 game. In short, iSoftBet has wedged in just about everything needed to tempt fans back
underground for a repeat performance.