Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Game Show Review

21/10/2021 | Categories: Bitcoin Live Game Show Reviews | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 05/01/2024

Having acquired the Scandinavian powerhouse that is NetEnt, Evolution Gaming now has access to all the slot developer’s intellectual property. One of these is the popular slot machine, Gonzo’s Quest. Always on the lookout for a new and innovative way to produce live casino games, particularly when it comes to its game show releases, Evolution Gaming saw an opportunity with the title character of that slot. The result is Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt.

The live game was launched in early 2021 and brought an entirely new way to play live casino games to the table. We’ve often said (and we’re not the only ones) that it is impossible to create a live casino game based on a slot. Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt is about as close as you’re going to get.

Theme and Design

Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt looks like an online slot. The host stands in front of an animated background, consisting of both Gonzo (featuring mild animations) and an Aztec ruin, and the slot reels, which are known as the Prize Wall in this game. At present, Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt is being streamed out of Evolution Gaming’s Riga-based studio and is mobile and cryptocurrency-friendly.

Below the massive prize wall are a series of blocks, which you’re going to be hoping to land to win prizes. There, wagering options can also be found there, alongside one or two statistical options which may (or may not) prove significant to you, depending on how you like to bet. The live casino game has an RTP of 96.56%, and that is around about the same as the actual slot. However, while this highly volatile game is played “like a slot” and is “based on a slot”, it is important to note that it is “not a slot”. What does this mean for gameplay? Let’s find out below…

Specs and Gameplay

The game is best divided into four parts: a betting window, the Treasure Hunt, the Prize Drop, and the Big Reveal. Bets are placed under the main Prize Wall, and when the window is open, you are free to choose how many Treasure Symbols you want to look for on the Prize Wall. You can wager on one to twenty of them. The more symbols (or stones) you look for, the costlier your bet, but the better your odds of success. Your total bet is constructed by multiplying your number of searches by the bet you want to wager. For instance, if you wager $2 on one symbol, $4 on another, and opt to have three searches, your total stake will amount to $18, consisting of a $6 bet multiplied by three searches.

Six symbols appear in this game. There are twenty-seven brown stones or symbols (1:1), twenty orange ones (2:1), twelve purple (4:1), seven green (8:1), three blue stones (20:1), and one red (65:1) stone.

After betting, the stones will be flipped over and shuffled. Each player will see their own unique Prize Wall, so the game will be different for everyone. You can now turn over stones based on the number of “searches” or “picks” you opted to bet on. For instance, if you bet on three orange stones/symbols with ten searches, you can turn over ten stones to try and find three orange symbols. This Treasure Hunt stage sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

After selecting which stones you want to turn over, the Prize Drop stage begins. An animated Gonzo Pizarro will initiate the phase, and between 0-7 bonus prizes can appear on the wall. Each offers a multiplier ranging from 2x up to 10x or fixed cash prizes worth 3.00 up to 100.00. On occasion, a Re-Drop mode may also kick into gear at random. This is essentially a repeat of the prize drop, and it could occur up to ten times in succession. This can boost the availability of prizes on individual stones by up to 20,000x.

When Gonzo’s done mucking about with the Prize Drop stage, the Big Reveal begins. The stones you have wagered on are revealed. If you fail to match any, you will lose. If you do match some, you’ll pocket a prize based on the value of the stone and your bet. If multipliers apply to your stones, you can win even more, with prizes capped at a maximum of $1,000,000 or its equivalent in other currencies, such as Bitcoin.

Bonus Features

There are no side bets to be found in Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt. You could argue that the Prize Drop and Re-Drop modes constitute bonuses, but they don’t count as side bets as you don’t have to wager anything extra to make use of them.