Gold Boom Slot Review

29/07/2024 | Categories: Microgaming Slots | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 21/11/2024

We have not talked about Slingshot Studios much on our platform. Using our search engine, we discovered that we only mentioned this developer three times on BTCGOSU and once in a casino review. We first learned of this company when it partnered with Microgaming, Games Global now, in 2018, in September of that year. Yet, based on our research, it has been operating since 2016 from the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. However, over the years, it has managed to produce only twenty-two titles. But these games are available at hundreds of casinos, and the most popular ones of these are this supplier’s Gold Fusion slot and its Game of Thrones Power Stacks Link & Win one.

Slingshot, acting as a Games Global exclusive studio, released Gold Boom in mid-June at exclusive casinos and gave it a wide release on the 26th of that month. Per the provider’s creative director, Richard Vermaak, this is their second product to include the Bonus Recharge mode, and it offers random jackpot prizes. The chief product officer at Games Global, Andy Booth, added in the press release for this slot that it is set for explosive performance and should dig up terrific results for operators. That said, after a month on the market, it has only managed to do relatively well in the United Kingdom and Portugal and has failed to impress elsewhere. Is there a reason for that, or is this game unjustifiably getting overlooked? We explore this below.

Theme & Design

Of course, the theme here is mining for gold, and we have a history of reviewing titles with this motif. That is inevitable, as it is well-established in the slot sphere. Off the top of our heads, products with this theme we have analyzed here include Max Miner, Mine Crash, and Mary’s Mining Mania. We are sure there are a few more we cannot think of right now. Overall, in the sphere, the most popular mining spinners appear to be Mining Pots of Gold by Gamerburger Studios, Dwarf Mine by Yggdrasil, E!a Game’s Lucky Dwarfs, and Drill That Gold from Pragmatic Play.

We must say that the presentation in Gold Boom is pretty good. The game has an old-timey miner character that is apparently named Doug Deep and looks to guide you through this underground gaming adventure. He looks similar to other famous online miners, boasting a big white beard and hat. That is the cliché miner look that most studios have adopted. Examples include Endrophina’s Dynamite Miner, OneTouch’s Fortune Miner, Moolah Miner from Genii, and Lucky Gold Miner by 1Spin4Win. The graphics here are cartoony. The action unfolds inside a mine with the reels held inside a wooden structure that holds the mine up.

You get a decent number of animations here that play at virtually all times and keep things visually engaging throughout your gaming fun, as Doug reacts to layout happenings right of the reel grid, where the spin functions, the feature buy button, and the bet selector sit. You get the four jackpot prizes at the top of the screen, and at the bottom, there is a black bar with your site balance.

You get a country tune for background music that does not take much focus off what is happening in your sessions, and the same goes for the sound effects used here.

Specs & Gameplay

The online gambling entertainment in Gold Boom transpires on a five-reel, three-row setup with twenty paylines. The most common RTP setting in this game is 96.14%. Two RTP iterations are available, one of 94.04% and the other of 92.12%. The hit frequency of Gold Boom is 26, the variance high, and the bet sizes start at $0.20, moving up to a top wager of $40 per round in this game that can yield a maximum prize of x5,650.

Gold Boom has six low-pay royals that generate wins for three to five matching symbol combos, with the top payouts these tokens can produce being x1 or x2 for five identical symbols from this group, landing on a payline on the same spin. There are also six premiums in this slot. These are a skull, a lantern, a barrel, a pick-axe, a bird, and Doug. These create wins from x5 to x10 for five-of-a-kind combinations.

A stack of dynamites is the wild here, delivering wins up to x50 for five stacks appearing in view, and a gold nugget is the scatter symbol, and it can also produce an x50 win for five scatter stopping in view.

Bonus Features

As you enjoy the base game of Gold Boom, five types of mine carts may show up randomly atop of the last reel from the right. To activate the rewards, a wild must hit beneath them. Several prizes can get won on one spin, and each can move the carts one reel to the left. The mine cart rewards can be an extra scatter, a wild multiplier up to a value of x5, a wild reel, a walking wild reel, or letters for the Collection Prize Free Spins game.

The latter refers to spelling out the names of the four jackpots above the grid – MINI, MINOR, MAJOR, or GRAND for wins up to x2,500. The MAJOR and GRAND ones, x250 and x2,500, can only get claimed in the base game via randomly awarded MAJOR and GRAND spins. That extra round starts with mine carts above all reels, and a cart shall appear on the rightmost one on each spin. Before this round kicks off, a wheel spins to award one of four free spin features. You can buy your way into this bonus for a price of fifty times your stake.

GOSU Verdict

We have seen people hate on this game, and we do not understand why. It is essentially a reskin of Rabbit in the Hat 2, but we think the presentation here is much better and think this is an overall Okay slot. It is not exceptional, nor does it supply anything new or stunning. It can also be somewhat complex with its various features for newbies. That said, it is a decent game and one of the better additions to the genre in our eyes. It could use a higher max bet, but since we are not high rollers, we do not mind, and we assume most of our readers will be happy with a top wager of $40 on hand in Slingshot’s Gold Boom.