Gopher Gold Slot Review

For those of you unfamiliar with them, gophers are burrowing rodents, and there are approximately 35 different species of these living in Central and Northern America. They are actually commonly known for their extensive tunnelling activities, and it’s with this idea in mind that Microgaming decided to create the online video slot, Gopher Gold. As such, you’ll be taken deep underground to the burrows of the gophers, where you’ll be able to dig for your own gold. The game itself has been given a sort of country and western theme, with banjo music playing in the background and the sound of pick axes hammering away at rocks accompanying it. You’ll find that there have been some nice graphics incorporated into the game as well, and the special features which are also included make your whole game play that much more entertaining. You’ll also see that nuggets of gold can be found scattered across the bottom of the screen, perhaps giving you even more incentive to continue spinning the reels.

The Underground Treasure Hunt

As far as the layout of this game is concerned, you’ll be presented with a five reel and three row interface to play on, so this is a fairly regular screen for you to spin the reels of. Upon these reels, you’ll find various different symbols, starting with golden-coloured A, J, K, Q and 10 icons. Joining these particular options, you’ll also be able to see four other standard icons, the first of which is a silver lantern to guide your way through the underground tunnels. The next one is a mine cart which is filled with a pile of gold, while the third one is a pick axe just waiting to chisel away at a rock for some jewels. Finally, the fourth symbols is represented by some sticks of dynamite in the middle of exploding.

As far as the rest of the interface is concerned, you’ll see that Microgaming have included a total of five different pay lines, although these can be customised at your own leisure by using the ‘Select Lines’ button, or by pressing one of the numbers down either side of the reels. Furthermore, you’re also able to change around the amount of the wager you place per spin, and this is altered by the plus and minus buttons at the bottom of the screen. The minimum bet begins from $1.25 across all five lines, and this can be increased up to $25 per spin. This amount can be instantly activated by utilising the ‘Bet Max’ button.

Go for Gold!

For a game with such potential behind its base theme, Gopher Gold doesn’t really deliver so highly when it comes to the special features sector. Instead of providing two or three of these, it really only has a single one, which is its wild icon. This is represented by the close up the gopher who has dug up mountains of gold nuggets, and as a wild symbol, this will stand in for any other symbol on the reels in order to form a winning combination.

Joining this, the only other addition that could really be considered partially special is the highest paying icon, which is represented by the game’s logo. If you manage to spin five of these on to a winning pay line, you’ll be sure to receive a maximum pay out of 12,000 coins all at once, depending upon the amount of the wager you place.

Potentially a Let Down

If, like us, you were expecting to play a game filled with fun and exciting specialities, then you’ll probably find this product a bit of a let down. Alright, the fact that there’s a wild symbol included in it is a great plus. Who doesn’t like wilds? But, at the very least, Microgaming could have added a scatter symbol. It seems like the game is only half finished without anything else added to it, and while general game play is quite decent, it can’t live up to the standards of some of the other products from this developer.