Chests of Gold Review
Chests of Gold sounds like a promising title for an online slot, and All41 Studios could have attached it to any number of slot themes, such as ancient ruins or pirates. Instead, they’ve gone for an archery contest in a forest glade, veering more towards Robin Hood territory.
Taking from the rich to give to the poor is all well and good, but we were more interested in checking out what this slot gives to the player!
Design
There’s nothing to get excited about when Chests of Gold launches, at least from a design point of view. A woodland glade forms the backdrop, with a collection of generic and themed symbols spinning up on the reels. The scene switches to a castle for the bonus rounds, when gameplay ramps up as the bonus mechanics come into play.
A stirring orchestral soundtrack gives the game a sense of drama that seems a little out of place during the base game. This is a game that’s based entirely around the bonus features, with very good reason!
Gameplay
The archery target is the Wild symbol in Chests of Gold, substituting for all other symbols, apart from the treasure chests. Wilds appear on reels 2, 3 and 4, so they can’t generate wins on their own.
Chests of Gold is really all about the bonus rounds. Rather than spinning up combinations of Scatters to activate the bonus rounds, this game offers a collection feature. Every red, green and blue chest that lands on the reel sends a coin to its corresponding collection point, alongside the reels. Any chest can open to trigger its free spins bonus feature at any point during gameplay.
Red Treasure Chest Bonus
The bonus starts with 5 free spins on an expanded 5 x 6 set of reels. This increases the number of paylines to 100, while a Nudging Wilds feature fills entire reels with Wild symbols for increased winning opportunities. Landing red chests during the feature awards additional free spins.
Green Treasure Chest Bonus
Green chests award 10 free spins, which come with special Coin symbols. Each Coin reveals either a value worth 1x or 10x your wager, or a letter from one of the Jackpot prizes. Collect all the letters to spell out the name of a Jackpot and the prize is yours!
Blue Treasure Chest Bonus
Five free spins come with a constantly changing multiplier on every spin, worth 2x, 3x, 5x, or 10x. Any additional blue chests that land during the feature award extra free spins.
Win potential
You won’t win back your stake even for five-of-a-kind playing card wins, so it’s the themed symbols that you’ll want to see lining up across paylines in Chests of Gold. They pay up to 2.5x your bet, with the exception of the moody young man, who tops the paytable with a maximum payout worth 5x your stake.
The three bonus features could lead to the biggest payouts in Chests of Gold. They can trigger singly, in combination and even all at once for spectacular winning potential! The four jackpot prizes pay out multiples of your total bet as follows:
- Mini: 25x
- Minor: 50x
- Major: 500x
- Grand: 10,000x
It’s not a feature that’s available in the UK, but in some jurisdictions there’s an option to buy the bonus, tailoring the bonus round to your preference. It costs from 20x your bet for free spins with Nudging Wilds, up to 110x the bet for the full suite of bonus features. You’re not guaranteed to win back the cost of the feature, so this shouldn’t be viewed as a fast track to a winning outcome.
Our Verdict
We found Chests of Gold to be a fairly average game right up until the bonus rounds started to kick in. Even then, the symbols didn’t necessarily land in our favour, but the variety of bonuses kept our interest up.
Chests of Gold isn’t going to set on the online gaming world alight, but there’s plenty to enjoy, particularly when the Power Combo starts triggering multiple bonuses at once. The 10,000x Grand Jackpot prize certainly makes this a game worth exploring in more detail, so we don’t think All41 Studios will find there’s any shortage of players!
Marianne's interest in slots was sparked by a win on a one-arm bandit at an old-fashioned seaside arcade. These days she's turned her back on classic games, and has made it her mission to track down the most exciting slots offering innovative bonus features - and a great soundtrack!
Learn more about Marianne here
