Grand Junction: Golden Guns

Slots with a Wild West theme are always popular. But it’s become a bit of an overcrowded marketplace recently, so it takes something pretty special for players to sit up and take notice. Playtech is hoping that Grand Junction: Golden Guns will do just that, thanks to help from a variety of special symbols, plus not one, but two bonus features.

Better still, one of those bonus rounds comes in two parts. Activate the Grand Junction Bonus for a thrilling Hold and Spin game. Land at least three Trains to progress to the second stage, which determines just how much of the jackpot prize you’ll walk away with.

Design

You can always rely on Playtech games when it comes to design. The graphics team work hard to create engaging images that add extra elements of fun into gameplay – after all, this is the developer behind The Age of the Gods slot series.

There’s nothing ground-breaking about the game’s design, but there’s nothing to complain about either. The reels are set against the backdrop of a small mid-western town. Poker card icons spin up on the reels alongside stagecoaches, horses, guns and cowboys.

There’s no soundtrack during base gameplay, just the sound of reels falling into place, although things ramp up a notch during the bonus rounds.

Gameplay

With so many features to discover, it’s worth taking the time for some demo spins when you first start exploring Grand Junction: Golden Guns. And at first, you’ll probably wonder why you’re bothering – there are no reel modifiers, and nothing other than Wild substitutions to keep things moving.

But that changes just as soon as you spin up the right combination of bonus symbols, triggering one of the two bonus rounds aka free spins and Grand Junction Bonus.

The Grand Junction logo can randomly appear behind any of the poker card icons. These are the Scatter symbols that trigger the Grand Junction Bonus, and you’ll need at least five of them in view to get started. There are two stages to the bonus:

• Stage I: You’ll receive 9 free spins on a new set of reels, on which Coins and Trains are sticky. Conductor icons award 3 more free spins. When all spins are completed the Coin multiplier values, each worth up to 5x, are added together and applied to your stake.
• Stage 2: only activated if you collect at least 3 Trains, Stage 2 awards you one of the 4 fixed jackpots – but not necessarily all of it! One spin of a new set of reels reveals a selection of random numbers from 3 – 7.  Your collected Train symbols each reveal a number between 8 – 10. These numbers are added together and shown on a meter attached to your jackpot, showing how much you’ve won.

Win Potential

The J, Q, K and A icons return the lowest rewards, although they can also land as Grand Junction Bonus Scatters, triggering the feature bonus. Premium symbols include the cowboy, horse and stagecoach, but it’s the cowgirl who attracts the biggest payouts. Wilds don’t feature on the paytable, but they can substitute for all other icons, apart from Scatters. And Scatter wins can return up to 5x your bet.

But it’s the four fixed jackpot prizes that will be of most interest to players. Reach Stage 2 of the Grand Junction Bonus and one of the payouts is yours. How much of it you’ll receive is determined by the total number of your bonus spin adds up to. A meter attached to your jackpot shows how much of it is yours. Possible awards are as follows:

• Mini Jackpot: 10x - 20x
• Minor Jackpot: 25x – 100x
• Major Jackpot: 50x - 500x
• Grand Jackpot:  = 130x -  2.000x

Our Verdict

When you first launch Grand Junction: Golden Guns and start spinning, there doesn’t seem to be that much to get excited about. But don’t be fooled by this apparently simple 5-reel slot – once you activate one of the bonus rounds things really move up a gear!

Sounds and animations reassure you that this is what you’ve been waiting for, along with those potential jackpot payouts!

It’s a little disappointing that there are no base game modifiers to add some extra interest. But the feature rounds more than makeup for it, at least in our opinion. Head on over to try it out for yourself, and see whether you agree with us!