As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And when it comes to gold mining, there are no tougher, faster, and more efficient miners than fang-toothed, pointy-eared and expletive-muttering mineshaft imps famously known as goblins. These little crafty critters excel at pickaxe work, see well in the deep dark of a mine pit, can easily find gold veins, and extract precious nuggets at incredible rates. This is why they are the perfect choice for any slot player looking to strike gold in their favorite pastime. At least this is what developers at Atomic Slot Lab from Bragg Studios believed when they crafted Gold Gobblers, an out-of-ordinary take on the classic gold-mining slot theme. How well do goblins really perform at this activity? Let's take a look.
General overview
The game is played on a 5x3 grid with 243 paylines and volatility listed as medium. The background shows a mountainous landscape on the left and a torchlit entrance to an old-school mine on the right. To the left of the grid, you can see the three protagonists of the game, the titular gold gobblers, each animated, painted in their specific color and showcasing the feature bonus each of them brings. The artwork is truly striking, amusingly attractive and wouldn't feel out of place in a fancy fantasy artbook or a AAA videogame title. Its visual excellence at first glance raises expectations pretty high and sets the tone for the entire game experience later.
As for the symbols, there are ten normal paying symbols: five royals and five mining objects such as pickaxes and ore carts. Special symbols include dynamite wilds that can come with a multiplier of up to 5x attached to them, one mineshaft scatter that awards extra free games, and three differently colored crystal beds in which golden nuggets are nested. These three red, blue, and green crystals are the main objects of desire in this game and what the main mechanics of the game revolve around.
All symbols and game elements are drawn in an entertaining cartoony fashion that characterizes the artistic style of the game. The same is true for the depictions of the members of the mining team on the left who are hilariously animated, cackle aloud and jump for joy whenever their feature is triggered. The musical score switches from atmospheric "drums in the deep" in the base game (yes, this is a LOTR reference, straight from the mines of Moria) to a groovy hard rock tune (because what else, the puns are writing themselves here) with catchy guitar riffs every time one of the features starts. The sounds of the reels stopping are established slot game clicks, no surprises here, while the crystals go "ka-ching!" when they are collected. All visual and audio elements are spot on and fitting for the game theme, revealing the studio's great care for such details.
Features and mechanics
The game employs one big feature, namely the free games, split into three separate subfeatures that work independently but also together as well. Each colored crystal represents one of the bonuses present when their subfeature is triggered. Whenever a crystal symbol lands, there is a random chance it will award eight free games and its specific corresponding perk. Red crystals expand the grid to 5x5, making room for 3125 ways to win, green crystals add extra wilds to reels before the spin ends, and blue ones make sure that all wilds that land carry multipliers of up to 5x.
What's more, these multipliers multiply each other when they appear in the same winway. There's also a random chance that any landed crystal awards an additional eight free games and enables its perk for the remainder of the free games feature. What does this mean? The beauty of these colored subfeatures is that even if you trigger them individually, two or three can overlap and run simultaneously.
Moreover, the previously mentioned extension mechanic can prolong the perk of the, let's say, red feature that is about to expire for the remainder of the recently triggered blue feature. This way, it is possible to chain these features almost indefinitely, which extends player satisfaction and excites to no end. And even that is not all. The previously mentioned mineshaft symbols land in free games only, but they don't require special collection. Instead, each instantly awards a random number of additional free games up to a whopping 42!
Another player-friendly mechanic is the presence of the buy bonus option which we feel is always welcome and can come very handy during dry spells and unfortunate no-win spin streaks. The price may seem steep, amounting to 100x the current bet, but its benefits can easily make up for it. After buying the bonus, you get a spin in which two or even three differently-colored crystal symbols land and trigger their respective features. This means that you get all their corresponding perks alongside 16 or 24 free games. Needless to say, the buy bonus is also a great way to kickstart your game session and check your current luck.
Our final verdict
The game impresses with its elaborate visuals, yes, but it's also perfectly able to maintain your interest with mechanics that live up to the first visual impression. We found the main feature mechanic a true slot player pleaser as it almost removes the distinction between base game and feature play. Since the main feature is divided into three parts and the requirements to enter either of these are correspondingly and relatively lower, these semi-features bleed into the base game and create the impression that all you've been playing is feature play. They can last for many spins, especially during lucky streaks, and the supporting mineshaft feature further reinforces this effect. Time spent in any of these features is considerable, it inspires hope and keeps you on the edge of your seat, constantly expecting the next big hit, a feature retrigger, or a free games extension.
The game makes you feel you've struck gold simply by choosing to play it, and the casino operators will probably pretty much feel the same. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, Gold Gobblers' way to go!
Here's more information about the game.
