Where’s The Gold Pokie: Slot Game Review
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Where’s the Gold is an Australian penny slot with over 15 years of history behind it. This 5 reel 25 payline machine first came out in 2003 and is now available online like most other titles developed by Aristocrat. Its 2014 digital release has improved graphics and offers instant play, but also removes the Gamble feature available in the original cabinet. Proven successful by Australian punters, this pokie quickly gained popularity online.
Where’s the Gold Slot Overview
Thematically, this is a 19th Century Gold Rush game following the adventures of an old prospector. Overall presentation has a cartoonish aesthetic reminiscent of the old Looney tunes art style. There’s symbols for tools, settler wagon, mines, and so on. Players can select multiple Prospector characters during the Bonus Selection.
Most early 2000s pokie machines won players over with this simple, but unique presentation. Where’s the Gold does exactly the same – it has relatively few features, but every single one of them is polished and fits the theme.
Like most Aristocrat pokies, it has a Scatter bonus feature that offers Free Spins as well as Wilds that substitute everything else in the game. This pokie uses a similar design template as titles like More Chilli, Red Baron, and so on.
Play Where’s The Gold by Aristocrat
As one of the oldest Aristocrat pokies on the online market, Where’s the Gold is available at most casino websites out there. It’s developed in HTML 5 / Javascript and adapts to almost any screen size, provided the device runs a modern browser. It’s playable on:
- iPhone
- iPad
- Android phones
- Tablets
- Desktop PCs and Laptops
Game loads almost instantly in IE, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and Google Chrome. Mobile casinos also have their own apps available on Google Play and App Store, including the official Big Fish casino owned by the same developer as Where’s the Gold slot.
Progressive Jackpot
Where’s the Gold doesn’t have an in-game progressive jackpot, nor does it have a particularly big payout to offer. As an older slot, it also isn’t tied to progressive Jackpot systems introduced by Aristocrat in recent years.
Highest regular win in the game is at 1,000x the stake, which with the maximum bet per line at $4 translates into a 4,000-dollar jackpot – not particularly impressive, but worth chasing.
How to Play Where’s The Gold Slot
Interface in Where’s the Gold are similar to other Aristocrat pokies from this time period. Settings are available on the top right of the screen, with controls as follows:
- Adjust bets and paylines by using the slider next to the Play button or in settings.
- Set up to 100 Autoplay spins in the side menu.
- Turn music on/off
- Bring up the Paytable by using the big «i» button.
- If Bonus triggers, pick a prospector character and see how well they do.
The game is available with no download and no registration. Whether in real money mode or Free Play, Where’s the Gold pokie has exactly the same gameplay.
How to Win Big in Where’s The Gold Slot
Because the Bonus Feature offers up to 10 Free Spins, it’s the ticket to big wins in Where’s the Gold. Scatter Dynamite and choosing the right character helps get there. Old Prospector symbols have the highest payout at 1,000x the stake. If you bet at nearly $100/spin and get to a lucky Free Spins streak, it’s possible to earn thousands of dollars in under a dozen spins. Although the Bonus Feature triggers maybe once every 100 or so spins – there’s no guaranteed way to a high payout in this machine. Since the Scatter wins are multiplied by current bet, there’s also an extremely unlikely big win which lands 5,000x the stake on hitting 5 Dynamites at maximum bet.
Paytable & Free Spins Bonus
Basic symbol paytable in Where’s the Gold:
- Prospectors – up to 1,000x the stake.
- Mines – up to 500x the stake.
- Wagons – up to 300x the stake.
- Aces, kings, queens, and jacks – up to 150x the stake.
It can always be called up by the white «i» button in settings. There is only one Bonus symbol in the base game:
- Dynamite. Scatter symbol – 3 or more of them will launch the Bonus Round that allows you to pick a prospector character and earn Free Spins.
Additionally, after the Bonus Select one of the symbols becomes a Gold Wild and substitutes any other symbol on the reel except Scatter.
Overall, the paytable is what you’d expect from a game released in early 2000s. It does the job, but somewhat lacks in interesting bonuses and win multipliers found in new games.
Bonus Rounds & Other Bonuses
Old Land casino version of Where’s the Gold used to have a Gamble feature that allowed to double or quadruple the winnings in an all-or-nothing mini-game. Modern online versions of the game removed it, now the only Bonus Feature available is the Gold Rush described earlier in this slot review.
On 3+ Dynamite scatters, players get to choose one character to dig for gold and make one symbol into a Wild Gold symbol. Available miners:
- Peter Panner
- Find-doh
- Winnie Fortune (replaced by Happy Lucky in the Online version)
- Prof. Gold
- Nugget Ned
- Mary Money
Your choice of miner dictates which symbols become Gold Wilds and how many Free Spins you get. Prospectors function exactly the same and rewards are randomized between every bonus feature. Usually the best strategy is to pick whichever has the highest base Free Spins bonus and hope for a lucky break.
Real Money Play
To play Where’s the Gold or any other Aristocrat pokie for real money:
- Choose a top online casino that’s legally available in your region.
- Provide identity verification and confirm you’re over 18 or 21.
- Claim the available casino bonuses and see which terms apply in your country.
- Confirm the deposit/withdrawals method. Usually you get to choose between credit card, bank wire, as well as multiple other payment options available.
- Navigate the casino free Slots list and find Aristocrat pokies category there.
Casinos such as JackpotCity offer up to $1600 in flat deposit matches as part of their Welcome Kit. Additionally, casinos like Mr Green, LeoVegas, Slotty Vegas, and others offer no deposit Free Spins and up to 200 Bonus Spins for all new accounts. Some players keep accounts at multiple casino websites to take advantage of bonuses and seasonal promotions.
Where’s the Gold isn’t the most generous online slot with RTP only at 95%. Betting up to $100 per spin makes it a risky investment. That said, the medium volatility of the slot does make up for it – offering small payouts on a regular basis.
Tips & Strategy
As an older pokie, Where’s the Gold slot doesn’t have a wealth of bonus features and player choices to play with. The only real player input available in this slot is choosing which Prospector to go with during the Bonus Feature, and even that doesn’t have much of an impact on payouts. Best case scenario is 10 Free Spins, but most of the time you’ll land on 6.
Because of this lack of real player input, there’s no helpful strategy outside of sticking with the game and being patient. Stack Free Spins, use Casino bonuses, and hope to strike gold. That’s all there is to it.
Where’s the Gold became one of the first pokies to perfectly nail engaging Bonus features within an otherwise simple game. Scatter wins leading to a Bonus Feature with Free Spins and Wild payouts is a common design trope for Australian pokies. It all started here. This pokie bridges the gap for old and new Vegas slots. It’s a sweet spot between Fruit Machines of old and massively complex games that come out today.
FAQ
How does Where’s the Gold compare to other Vegas slots in payouts?
It’s slightly outdated with RTP at only 95%. Modern slots often offer more generous returns up to 99%. Even the same pokie developer, Aristocrat, has higher payout games on the market.
Can I speed up the game in any way?
Unfortunately, a common criticism of the free online version is that there’s no way to make spins any faster. Players don’t have a stop button and the menu provides no way of increasing gameplay speed.
What are the differences between the land machine and online version?
These are fairly subtle – minor graphics improvements, new sounds and changing one of the Prospector characters in the bonus feature. Online version also did away with the Gamble feature because it didn’t work thematically with the game.
Are there win multipliers during the Free Spins bonus feature?
Unlike other Aristocrat pokies, this one doesn’t offer any win multipliers except increasing Scatter Dynamite payouts based on your current bet. At a maximum 100-coin bet 5 Scatters can land a 5,000x stake reward.
Where’s the Gold, a colorful and glitzy pokies game that is highly popular among casino players. It is a 5-reel game with 25 paylines game based on the “gold digger” theme, and follows the adventures of an old gold digger, in pursuit of the precious metal. After all, finding Gold is not that easy.
- Pokie: Where’s The Gold
- Software: Aristocrat
- Paylines: 25
- Progressive: No
- Jackpot: Yes
- Reels: 5
About Where’s the Gold
The theme of the game is about miners prospecting for gold starting with Mary Money, Nugget Ned, Peter Panner, Prof. Gold and Happy Lucky. Base game wins are around 2x to 8x your stake. The main feature is the free spins bonus that awards up to 20 free spins when 3 or more scatter dynamite symbols pitch on the reels.
Among the symbols in the game are the gold digger, a pickaxe and a shovel, an ox cart, dynamite, mine shaft, and face values K, Q, J, 10 and 9. The dynamite is the scatter symbol and triggers the free spins feature. Gold symbols are wild symbols and can replace other symbols, except the dynamite symbol. The biggest payouts occur during the free spins bonus game.
As the name implies, Where’s the Gold has the feel of California’s 1849 Gold Rush. The symbols convey this gold rush feeling since you’ll see all of the following on the reels.
- A miner
- Covered wagons
- Pick axes
- Gold letters on the reels
The background is a dusk, desert setting with cactuses and hills in the background. Overall, the background and symbol graphics are decent, but they don’t exactly make you think of the stunning 3D pokies of today.
You won’t hear any music while playing this game. But Where’s the Gold does feature some interesting sound effects, including galloping hoofs when the reels stop.
The Game Play & Game Features
To play this game, you need to select a bet amount, the number of lines you wish to bet on and click on spin. You can also choose the autoplay function if you want to keep betting for a certain amount or a certain number of spins. The minimum bet amount is $0.01 per line and the maximum bet per line is $4. The Max bet for this game is $100, and the maximum number of coins you can bet per spin is 25, one for each line.
Wild: Three gold symbols are the wilds when they form a winning combination, they substitute symbols adjacent to them bar the dynamite scatter. The wilds play a prominent role during the free spins feature so pay close attention to them.
Gamble Game: The gamble feature allows you to gamble your winnings. If you feel lucky, click on the ”Gamble” button at the bottom end of your screen, pick a colour (black or red) or a card suit. If you picked the right colour you’ll double your bet and if you picked the right colour your bet will be quadrupled. The feature can only be used 5 times.
Free Spins: The free spins feature is played when 3 or more dynamite scatters appear any position on the reels during the main game. Scatters pays are offered too, up to 10 free spins with 3 gold wild symbols can be won.
Note that in order to trigger the free spins you need three or more dynamite symbols. These can appear anywhere along the 5 reels and then you get to select your favourite character out of those as mentioned earlier. The number of free spins you win is random up to 10, however, pick the lucky character and they will present you with up to three symbols which will act as WILD during the free spins feature. Free spins can also be retriggered at any time by finding three or more dynamite symbols.
Once the free spins feature is triggered a new screen opens up showcasing 5 characters: Findo, Happy Lucky, Prof Gold, Winnie Fortune and Nugget Ned. Each character awards a certain amount of free spins – pick one.
Of the various free spin options, ‘Findo’ the dog free spins feature is the most lucrative one of the lot. The amount of free spins awarded are equal to the Nugget wilds that appear in the window just below the spotlight. It is a re-triggerable free spins feature that awards up to 20 free spins.
So when you get three scatter symbols free spins bonus feature is activated. You can get up to 10 free spins if you get at least 3 scatter symbols. Before the feature is activated, you are asked to pick a character to dig out nuggets. The characters you can choose from are Mary Money, Nugget Ned, Peter Panner, Prof. Gold and Happy Lucky.
Once you make your choice, all the characters, including the one you selected, dig out bonus gold coins, after which the free spins are awarded. The number of free spins you get is equal to the number of nuggets dug by the character you choose. During the free spins, the regular symbols are replaced by wild gold symbols, enabling you to win more.
Where’s the Gold is not connected to a progressive, but you can win up to $4,000 if you hit the jackpot in the game.
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What makes Where’s the Gold so special?
Where’s the Gold was one of the first slots to introduce extra wild symbols during the bonus round. Also you can look forward to multiple wild symbols whenever you trigger the bonus game.
What makes Where’s the Gold interesting, was also revolutionary for allowing you to trigger the bonus round so frequently. This somewhat makes up for the fact that you won’t have any wild symbols helping you in the main game.
You’ll find a scatter symbol, however, and it’s the dynamite. The dynamite symbol multiplies your payouts based on your original bet, at the following rates.
- 2x for 3 symbols
- 10x for 4 symbols
- 50x for 5 symbols
Dynamite also triggers the bonus round when you land three or more of these symbols anywhere on the reels.
Once the bonus round is triggered, you’re taken to a second screen where you’ll choose one of the five characters to dig gold. In fact there are seven of them. This means you don’t see the exact same gold prospectors each time you unlock the bonus round.
The seven characters are as follows.
- Happy Lucky
- Findo the dog
- Mary Money
- Nugget Ned
- Peter Panner
- Professor Gold
- Winnie Fortune
Where's The Gold Online Pokies Real Money
Once you choose the character that you think will find the most gold, a spotlight appears on them and all five characters start digging.
What really adds to the experience here is how each character collects gold in their own manner. For example, Professor Gold uses a magnifying glass, Findo sniffs out gold, Happy Lucky uses a metal detector, Winnie Fortune uses her crystal ball, Nugget Ned swings a bug net, and Peter Panner pans for gold just like they did in the Wild West.
Once the round is over, you earn a certain number of free spins based on how many gold nuggets your character finds.
Where Is The Gold Pokies
There are 10 free spins. From here you head back to the reels to perform your free spins. Here’s where the extra wilds come into play because you’ll notice that some of the symbols have changed to gold.
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These gold symbols are wild and replace anything besides the dynamite scatter symbol. The gold symbols remain wild until your free spins are finished.
Play Pokies For Free Where's The Gold Rush
You can play Where’s the Gold as a free pokies online. You’re also greeted by a loud yeeeee haaaaa! upon firing up the online version. You’ll also be able to use an expanded auto play feature online, which allows you to auto spin the reels with your selected betting options for 5 to 500 spins. If you feel like stopping auto spin before the designated number of spins are up, just click the button after a round is over.
Most of the social casinos like Cashman Casino, Heart of Vegas also offer this pokies game all free to play on your mobile as an app.