Gold Digger

Gold Digger: Overview

No, Gold Digger is not about a dubious sort who is only interested in the money in your pocket, though that could be an interesting game concept. No, this Gold Digger from developer iSoftBet rattles along on a mining cart carving, picking, and blowing up gold from beneath the ground.

There are quite a few mining slots out there as you probably know, available in a wide array of styles with the most famous ones probably being Bonanza Megaways and Blueprint Gaming's lookalike Diamond Mine Megaways. Gold Digger has taken what appears to be an orthodox approach at first, though the mining action can throw up the odd surprise or two during the bonus round. It won't win too many originality points, but it does carry a few features that might suit some players looking for their own nuggets of gold.

The game begins with a brief animation of riding down a mine shaft to be greeted by an old-time prospector. If you've played a mining slot before, you'll no doubt recognise the type - blue jeans, copious facial hair, Stetson, a slightly mad look in his eye. This one is particularity mad looking, his hands poised over a detonator as if he's gagging to blow something up. Dude clearly likes gold, or just blowing things up. From time to time he gets involved in the game by tossing the odd modifier on to the reels. The final touch on the mining theme is a cheerful banjo track plunking away in the background sealing the scene.

Unlike the miner by the reels, the game is not quite so volatile, weighing in around the medium-plus mark. RTP doesn't rock the boat either, with a squarely average rating of 96.0% which should go down well amongst most players.

Load up on bets from 20 p/c to $/€20 per spin to get the mining started. The gameplay is simple, starting with a grid that uses 5 reels, 3 rows (which can be expanded), and 20 fixed paylines. Winning combinations are made of three or more matching symbols on a payline, landing consecutively from the first reel onwards.

No big shocks when opening up the paytable, most symbols stick to the jolly mining theme. Well, aside from the first four J-A royals that is. Next up there is a pick, a lantern, a carriage of gold, and the prospector. There are just 8 pay symbols, yet they do offer fairly good value with 5 miners worth 25 times the stake.

Gold Digger has been bolstered by several special symbols players need to be aware of. One is the explosion cloud wild, which can appear anywhere to carry out substitution duties. The wild replaces any other symbol, except gold nuggets and gems, to help create a winning combination. It doesn't mention this on the paytable, but the rules state a combination made up entirely of wilds will pay just like the highest paying symbol, that being the old-time miner in this case.

Gold Digger: Features

Our miner pal isn't just there for his looks. From time to time the wily chap tosses one of his tools onto the reels to modify the current spin and help you land winning combinations. Randomly triggered, this is what Gus the miner can deliver:

• Dynamite turns 3-5 symbols wild.
• The pick transforms symbols into nuggets.
• Pushing the detonator explodes and upgrades certain symbols on the reels.

Keep an eye out for the big shiny gold nugget symbols which have an individual prize printed on them. Landing 5 or more nuggets locks them in place while triggering the Gold Link Respin feature which awards 3 respins.

Landing any new nuggets locks them in place and resets the respin count back to 3. The feature continues until respins run to zero, or the grid is full of nuggets. In both cases, the value accrued on the grid is paid out. Any gems that land also reset the respins

During Gold Link Respins gems may also land. Collecting 3 of the same kind triggers a booster, like so:

• Reels Booster - blue gems unlock up to three extra rows.
• Values Booster - green gems increase the amount of all landed nugget values.
• Spins+ Booster – red gems award an extra respin.
• Multiplier booster – purple gems increase a multiplier level up to x10.

Gold Digger: Verdict

What appeared to be rather plain fare at first gave way to curiosity when the respins and boosters were discovered on the paytable. Then the wait set in. During testing, untold hundreds of spins went by before respins finally lurched out of the shadows. Of course, luck is luck; sometimes it's with you, sometimes it's not. Maybe on a good day, it is possible respins fall in abundance.

But if luck's not on your side while playing Gold Digger very little else happens. So much so, it’s very easy to lose patience and enthusiasm with the whole mining venture. Respins turned out okay when they did appear but were nothing to write home about.

Gold Digger's cute, pleasant vibe, is an attractive asset, but the math model behind the sheen produced waves of dead or low-value spins. We talked about good days, and on Gold Digger's best day, players are looking at maximum potential in the region of 8,230 times the stake. Landing a bunch of nuggets helps since they unlock the only interesting part of the game. Apart from nugget wins though, the game doesn't have a whole lot else to it.

Strike Gold Digger when it's in an amiable mood and it might be okay for a bit of low key fun. It's far from being a world-beater by any stretch, but Gold Digger could be alright for casual gamblers, with plenty of patience. Anyone else might have a better a time breaking rocks in the back garden on the off chance someone's left a stray nugget lying around.

Don't Miss

If you enjoyed this game, be sure to try out the Megaways version as well. Titled Gold Digger Megaways, it comes shipped with a range of new features, resulting in far more dynamic gameplay.