Gems Bonanza Slot Review

Where To Play Gems Bonanza

Pragmatic Play are – and continue – to be one of the leading forces in the iGaming industry, and for the past year or two they’ve managed to highlight exactly what they’re capable of as a software provider. We’ve seen them release some truly industry-changing games including the likes of Madame Destiny, which has lead to many of the top mobile slots sites using their software.

Their latest release, Gems Bonanza, looks to be just as exciting and fast-paced as their most recent games. In this Gems Bonanza slot review, I’ll go through everything you need to know about how to play the game on desktop, mobile or tablet.

As with virtually all Pragmatic Play slot games, from the moment I opened up the slot I was greeted with impeccable graphics. The game is set in an Aztec civilization, and a fitting musical soundtrack accompanies each win. Win animations are also built perfectly, and, from an aesthetics point of view, I don’t really see how the game developer could have done a better job!

In terms of the layout, Gems Bonanza is built around an 8X8 grid format. This means there are a total of 64 symbols in view on any one spin, and you’ll find yourself able to play the slot from between 0.20 and 100 credits per spin. Gems Bonanza is incredibly volatile, so I recommend bearing this in mind before trying it out for real money yourself – although, with a maximum hit of 10,000X, it’s not hard to see why the game has to be a little more volatile than you may otherwise be perhaps used to!

How To Play

I really like Pragmatic Play’s slots for a number of reasons – but above anything else, it’s their simplicity that draws me in. Unlike some game developers (NetEnt, I’m looking at you), selecting your bet size and choosing how much you wish to wager on every spin is made possible simply by pressing the “+” or “-” buttons to the right-hand-side of the screen. Here, you’ll also be able to hit the ‘autoplay’ button to kick-off up to 100 spins to play-out automatically, should you choose.

Unfortunately, UK players are no longer able to take advantage of the quickspin function, and, while annoying, it’s not the end of the world. It does, however, mean that you need to play the game as its regular speed – although thankfully, Pragmatic Play’s slots tend to play pretty quickly anyway, so I very much doubt you’ll notice much of a difference if I’m completely honest with you.

Symbols and Payouts

Despite being themed pretty heavily around Aztecs, you may be somewhat surprised to learn that Gems Bonanza doesn’t actually offer much in the way of Aztec-like symbols on the reels. Instead of characters, the software provider has chosen to use various gems – coloured Purple, Blue, green, Red, Orange and Turquoise.

In order to form wins, you also need to make a ‘cluster’ of symbols. This means that there are no paylines found in Gems Bonanza; instead, wins are formed by landing a cluster or five or more symbols horizontally or vertically.

There are also some special wild symbols, but these don’t land naturally; they’re only activated by one of the in-game reel modifiers, details of which I’ll be covering in the next “Bonus Features” section of this Gems Bonanza review.

Bonus Features

There’s a ton of action going on within Gems Bonanza, and the first thing you’ll notice is that the reels take the form of “Tumbling Reels’. What this means, is that any time symbols form part of a win, those symbols are then removed from the reels, with new ones dropping down to take their place.

Reel Modifiers

During the base-game (and indeed the main bonus round) there are also five special reel modifiers. Behind the symbols, some of the squares on the grid may be lit-up with coloured markings. If you manage to form a win over one of these coloured symbols, one of the following base-game multipliers will be activated.

• Nuclear Modifier: this is triggered by forming a win over the blue spot. When this occurs, the screen is completely wiped clear of symbols, allowing new ones to fall down into place.
• Wild Gem: this is triggered by forming a win over a pink symbol. When this happens, all instances of one symbol on the reels are picked at random, and all instances of these symbols then transform into wild symbols.
• Squares: the Squares modifier is triggered by landing a win over the yellow spot on the grid, and doing so places random blocks of 2X2 symbols in view on the game grid.
• Colossal Symbols: this modifier is triggered by landing a win over a red spot, and a random 3X3, 4X4 or 5X5 symbol is then placed on a random position on the screen.
• Lucky Wilds: finally there’s the Lucky Wilds, and this is triggered by forming a win over one of the green symbols. When this happens, anywhere from 5 to 15 wilds are randomly placed onto the screen.

Gold Fever Progressive

If you manage to fill the grid to the left-hand-side of the reels entirely, you’ll then trigger the Gold Fever Bonus. Here, there are five levels – and on each of the levels, you’re given the chance to get all of the above reel modifiers played out, in the hopes of filling up the metre on the right-hand-side of the screen once more. If you manage to do so, you’ll then progress to the next level, at which point a multiplier will be attached to your win.

It’s possible to get all the way up to a 10X multiplier – and if you manage to reach this stage, you’re virtually guaranteed some big wins! I should also point out that non-UK players can also choose to use the “Bonus Buy” mechanic, which allows you to buy direct entry to the bonus round for a total cost of 100X your stake.

Jackpot and How To Win

Arguably the biggest reason why players are likely to play Gems Bonanza – aside from some great gameplay and fun bonuses and features – is the fact that you can end up walking away with as much as 10,000X your stake! Yes, that means that a small $1 bet could return as much as $10,000 if you’re incredibly lucky!

I never got close to that at the casinos I tested the game at, but there were a few mid size wins that I was quite pleased with.

To achieve the top jackpot, you’ll need to reach the final level during the Gold Fever Bonus – with the 10X multiplier active – and you’ll then need to hit some insane wins. Obviously it’s very unlikely, but it’s nice to know the win-potential is there – and it’s refreshing to see yet another game coming to our screens with so much win-potential!

Software

One of the areas it’s clear Pragmatic Play have worked hard on over the past couple of years is their commitment to making all of their games more mobile-optimized, mobile-friendly – and, of course, all built using HTML5. I’m pleased to say that they’ve achieved this goal well, and the vast majority of the software provider’s portfolio can now be enjoyed from mobile devices without having to download or install any additional software.

Probably the only ‘piece of advice’ I’d offer to those playing from mobile devices is to tilt your device into landscape mode, where applicable. Not only will this make the game controls significantly clearer – allowing you to change your stake and activate autoplay functions – but it also allows the slot to render in its full glory, so you’re not simply playing a tiny little box at the top of the screen.

You should, however, be mindful of data costs if you choose to play slots from a mobile device and aren’t connected to a WIFI network. I’d always recommend playing through WIFI where applicable, as this – usually – guarantees a faster and smoother connection.

Summary

I’ve seen a clear ‘shift’ in the mobile casino industry over the past 12 months or so – and that shift includes some of the smaller, less-well-known game developers like Pragmatic Play and Nolimit City releasing games which have become huge commercial successes. It’s clear that some of these newer companies are happy to innovate – and I feel that Gems Bonanza is one of the perfect examples of what this company can do when they really put their minds to it.

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The cluster pays mechanic does, admittedly, have a bit of a “Play’n Go” feel to it – but it’s been pulled off really well, and while there are quite long periods of ‘dead spins’, when you manage enough cluster wins in the row, triggering the main Gold Fever Bonus feature is both fun and action-packed.

I also really like how you can end up winning as much as 10,000X your stake from playing. Again, it may not be the biggest amount we’ve ever seen from a Pragmatic Play game, but, in my opinion, it’s more than enough to tempt all types of player into playing – and I feel as though Gems Bonanza is going to be a very successful release for the software provider, and I look forward to seeing it getting more play-time in the coming weeks and months.

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Last Updated on February 21, 2021