Online casino games developer EGT has gone for shiny jewels as the symbols in their recent 20 Diamonds pokie. Red, yellow, blue and green diamonds shine out from the 5 reels, giving this game a classic look, although perhaps a little too similar to some others based around the same theme. But that shouldn’t put off punters who like gambling online, as it’s an easy to play machine, where lining up the symbols will bring in some stead rewards and landing the bonus symbols will trigger features like wild and scatter payouts.
It’s also possible to gamble each winning combination to potentially turn a smaller prize into a substantial payout, plus the 20 Diamonds video pokie features the Jackpot Cards progressive prize that can randomly award lucky players with some huge real cash prizes.
A simple red background contrasts nicely with the colours of the diamonds that line up across 5 reels, in 3 rows, and there’s a total of 20 fixed paylines running across them. The smallest amount that can be staked on a spin is 0.20, while the high limit is 20.00, although free 20 Diamonds video pokies can be practiced at many sites, giving players the chance to try it out before making any real bets.
The simple theme extends to some fairly straightforward gameplay, as there are no real bonus rounds such as free spins or multipliers here, just a couple of extra symbols that create wins in different ways. In normal play, 3, 4 or 5 of the same type of diamond landing on adjacent reels, across a payline from the left side will be enough to get a win, and a review of the pay table reveals what each colour is worth.
Reds, greens and yellows are all worth 10x the amount staked per line when 3 appear, while 4 in a row will pay out 20x and full lines of 5 will return wins of 100x the line bet. Purple and blue jewels are valued at 20x, 40x or 200x for the same combinations, but the top award comes from the white diamond, as this pays out 20x, 80x and 400x the line stake when landing on 3, 4 or 5 reels.
Each win is accompanied by a nice animation of coins pouring out from the reels, and there’s various sound effects to go along with spinning and winning, although they can be a bit annoying and players have the option of turning them off. Another thing they have an option to do, is gambling each win, attempting to double the prize by deciding if a playing card will be red or black. If the choice was correct, they can go again, doubling it over and over until the gamble high limit is reached, although a wrong pic at any stage loses the initial bet and anything won so far in the gamble game.
The diamond-encrusted red 7 symbol is very blingy, and brings in some of the best wins when it lands across a line, awarding 40x, 400x or 1000x the line stake, while also being the 20 Diamonds video pokies wildcard. This means that it can act as any other jewel if it’s needed to complete a winning combination, or to extend a run of 3 or 4 matching jewels across extra reels to land a bigger reward.
The other high-paying icon is a green star, and this doesn’t need to land in any particular places, paying out 100x, 400x or even the top prize of 10,000x the line bet when it’s scattered in 3, 4 or 5 places. Although scatter symbols are often the trigger for a bonus game, there’s none here, although the Jackpot Cards progressive prize is an extra feature that can bring in some huge prizes.
Along the top of the reels, players will see 4 boxes, each with a playing card suit and a progressive prize value in them. The Jackpot Cards round can begin at random and once triggered, players are guaranteed to scoop one of these prizes when they pick from 12 face-down cards. The first suit that’s uncovered 3 times will trigger the jackpot payout that ranges from the smaller Club prize to the huge Spades award.
This is a nice, easy to play real money online pokie that may not have much in the way of unique design or features, but nevertheless is a relaxing way to spin up some decent wins. Players who want lots of extras may be put off, and there’s no option to activate just a line or two, but this is one of the classic online casino games from EGT and has proved to be a big success.