Gopher Gold Pokie Machine
If bad puns were given prizes, Gopher Gold would walk away with the jackpot. Based on the mining adventures of some desert-dwelling rat, it’s a 5 reel, 5 line pokie from Microgaming that features wild payouts and wins that pay from left to right and right to left. Other than this however, there’s no bonus features, so anyone who enjoys free spins and side games won’t be impressed with this one, although those players looking for lots of winning spins should read on.
A wide bet range is also an attraction of this mining mayhem themed game that requires nothing more from players than deciding how much to stake on a spin and sitting back to see what combinations land on the reels.
Digging down into Gopher Gold
This is an older style game which shows in the general layout that fills the screen with the reels, leaving little room for a background image other than a few nuggets of gold scattered around under them.
At the very bottom of the mine we find a series of control buttons, which are in the standard Microgaming format. It works perfectly well on many other games, so players should find nothing too tricky about setting their wagers, using the + and – controls to adjust coin sizes from 0.25 to 20.00. They then have the option to activate any number of the lines, although playing any less than all 5 will see some winning combinations land that players won’t be eligible for.
Once a bet size is decided upon, it’s time to look at the payout schedule. This details what will be won each time certain sets of the symbols come to a rest on an activated line, starting off at the bottom with the traditional 10, J, Q, K and A icons. Even the payout schedule comes complete with a picture of a big gopher grinning at players as he looks over piles of gold and mining equipment.
Gopher Gold
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Players only need 2 of the 10 or J on a line to win 1x the amount bet per line, and as with all symbols, the line can run from the left hand reel or the right hand one. When compared to the more usual format where wins have to run from the left only, this effectively doubles the frequency of winning spins.
Moving up the payscale we get to the A symbol that pays 3x the line bet for 3 on a line, and 500x for landing a full row of 5 right across the reels.
Picture symbols are the higher-value ones, with a miner’s lamp being worth from 6x to 600x depending on how many stop in the right places, there’s a gold-filled mine cart, a pickaxe and some dynamite that’s getting on with the important business of exploding. It’s valued at 15x, 500x and 5000x when 3, 4 or 5 landing on an active line.
The top-paying symbol however, and the one that rewards players with the jackpot is the Gopher Gold logo which looks cast from gold. It’s worth a small fortune as well, with 40x, 1000x and a fantastic 12,000x the line stake up for grabs.
All that’s left is the wild symbol, which is an image of a cute gopher complete with mining helmet, looking very pleased with himself as he sits there surrounded by lumps of gold. The wild works by acting as any other symbol if that helps to make up a winning line, so for example, 2 A symbols running on a line on adjacent reels won’t be worth anything, but if the wild is there, it will count as another A and pay out a prize.
Don’t get too excited by this though, as it’s pretty much the only special feature of Gopher Gold. There’s no scatter symbol to reward players with a win, or to trigger any bonus games. That’s not a criticism however, as lots of people like the straightforward gameplay of pokies that demand nothing more than spinning up some nice wins and this one certainly delivers.
The Verdict
This game may be a little old-fashioned and devoid of extra rounds, but it’s colourful enough and for some reason, gold mining is actually a popular theme which attracts lots of players.
If they really want to take it easy, there’s an ‘Expert’ mode that lets them spin the reels automatically up to 100 times, stopping with big wins, or when their balance drops to a certain level.
So spinning Gopher Gold is as simple as it looks, and none the worse for it.