Pacific Gold Slot Review

Slots Basic information

Software: ELK Studios
Release: 01.03.2022
RTP: 95%
Volatility: High
Wild Symbol: Yes
Scatter Symbol: Yes

If there’s one thing we’ll say about this game is that it’s one of the busiest we’ve seen in a long time. There’s certainly a lot going on in and around the reels so let’s go through it all to avoid you being like a fighter pilot up in the air with no map, compass or radio communication!

Rules

For the most part, it’s played on a 6×4 reel and when we say that we mean that’s not always the reel structure. With each cascading reel, the grid becomes bigger by one vertical row, thus increasing the number of symbols, the different number of ways to win and by extension, the chances of you actually winning again on the next spin. No surprise that the playing card symbols are the low-value ones with three masked symbols and Kane himself the high-value ones. You’ll need three identical symbols on adjacent reels to get a pay-out and to help you secure those, or even bigger wins is the Wild symbol, which automatically turns into whichever symbol benefits you the most.

Tips and Strategy

If you look to the left of the reels, you’ll see a blue banner that says X-Iter. This is where you can choose to buy one of five bonuses, each priced differently and each having very different levels of benefits. At the bottom of the scale is a 5 GBP/Euro purchase that will get you a guaranteed Big Symbol and at the very top of the bonus tree is the buying of the Super Bonus: it gives you direct entry into the free games round with the guaranteed presence of a Ghost symbol.

Not sure what that is? Keep reading and you’ll soon find out.
But that’s going to cost you the whopping amount of 500 GBP/euros just to activate. Sometimes it will work out for you, and you’ll walk away with more than that, sometimes you won’t. So, the advice is to try buying each of those five bonuses in free play mode and work out which one tends to give you a better chance of securing a profit. Then when it comes to playing for real money, you’ll already know which of those five is your best shot, if you choose to go down this route.

Bonus Rounds

Only one of those is a bonus round as such, the others being more bonus ‘features’. We’ve saved the best for last.

Big Symbols

All symbols, including the Wild, can appear as 1×1, 2×2 ,3×3 or 4×4 to help you secure more and bigger wins. Empty spaces appearing below big symbols are filled with 1×1 sized symbols of the same type.

Power Stacks

These are 1×1 sized symbols that represent a stack of 4 identical symbols. For each Avalanche a Power Stack symbol is not part of, its value increases by +2.

Pacific Wave

The Pacific Wave is a horizontal stack of identical pay symbols, 1×2, 1×3, or 1×4 in size. If empty spaces appear beneath a Pacific Wave, it fills them with 1×1 wild symbols. But sadly, you can’t have it all your own way. The Pacific Waves are removed by the Avalanche Feature if forming part of a win.
Ghost Boxes

Time to talk Ghost Boxes. Any winning symbols are collected by a Ghost Box symbol if one is in view. You can’t miss it: it’s an ominous-looking skull. Big symbols are broken down and collected in their 1×1 size. When no more wins are secured, the box explodes, removing a number of symbols from the grid. Collected symbols are then distributed row by row, starting with the symbol type that appeared the most frequently.

Pacific Wave Free Drops

The ones above are features that appear during the base game and are valuable in their own right. But this is the one you really want and is the only one that’s a stand-alone bonus feature. The easy way to get to this round is to purchase one of the two more expensive bonuses. In addition to the Free Games guaranteed Ghost Box, you can also purchase Free Games with a guaranteed Pacific Wave on each drop, for the cheaper price of 100 Euros/GBP.

The hard way to activate the round is to get three or more Scatters, represented by the fighter plane. Three get you 10 free games, four get you 15, five give you 20 and the maximum five Scatters will see you play 25 free games. Each win sees the safety level increase, which means an extra vertical row is added. And as you’ll know by now, that’s a big benefit in terms of your chances. The round can be re-triggered by getting three or more Scatters during it.

Design

The design isn’t as busy as the gameplay itself but maybe that’s a good thing, or else things may just get a little too chaotic for some. But everything is clear, clean, and colorful and as a bonus, this game has the unique feature of being able to listen in on radio communications throughout the game, like a proper fighter pilot!

Final Thoughts

Original theme, cool design, lots going on, several base game features and a cracking bonus round to cap things off. It’s a classic case of a slot with a slightly outdated design having a lot more to the game than first meets the eye. And you’ll have to go on voyage of discovery by playing it for half an hour or so to see how everything works in practice, in addition to reading about it here in theory. But make no mistake.

This is a really exciting game and a nod to real fighter pilots who perhaps had more excitement than they wished for.