The Hit the Gold slot game from 3 Oaks is another addition to the Hold and Win series. This game is filled with gold, shiny gemstones, and the potential for massive payouts up to 2,000x your bet. Set within the deep mines of California, players are thrust into a quest for gold to activate the streak-style respins bonus and potentially win one of four jackpot prizes.
Despite its common theme, the game’s underground setting is quite charming, thanks to high-quality, cartoon-style graphics and smooth animations. The game’s jolly soundtrack helps to immerse players in the action and contributes to the overall atmosphere. The game features a standard 5×3 reel set, offering 25 ways to play each spin, with a variety of symbols including gold, gems, and more. Winning combinations are created by landing three or more matching symbols adjacently on the reels from the leftmost reel.
The game includes 8 regular symbols divided into high and low categories. On the lower end, classic A-J royals can pay 2x your bet for 5-of-a-kind wins, while the premium symbols include pickaxes, bowls, bags, and a dog, worth from 4x to 10x the stake. The miner symbol is the most valuable, paying 12x the bet for five combinations and also acts as a Wild, substituting for regular symbols to help create winning combinations.
Play begins by setting a bet from €0.25 to €60 per spin, providing a wide range of options. The Hit the Gold slot game operates on a medium volatility math model, which should result in fairly frequent wins. However, the payback rate is slightly below average at 95.66%. The maximum win is up to 2,000x the stake, achievable during special features.
The Free Spins feature offers enhanced winning opportunities, played with special reels. Landing three Scatters on reels 2, 3, and 4 during the base game triggers 8 Free Spins, with the potential to gain 8 additional spins by landing three more Scatters. During these free games, only high symbols are present on the reels.
During both the base game and free spins, keep an eye out for Gold symbols. Landing six or more simultaneously triggers the Hold and Win bonus. This bonus begins with three respins and special reels consisting only of bonus symbols. These symbols lock in place for the duration of the bonus and when a new gold symbol appears, it also locks on the reels and resets the respins counter back to three.
During the bonus, one of the jackpot symbols can randomly appear on the reels to award a fixed cash prize. A mystery Dynamite symbol can also appear, revealing one of the jackpot prizes at the end of the feature. Filling the entire reels with bonus symbols awards a Grand Jackpot prize of 2,000x the bet.
In conclusion, Hit the Gold is an entertaining slot game with exciting features and the potential to win up to 2,000x your stake. Its medium volatility rating makes it a decent choice for players, especially those who enjoy a mining theme.