Head Back In Time and Strike Lava Gold
Lava Gold is a new online pokies release from publishing giants Betsoft. It hit the online casino world on May 20, 2021, and has proven a big hit already. You are forgiven for thinking Lava Gold is about volcanos, but it is not. Lava Gold is a dinosaur-themed pokie that is available to play right now at Jackpot Jill.
Lava Gold Fundamentals
Betsoft went for a prehistoric, dinosaur theme when it came up with the idea of Lava Gold. It is fair to say they achieved their goals and then some.
The game looks fantastic. Everything has a prehistoric feel, from the royal symbols carved from stone, to the vibrant dinosaur-related symbols. Clicking the spin button sets the reel in motion with a red hue and ash flies from them. They land with a satisfying thud. Winning symbols turn to ash all while dinosaurs fly past in the background. Bravo, Betsoft, bravo.
Lava Gold uses a 5×5 layout with no win lines because it uses the cluster pays feature instead. Variance is low, which means it will not hammer your bankroll, although the RTP is a relatively low 96.02%.
Bet sizes range from $0.10 up to $100 and with everything else between. The maximum win is rather disappointing, however. It tops the scales at a mere 161.64x. That equates to $16,184 at the highest stakes, which is not enough to attract high rollers.
What Are The Lava Gold Symbols?
The gorgeous Lava Gold symbols help immerse you in a land that time forgot. Clusters of at least five are required to trigger a win. Clusters up to 25 are available, but ultra-rare as you can imagine.
We reproduced the paytable for clusters of five up to clusters of 10-11. These are the most common payouts.
| Symbol | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8-9 | 10-11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Rex | 0.60 | 1.00 | 1.40 | 2.00 | 3.00 |
| Pterodactyl | 0.48 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 1.20 | 2.00 |
| Foot | 0.40 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 1.00 | 1.40 |
| Egg | 0.32 | 0.48 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 1.20 |
| Flower | 0.28 | 0.40 | 0.48 | 0.60 | 1.00 |
| Acess | 0.20 | 0.32 | 0.40 | 0.60 | 0.80 |
| Kings | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.40 | 0.48 | 0.60 |
| Queens | 0.16 | 0.28 | 0.32 | 0.40 | 0.60 |
| Jacks | 0.16 | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.36 | 0.48 |
| Tens | 0.12 | 0.16 | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.40 |
There is a Wild symbol that a volcano depicts. It substitutes for all other symbols, but does not come with a payout of its own.
What Are The Games Bonuses and Features?
Lava Gold has a couple of features that keep things interesting. Cluster pays is one of them. Clusters of at least five matching symbols trigger wins, and winning symbols are reduced to ash before new symbols replace them. This continues for as long as you form new clusters.
Winning clusters fill the Lava Meter on the right-hand side of the screen. The Lava Meter has various symbols in it, and you begin filling the meter as you get clusters of the different symbols. The meter only resets if you change your bet amount.
Filling the meter to the top grants you 10 free spins. The middle reel turns into five randomly selected matching, guaranteeing you your first winning cluster. Each spin increases a multiplier by 1x, meaning you have a 10x multiplier by your tenth spin.
Furthermore, no new symbols replace winning clusters during the free spins round because the board resets after each spin. We enjoyed a 56x payout when we triggered the free spins.
Conclusion
We thoroughly enjoyed playing Lava Gold for a couple of hours during our review. The graphics are superb and the T-Rex roaring into life never gets old! Cluster pays are not for everyone, and these ones can take a while if you hit several consecutively. Betsoft should think about speeding them up in a future update.
The game is fun but the base game payouts are incredibly low, even for a low variance pokie. Landing all 25 T-Rexs only pays 12x, for example. That said, you do not play a game like Lava Gold to get rich, it is all about having fun. The game achieves that goal incredibly well.
