Our Favourite Spanish Conquistador Returns in NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Gold Slot!

Gonzo, the famous Spanish Conquistador returns in NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Gold slot. Look forward to a 6,500x top prize, clusters, free spins, and expanding symbols! (Images from NetEnt.com)

Gonzo, the much-famed intrepid explorer is back at all NetEnt casinos for yet another adventure, on the Gonzo’s Gold video slot.

This anticipated release from NetEnt now becomes the 4th time we have witnessed Gonzo go against the odds to seek out his fortune.

Gonzo is one of the most recognisable video slot characters of all time, especially due to Gonzo’s Quest, the legendary slot that is still amongst the most popular at the online casinos. Plus, he has since featured in two follow up casino titles that have both shared immense success.

In his latest adventure, Gonzo leads us through an ancient Inca temple as he goes hunting his next haul of gold. The action takes place on a 5×5 grid that utilises the hugely entertaining Cluster Pays reel mechanic that NetEnt first invented and used on the Aloha! Cluster Pays slot in 2016. This mechanic does away with traditional paylines and instead pays out for clusters of symbols connected vertically or horizontally. Land a big enough cluster and you could win the top payout of 6,500x your stake! Also, Gonzo’s Gold comes equipped with a free spins feature that is powered up via expanding symbols!

Highlights: Gonzo’s Gold is a Cluster Pays slot that plays out on a 5×5 grid. This high variance video slot carries a theorhetical RTP of 96.11% and has a top payout of 6,500x the stake. It offers a 1 in 4 spin chance of winning thanks to a hit rate of 25.84% while the betting range is between 0.10 and 200.00 per spin. Highlights include Cluster Pays, Scatter Symbols, Free Spins, and Expanding Wilds

A Walk Through History With Gonzo

Of course, this is not the first time we have joined the Spanish Conquistador on one of his quests, far from it. The much-travelled explorer first burst to fame on the original Gonzo’s Quest slot launched in 2013 by NetEnt. In that title, the action took place on time on a 5×3 grid with Gonzo embarking on a quest to Eldorado, the lost city of gold. As you aided his cause, you were rewarded due to cascading symbols with multipliers, wilds and free spins. Such is the success of Gonzo’s Quest, it is now regarded as one of the most popular slots of all time.

The 2020 sequel, Gonzo’s Quest Megaways was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. This time, NetEnt handed the reigns to Red Tiger Gaming, a development company that the firm had recently acquired. What a job they did too! Gonzo was now attempting to raid a Mayan Temple but this time had the hugely popular Megaways reel mechanic to help him, and you along. A single spin could generate between 64 and 117,649 ways to win, which alone is impressive. However, when you add the Avalanche feature with multipliers, this slot can serve up some unforgettable gameplay.

It was the next step Gonzo took that surprised people the most. In 2021, Evolution served up a live game show called Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt. Evolution had acquired NetEnt, who had acquired Red Tiger Gaming (keeping up?), and instantly went to work on creating the next Gonzo adventure. This time, he acts as a CGI co-host in a live casino game that is essentially one big slot bonus round. Fans of live casino games can read all about Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt in our review.

Gonzo’s Gold Slot Gameplay – Clusters, Free Spins, and Expanding Symbols!

As ever, Gonzo’s Gold utilises the Cluster Pays reel mechanism that offers gameplay similar to mobile games such as Candy Crush. The idea is to land clusters of a least 3 low-paying symbols or 4 high paying symbols. This mechanic excites due to the potential of creating clusters of up to 25 symbols in size. However, the major change is that the Avalanche (cascading symbols) feature which removes winning symbols to allow new symbols to fall into place, is not implemented on Gonzo’s Gold. New symbols would create additional clusters, while a multiplier would increase for each subsequent cluster. Also developed by NetEnt, that mechanic was used in each of the other two Gonzo slot titles.

Instead, NetEnt has made the free spins round with expanding wilds, the core focus on Gonzo’s Gold. Whenever you land two or more expanding symbols in a cluster, they will expand to cover the reel or row.

All Features on NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Quest

• Scatter Symbols: Scatters pay 2x, 20x, and 200x your stakes when landed anywhere in view 3, 4, or 5 times respectively. They also trigger the free spins round and act as a wild by substituting for all other symbols.
• Free Spins: Once triggered by the above scatter symbols, you will get 10 free spins. At the start, you select a symbol that will become an expanded symbol throughout the round.
• Expanding Symbols: When an expanding symbol lands next to another, it will expand to fill the row or reel to create winning clusters.

Play for Free: If you’re yet to try the latest Gonzo slot from NetEnt, you can make your way to the developer’s website to enjoy a demo version of the game!

Free Spins with Expanding Symbols

While the Cluster Pays mechanic ensures that you’re never too far away from a base game win, it is triggering the free spins round that has to be your key focus. This is where you can achieve the top payout of 6,500x, and thanks to the addition of expanding symbols, you get an increased chance to create large clusters.

This feature is triggered when you land 3 or more of the Inca Temple scatter symbols. As mentioned, those symbols also pay too, so you record a win just before the free spins mode kicks off. Once triggered, you’re first tasked with choosing 1 of 9 mystery symbols to determine which of the base game symbols becomes the expanding symbol for the duration of the spins. Obviously, the higher the paying symbol, the more chance you have to record impressive payouts during the round.

It only takes two of those expanding symbols to land next to each other for you to see their benefit. They will expand to cover the entire reel or row that they land on. This creates a separate payout from the one already recorded before the expansion took place. Also, if you land 3 or more scatter symbols on a free spin, it retriggers the free spins round. This means that essentially, you could have unlimited free spins.

Achieving the Top Payout: During the base game, the top payout possible is 5,000x your stake. However, it is the free spins mode that could lead to the top payout of 6,500x. If Gonzo is your expanding symbol and you fill the reels, you will earn the top payout.

Gonzo’s Gold Payouts

There are 6 standard game symbols in total, but each comes in two different colours which essentially makes 12. Gonzo and the Totems are the high-paying symbols in the game. You need clusters at least 3 of those symbols to earn a win. The remaining symbols are low-paying but require clusters of at least 4 to win. We have listed the min and max wins for each of those symbols below.

Rounding Up NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Gold

It is always going to be a tough gig following up hugely successful titles such as Gonzo’s Quest and Gonzo’s Quest Megaways. However, it feels like NetEnt has tried too hard to do something different. Removing the Avalanche feature that helped make those previous slots so popular, is not going to please everyone. Sure, the free spins with expanding symbols are enjoyable and can help create some awesome payouts, but is it as exciting as cascading symbols with multipliers? Still, in isolation, we think the slot is good. It is just whether it will prove as popular as its predecessors.

Gonzo’s Gold was, without doubt, the most anticipated slot release of the week. However, we have reviewed plenty more that might interest you. Plus, if you wanted to check out and play over 20 new titles released recently, you can check out our October Week 2 New Casino Games Report!