California Gold isn’t just your typical gold digger story, it’s actually about villains as well, and they’re trying to steal the hard earned gold of the main character. The title refers to the gold rush of California, which is remembered even to this day, thanks to the effect it had on the people of the time. The gold fever that so many got back in the day might just pass on through the images of this slot machine, it certainly makes the entire thing very attractive.
Like many other NextGen titles, it offers 20 bet lines on 5 reels. It also has the usual wilds and scatters, plus free spins with multipliers, and then it adds a bonus game as well, which is less common for their slots. The biggest prize is valued at $10,000.
Features of California Gold
Though you have the usual wild symbol as well on the reels of the game, I imagine that the main target will be to trigger the bonus game called Mad Miner, since that’s where you get to collect gold nuggets and win big. You will find the nugget image in the scatter as well, the one which triggers free spins with 3x multipliers.
The Miner symbol, the one where he’s holding a huge nugget, will act as the wild of California Gold. This symbol is reserved for the reels 2, 3 and 4. It can substitute for any other regular symbol, so not for the scattered Gold Nugget, and it can’t offer prizes of its own.
The Gold Nugget symbol is important as well for the game, since it is used as a scatter and it appears on all five reels. You can use it to gain access into the free spins, or to get some cash prizes of up to 100x the bet, in which case you need two to five Gold Nuggets present.
Free Games Feature
The free spins offer you 10 free rounds and will multiply all prizes by 3x. You need 3+ scattered Gold Nuggets in order to get access to this feature, but it doesn’t matter where exactly those symbols appear, as long as they’re present on the reels during the same round.
Mad Miner Bonus
With this feature, you will get into the bonus game, but you will first need all three wilds to appear on the three reels where they’re allowed. You get a map with four mines to choose from. You click on the one you prefer, and you then go and collect nuggets and cash prizes. The weight of the nuggets is the one that tells you how much you’ve won.
Betting options and jackpots
You will use a maximum of 20 coins in this game, each one being wagered on a different line. You also decide what the value of the coins should be, with a minimum at $0.01 and a maximum at $2. That’s how you can spend up to $40 on a single spin.
As for the best prizes on the line in this game, they can put up to 5,000 coins in your pocket, with a value of $10,000.
Design and symbols
The symbols of California Gold are well thought out, so you get the feeling that you’re actually looking at images taken from a comic book or from a cartoon TV series. There are no playing cards inside, only images of villains, miners, gold, equipment and mules, things that you would’ve encountered if you lived this kind of life. The miner’s camp is visible behind the reels, along with a beautiful view of the surrounding nature.
Symbols: Miner (wild), Gold Nugget (scatter, 100x bet), Villain (5,000 coins), Gold Mine (500 coins), Mule (200 coins), Mine Cart (200 coins), Gold Panning (150 coins), Dynamite (150 coins), Map (150 coins), Lamp (150 coins), Barrel (100 coins) and Pickaxe (100 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
Even with the theme being so common, the game manages to make itself noticed with the design, and the features aren’t too bad either.
The California Gold slot machine is offered through the NextGen platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
