Lava Gold is a 5×5 dinosaur-themed online slot by Betsoft that packs some serious heat. Players can look forward to cascading reels, free spins, and the lava meter special features.
The game has a low variance, which favors frequent but small wins. Special features also trigger more often. Because of that low volatility, your top prize is 159x your total stake.
WHERE TO PLAY LAVA GOLD
If you want the very best place to play Lava Gold, we recommend checking out the best casino for US players: Bovada casino. It is home to many other fantastic Betsoft releases.
SLOT INFORMATION
You can bet between $0.25 and $3.75 on each spin. You play this slot on a 5×5 board with cluster wins instead of traditional paylines. As you no longer have individual paylines, you cannot turn them on or off to change your wager.
Find five or more identical symbols in adjacent positions to form a winning cluster. Winning clusters disappear after being won, allowing players to score multiple times with a bit of luck.
The theoretical return to player (RTP) for Lava Gold is 95.99%. This is almost equal to the current industry average, which sits at 96%.
BASE GAME
The game offers eleven icons you can find on the playing field. An erupting volcano is the Wild, which can substitute for all other symbols. No Scatters or other bonus icons are present in this release.
A roaring dinosaur is the most valuable symbol, worth 45x for a 25-icon cluster. The lowest paying icon is the number 10. It grants a 4.5x reward for a 25-symbol cluster.
CASCADING REELS
After a win occurs, the winning cluster will disappear from the board. This leaves behind empty positions, which are then filled in by duplicating adjacent symbols. This can create additional winning combinations. The effect continues until no new winning clusters occur or the grid is filled with one icon.
FREE SPINS
Activating free spins requires you to fill the lava meter. Each segment of the lava meter corresponds to a symbol on the playing field, from lowest to highest paying. You start at the bottom and have to form a winning combination with the 10 icon to advance. Players have to form wins with all of the included symbols to trigger free spins. Scoring wins out of order will not cause your progress to reset.
When all ten cells of the lava meter are filled, players unlock ten free spins. During free spins, the central column of icons on the grid will be identical, offering guaranteed wins. You also unlock multipliers, which increase by one with each free spin. That means your final free spin is played with a 10x multiplier.
VERDICT
We adore the visual design of Lava Gold. You can tell Betsoft spent a lot of time on the background image and animations. This is one of their best-looking titles to date!
The slot is also very fun to play. The cascading reels mechanic the game offers is very cool, and can create some incredible wins by itself. Pair that with free spins round, and you have a top-tier slot. Provided you enjoy low variance releases, that is.