Gems Bonanza slot

By Pragmatic Play. Aztec temple. Glowing cut gems in green, red, blue and amber set into a gold carved frame over stone ruins.

RTP: 96.51%
Volatility: High
Max win: 10,000x
Reels: 8x8 grid, cluster pays
Released: 29 October 2020

Gems Bonanza has no paylines and no free spins round. It plays on a square grid of 64 gems and pays whenever five or more of the same gem touch in a line or block. Winning gems clear, the ones above drop, new ones fill the top, and the tumble keeps going until no cluster forms. Every gem that pays during that chain is counted. The spin is only settled when the board stops moving.

The board has coloured markings under the symbols. When a winning gem clears over a marking, that colour's modifier charges up, and the modifiers fire at the end of the tumble in a set order: Nuclear wipes the board and refills it, Wild Gem turns one symbol type wild, Squares drops 2x2 blocks, Colossal drops a 3x3 to 5x5 block, and Lucky Wilds scatters 5 to 15 wilds. Each one extends the chain, and a longer chain means more winning symbols counted.

That count is what Gold Fever is for. Reach 114 winning symbols in one spin and the progressive feature starts: the modifiers are guaranteed and the spin's total is multiplied by 2x at level one, rising through 4x, 6x and 8x to 10x at level five as the count keeps climbing. The 10,000x cap sits at the far end of that ladder. Most spins never get near 114, which is where the high volatility comes from.

Where the bonus buy is offered it costs 100x the stake, R200 at R2 a spin, and starts the next spin with the meter already full so Gold Fever is on from the first tumble. It does not change the 96.51% RTP. Because the whole game is one spin, there is no retrigger and no second chance: a bought spin that fizzles early is R200 gone in about fifteen seconds.

What the features do

Cluster pays: five or more matching gems touching horizontally or vertically pay, then clear and let new gems fall in
Spin modifiers: coloured markings on the board build five random features, Nuclear (clears the board), Wild Gem, Squares (2x2 blocks), Colossal (3x3 to 5x5 blocks) and Lucky Wilds (5 to 15 wilds)
Gold Fever meter: every winning symbol in one spin's tumbles is counted, and 114 of them fire the progressive feature
Gold Fever levels: five levels from 2x to 10x applied to the whole spin's win, each guaranteeing more modifiers
Bonus buy: pay 100x the stake to start the next spin with the Gold Fever meter full where it is offered

Before you spin

Watch the symbol counter, not the win box. A spin that clears 80 symbols and pays little is doing the thing that leads to Gold Fever, one that pays R10 off a single cluster is not.
Modifiers fire in order and Nuclear comes first. A board that gets wiped and refilled early can still die, so do not count a win until the tumble stops.
There is no free spins round to wait for. Set a spin limit by rand rather than by features, because nothing here signals that a feature is close.
A R200 buy at R2 a spin resolves in one spin. If that is more than a tenth of the session budget, spin it normally instead.

Gems Bonanza questions

What is the RTP of Gems Bonanza?

Pragmatic Play lists 96.51% for the standard version, and some operators run a 96.55% setting. Lower versions exist as well, and the figure is a long-run average rather than a promise for any one session.

Does Gems Bonanza have free spins?

No. The game has no free spins round at all. The feature is Gold Fever, which triggers inside a single spin once 114 winning symbols have been counted across the tumbles, and ends when that spin's tumble stops.

How does the Gold Fever multiplier work?

Once the meter hits 114 symbols the spin's win is multiplied by 2x. The meter keeps counting, and the multiplier steps up to 4x, 6x, 8x and finally 10x as more symbols clear. The multiplier applies to the total of that spin.

What is the maximum win on Gems Bonanza?

10,000 times the stake. At R2 a spin that is R20,000. Reaching it needs a very long tumble chain under the 10x Gold Fever level, which is rare.

Can I play Gems Bonanza in South Africa?

Yes. Scorebet carries the Pragmatic Play slots catalogue under its Northern Cape Gambling Board licence. Players must be 18 or older and registered.