About Ecuador Gold Slot
Competition is a healthy thing in any walk of life, and so it is the in the world of online slots. Since BTG blew things wide open with their revolutionary Megaways™ technology with its super-sized ways to win format, other game studios have been racing to keep up. For some it’s been a case of if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – so Blueprint and Red Tiger have licensed the Megaways™ engine.
But for ELK, and others I’m sure, the task has been to try to come up with their own version of the random expanding reels gameplay. And here it is, a glorious adventure slot called Ecuador Gold. It looks beautiful and includes classic avalanche wins gameplay, where with each consecutive win the reel set expands, up to a maximum of 8 rows high, to give 262,144 ways to win.
There are also plenty of wilds, and some super-sized symbols, but no progressive multipliers (fans of Bonanza-type action may be disappointed). Nonetheless is a cracking effort and one of our highlights of 2019 so far.
Gameplay, Symbols and Pay Tables
Ecuador Gold is set in what looks like a subterranean temple, with huge pillars either side of the reel set which appear in front of a firelit shrine. The visuals are pretty stunning to begin, then the reel symbols drop down, each a stone tablet etched with its markings.
There are 12 symbols in all – 8 low value, different colored ones with crosses, suns, birds, snakes and reptiles, and 4 premium value ones that look like sun gods, as well as the hero character – Kane.
Kane is the highest value, delivering 3x for six on a payline.
You should also look out for the sun symbol which is the wild, it appears as a ghosting symbol, drifting across the reels as it lands, leaving a trail of wilds in its wake to give more chance of winning.
All symbols can also appear as super, mega and epic in size – that’s 2×2, 3×3 and 4×4 – to give more chance of wins. When this happens, as they land they will knock other smaller symbols out of the way to set up more avalanches and further win chances.
Features and Bonuses
Avalanche Wins
The avalanche wins feature is key to the Ecuador Gold game as it drives the expanding reels gameplay which stretches the win potential of this slot.
As anyone who has ever played Gonzo’s Quest, or any of the other countless Avalanche / Cascading Wins games knows, when a win line appears at the end of a spin, the winning symbols are removed and replaced with new ones. This process continues until no more winning lines appear. This makes it possible to have multiple wins from a single spin.
The difference here is that with each consecutive win, the reel set expands by one row, creating more win lines as follows:
4 rows: 4,096 ways to win
5 rows: 15,625 ways to win
6 rows: 56,656 ways to win
7 rows: 117,649 ways to win
8 rows: 262,144 ways to win
Free Drops Bonus
Ecuador Gold comes with a Free Drops (Spins) feature triggered by 3 or more Bonus scatters as follows:
3 Scatters: 10 free spins
4 Scatters: 15 free spins
5 Scatters: 20 free spins
6 Scatters: 25 free spins
During the Free Drops round, the expanded reel set will remain expanded even after a losing drop, for the duration of the round. This can significantly increase your chances of landing bigger wins, up to the game’s maximum payout of 2,500x.
THE SLOT BUZZ VERDICT
So, ELK have landed their version of Megaways™, and whilst it’s not the feature-packed, uber high-variance monster slot Bonanza and White Rabbit fans might be looking for, it’s still a pretty slick looking beast. There are no multipliers or mystery symbols. The reel expansion, rather than being random, is tied to the avalanche wins, which is actually a nice trick. And whilst you won’t see any preposterous big win videos from this game – the max cap of 2,500x is modest – it still looks like a lot of fun, and it’s one we’ll be giving a decent run out in the coming months.
