We checked out the original 9 Pots of Gold online slot by Gameburger Studios (in association with Microgaming) about a year ago, eventually scoring the machine a middle-of-the-road rating of 7.5 out of 10. Since then, the developers have returned to the drawing board in the hope of improving things somewhat, eventually coming back with the subject of today’s review – a Megaways update. 9 Pots of Gold Megaways. The original offered just 20 pay lines – a far cry from the up-to 117,649 Megaways possible in this release. The RTP has taken a slight dip – 96.1% as opposed to 96.24% – although using the bonus buy facility does improve things slightly if you opt for the Win Booster + 10 Spins mode at 96.68% RTP.
The feature set has changed slightly since the original release, although the Epic Strike bonus is still here, offering the same jackpot of 2000x the current stake. Stacked wild symbols that are now present on reels two through five are likely to be a forced change resulting from the addition of Megaways, but it’s definitely an improvement in the way the base game plays. As for the main bonus round, the multiplier wheel from the first game has been replaced by the incrementing multiplier that will be instantly familiar to those with experience in previous Megaways games. In addition, a ‘win booster’ bonus bet is available and offers several enhancements – in return for double the normal cost per spin, of course! There’s also a feature buy facility, although curiously, it’s the lowest cost option which offers the highest boost to the game RTP.
I’m not sure how many fans of the original might be out there – as far as I’m aware, it wasn’t an overly popular release. Nevertheless, adding ‘Megaways’ to the end of your title is almost a surefire way to increase interest in your slots nowadays, so I suspect that our free demo slot of 9 Pots of Gold Megaways will probably get a lot more interest from our readers. You can check it out yourself below:
| Provider | Microgaming |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 7 |
| Paylines | 117,649 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 50 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 5,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.24% |
| Our Rating | 7.2 |
9 Pots Of Gold Megaways Slot Casino Bonuses
9 Pots Of Gold Megaways Slot Free Play
Loading...
Latest Online Slots
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
New
Demo & Review
9 Pots Of Gold Megaways Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Interested in trying the original 9 Pots of Gold before playing this one? If so, then you’re in luck – our original review and the accompanying demo slot are still available. Most of the other games in our library which include the term ‘pots of gold’ in their description tend to be Irish-themed slots such as Spins of Gold – a likely consequence of the Rainbow Riches franchise including gold pots as one of their primary bonus features. 9 Pots of Gold Megaways doesn’t throw any curveballs in this regard – the reels are filled with typical Irish memorabilia such as green hats, shamrocks, and harps. This is actually a slight improvement over the original, which focused mainly on lucky sevens and all things green for its reel strips. This Megaways update is much more colourful and, in my eyes, far more pleasant to look at as a result.
Of course, the Megaways update has had a massive impact on the numbers that the Gameburger has been able to offer on the game’s paytable. The triple lucky sevens are now only worth 5x the total bet for a full payway of six of a kind, and things only go downhill from there! The harp has a return of 2.5x for all six symbols, whilst the green top hat will get you 2x and the four-leaved clover just 1.6x your bet for a complete pay way. These numbers feel small to me, even by Megaways standards, and the royals are obviously even smaller, offering only 1x or 1.2x whenever six matching symbols appear on the playfield. Of course, a large amount of the RTP has been allocated to the Epic Strike feature – there’s a separate paytable for that which we’ll be discussing shortly.
Looking at the wagering options, everything looks to be in order here – the minimum/maximum permitted bets have been set at €0.20 and €50.00, respectively, and plenty of other options are available in between as well.
Base Game & Modifiers
Typical gameplay in 9 Pots of Gold isn’t going to shock anybody too much, I suspect. There are six reels this time rather than the five included in the original, and each can, of course, divide into a random number of rows during each round. This is how Megaways slots get their insane pay way count – if all six reels land with seven rows each, you end up with the frankly insane count of 117,649.
Win Booster Bonus Bet
Activating the win booster will increase your chances of triggering both the Epic Strike feature and the free spins bonus, as well as guaranteeing that each reel will always have at least four rows instead of the usual minimum of two. As a result, enabling the Win Booster guarantees you a minimum of 4,096 payways per spin. However, all of this comes at a cost – you’ll need to pay twice as much for each round to enjoy all these benefits.
9 Pots Of Gold Megaways Slot Bonus Features
There are two main features in 9 Pots of Gold Megaways – the free spins feature requires at least four scatter symbols to activate, awarding 10 free spins. If five or six scatter symbols trigger the feature, this is increased to either 15 or 20 free spins, respectively.
The separate Epic Strike feature can occur at any time in the base game and during free spins. This uses a different set of scatter symbols, with nine being required to receive the jackpot prize of 2,000x the total stake.
Free Spins
This is a fairly standard Megaways free spins bonus – the feature begins with a 1x multiplier in play, increasing by 1x each time a winning combination is removed from the reels. The multiplier is applied to all wins except for the Epic Strike prizes, which is a bit of a shame – that’s undoubtedly where you would want them to apply the most!
The free spins can also be re-triggered by collecting the special re-triggering scatters that only appear during this part of the game. Every four re-trigger scatters collected awards four additional free spins,
Epic Strike Feature
The Epic Strike feature is supposed to be the headline bonus of 9 Pots of Gold – it’s what the ‘nine’ in the title refers to, after all – but I can’t help but feel as if the free spins have the potential to be more lucrative this time around.
Hitting three epic strike scatters will only get your bet back, but this soon increases to 5x, 15x, 40x, 100x, 500x, or 2,000x as you hit additional scatters up to the maximum amount of nine.
Bonus Buy
The bonus buy menu offers three choices, priced at 50x, 70x, or 85x the total stake. These options will reward you with 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively, and you can also add the ‘win booster’ bonus bet for higher odds of triggering an Epic Strike during the bonus round. According to the paytable, using the win booster with the 10 free spins option results in the highest possible RTP.
Pros
- There are a whole lot more Megaways available here than paylines in the original, meaning that wins are much more frequent.
- Collecting re-triggering scatters makes it much easier to extend your feature than being required to hit them simultaneously.
Cons
- Wins may be more frequent, but they are also guaranteed to be smaller – a lot smaller, unfortunately.
- The 2,000x Epic Strike jackpot feels small by Megaways standards.
- You really need to activate the win booster to get the most out of the game.
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t a massive fan of the original 9 Pots of Gold, but this update does improve things in several key areas. Although the paytable and rules pages do not mention the maximum possible jackpot, I believe that the ascending multiplier free spins should be capable of offering a huge payout if you are fortunate enough to hit a few re-triggers. Despite the improvements, though, this still isn’t the type of slot that interests me, if I’m honest!
Not made an account yet? Register here to join the conversation.
Log in to share your thoughts