Gold West Slot Review

The Gold West Slot

I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed Spadegaming’s recent constant production of exciting slots. It’s like an awakened giant seeking to regain its glory and thousands of others, and I can’t wait to experience the developer’s slots!

Gold West takes us to the heart of Victory, where a brave and sharpshooter girl, Ella, aims to protect the town’s gold vein. Although the background is blurry, you can tell it’s lined up with wooden structures on the dry sand. Several boulders stand tall in the far distance as if to protect the rich town from ruthless outlaws.

It’s a nice visual presentation, but it would have been better if it were clearer. Anyway, a thematic Western soundtrack cements the immersive experience. Also, the gaming screen seems to fit better on a mobile platform, but I tested it on a desktop and tablet, and it worked perfectly, too.

Symbols and Payouts

Although the symbols are primarily for win generation, they should help boost the game’s aesthetic appeal. As such, the design team crafted all of them to complement the Western theme.

According to the game’s rules, you have 1024 ways to win. So, you should aim for 3+ matching symbols landing on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel to the right, except for the scatter. You only receive the highest symbol wins per way, and the payouts are based on the selected stake.

The low-priced symbols in Gold West include the wooden Jack, Queen, King, and Ace royal signs. Aim for 3 to 5 O-A-K to win 0.1-0.4x, 0.1-0.5x, 0.2-0.6x, 0.25-0.75x the bet, respectively.

Then, the high-paying symbols are the following:

• Horseshoe - 0.25x, 0.6x, and 1x the stake.
• Boots - 0.3x, 0.75x, and 2x the bet.
• Hat - 0.4x, 1x, and 3x the stake.
• Pistol - 0.5x, 2x, and 4x the bet.
• Ella the Cowgirl - 0.75x, 3x, and 5x the stake.

Apart from the regulars, you also get a wild (Sheriff’s Badge) symbol, which can hit on reels 2-5 only and substitute for all symbols except the scatter (Portrait). The latter is your key to the free games feature.

Gold West Slot Bonus Features

A set of features are available to help boost your winning chances. They include cascades, free spins, and a bonus buy option.

Cascading Feature

The participating symbols will disappear from the reels whenever you’re fortunate enough to land a winning combination. Then, new symbols will fall into the empty spaces and allow for potential consecutive wins. The process continues until no new paying sequences are available.

Extra Wild Symbols

During the main game, every special symbol that hits contributes +1 until the spin ends. The accumulated special symbols will then convert into wilds and be placed randomly on reels 2-5 of the subsequent spin.        

Free Spins

3 scatters during the Gold West base game trigger the free spins feature. At the start of the bonus, you’ll need to pick from one out of the following options:

• 5 free spins, where every spin begins with 3 wilds.

• 10 free games, where each spin starts with 2 wilds.

• 15 bonus rounds, where every spin starts with 1 wild.

• A Random selection from the above options.

Every special symbol that hits in the current bonus spin will become wild in the following spin and remain sticky until the end of the feature. Also, the +1 symbols award additional free spins when they land. Further, the total bet during the free spins will be the same as that of the triggering spin.

Buy Feature

Are you willing to spend 100x the bet to instantly enter the free spins from the base game? Then, this game has the buy option just for that!

How to Win at Gold West Slot

First, this slot is simplistic and doesn’t entail any complex features that would be daunting to understand. Regardless, remember to acquaint yourself with the free demo play available here!

The gameplay has 5 reels, 4 rows, and 1024 ways to win. Typical of most slots with the same configuration, you win when at least three identical symbols land in adjacent positions, beginning from the leftmost column to the right.

The bets range from €0.20 to a high of €500 per Gold West spin!

Set an ideal stake within your budget and press the Spin button to gamble the selected bet once. However, using the Autoplay function, you can also play the bet for multiple yet preselected continuous rounds.

Finally, use the Menu (three-lined button) from the main interface to reveal the options for sounds, paytable, and game rules.

Gold West Slot RTP & Volatility

Despite its high-valued bets, the experience has medium volatility, which should be ideal for both beginners and experienced players. Further, the slot has an above-par RTP of 96.75%.

The Final Thoughts

It was time for slot developers to rethink the usual craft of Wild West slots, considering the many games inspired by the theme. That’s why Spadegaming inspired this video slot with a mythical Western storyline based on a golden cowgirl called Ella. So brave was she that, even after repelling ruthless outlaws, she vowed to protect her town’s gold vein.

With such a storyline, you’d think the gameplay would have countless features for a more thrilling experience. However, Gold West lacked in that respect. While I’m not insinuating that the experience isn’t fun, I think it would have been more action-packed if it offered more features, such as in Thunderkicks’ The Gunman of Goldwood.

Also, its betting range discriminated against low-spending players. Nevertheless, to compensate for that, the developers made its volatility a fair medium and the RTP above average. So, in summary, I think it’s worth using to practice your sharpshooting skills.