Diamond Fiesta

Do you remember the start of the James Bond film Spectre? The film earned rave reviews for its opening scene where James chases a villain through the throngs of people on the streets of Mexico City as they celebrate their Day of the Dead festival.

Well, this festival has provided the inspiration behind a newly released slot from Realtime Gaming. The Diamond Fiesta slot hit casinos back in March and it is packed to the brim with bonus features and a wide selection of other bonuses.

The main feature of this slot is that the size of the reels in the game can expand from the standard 5x3 reel set up to a massive 8x4 reels, courtesy of the Diamond Bonus feature. However, there are also four jackpot prizes you can win, Mini, Minor, Major and Grand, as well as up to 800 coins to be won in the base game.

That sounds a lot to cram into a slot game, so how have Realtime Gaming done it? We decided to take a closer look to find out.

Overview

• Game: Diamond Fiesta
• Developer: Realtime Gaming
• Reels: 5x3 - Expands up to 8x4
• Pay Lines: 50 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.50
• Maximum Bet: 50.00
• Jackpot: 800x
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Low

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Presentation

Based on the famous Mexican Day of the Dead festival, the theme of the Diamond Fiesta slot is of that celebration. Mexican houses, linked with bunting provide the backdrop to the festival with the reels in the center of the screen. The main controls are at the foot of the reels. A fast spins mode and Autoplay is available on the game.

The game looks bright and cheerful as this celebration is expected to be and the symbols on the reels also tie in nicely with the theme. The music though is a bit of an annoyance. I am not the biggest fan of Mariachi music and this may well be a personal grievance, but I found the game much more enjoyable to play with the sound turned down low, or off completely. However, this is a small gripe and does not in any way detract from the visual feast that you get with the game.

What's on the reels?

There are not actually that many symbols on the reel for a game that can increase in size to 8x4 reels, they start with the five lower value symbols, which offer wins from 3 coins up to 80 coins and these are the 9, Jack, Queen, King and Ace symbols. Quite why the 10 has been missed from this list is beyond me, but there you go.

Higher value symbols all tie in with the Mexican and celebratory theme and include a chili pepper, a bottle and two glasses of Tequila, some maracas and a rather dusky Mexican maiden with her fan. Wins on these symbols range from 2 coins up to 800 coins.

The other symbols on the reels are the Jackpot Diamond, Wild and Scatter symbols and these link in with the main features of the game.

Wild features

In the base game, Senor Skeleton is the in game Wild and this can appear on the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th reels of the slot. It substitutes for all standard symbols in the game, but not the Skull Scatter symbol or the Jackpot Diamond.

Free Spins features

The Skeleton symbol is the Scatter symbol and you need to land three or more of these symbols in order to trigger the Free Spins bonus round. They can appear anywhere across the reels. When they do, you will receive 6 Free Spins and during your bonus round, you will have extra Skulls, Diamond and Senor Skeleton Wild symbols added onto the reels.

You can earn three more Free Spins by landing 3 or more Scatters on the reels during the bonus game and you can trigger the Jackpot Bonus game (outlined below) from within the Free Spins bonus round.

Other bonus features

The first other bonus feature is the Jackpot Diamond feature. When you land six or more Diamonds on the reels on any spin, you trigger a Jackpot Diamond Respin. Here you get 3 Respins of the reels and each time you add a Diamond to your collection, the number of Respins resets back to three.

However, if you land diamonds in all four corners of the screen, then the number of reels will increase. You can do this numerous times to increase the reel size from 5x3 up to 8x4.

At the end of the feature, each Diamond you collect reveals a cash prize, which is added together to give you a winning total. However, Diamonds can also hide any of the four jackpot prizes available in the game, Mini, Minor, Major and Grand and you could also reveal one of these prizes too as your Diamond Jackpot prizes are revealed.

Best feature of the Diamond Fiesta slot

There are so many great features on the Diamond Fiesta slot it is hard to pick just one. I love the bonus features and the way that they interlink. For me though, the way the reels can increase in size and also in the number of symbols on the reels by using the bonus diamonds, which also act as Sticky Wilds, makes this just about the best feature of the slot, but in truth it is very difficult to pick which is the best from them all.

What does the Diamond Fiesta slot lack?

I suppose the one factor that the Diamond Fiesta slot does lack compared to some other games is the size of the jackpot. It is rather small at 800x your stake, but even so, at the lowest amount bet that is still a prize of 400.00. That is not to be sniffed at if you are betting just 0.50 a game. However, a prize much higher than that would have made this game even more appealing.

Conclusion

Well done to Realtime Gaming for producing an absolutely top-quality slot game here. There are multiple bonus features, two accessible jackpot prizes on top of the base game and bonus game wins, plus the way the slot has been designed and implemented is first rate. This is by far and away one of the best slots Realtime Gaming have produced in a long time and it is one of the best slots I have had the fortune to play over the last few years.

Ratings

• Presentation: 17 / 20 - I have to admit that I am not the biggest Mariachi music fan and the music on this slot did drive me a little to distraction after a bit (which is why I hit the mute button), but in terms of presentation, this slot really looks the parts. The animations as the reels expand are great, the setting is nicely done, and the symbols all fit in with the day of the dead theme very nicely indeed. Music apart, I felt this was a fantastic looking slot.
• Game-play: 15 / 20 - I felt the game play on the Diamond Fiesta slot was very nicely pitched. It is a lower variance game and as such, it does offer regular wins, but they tend to be very small in value. The better value wins come from accessing the main bonus features of the slot, specifically the Free Spins bonus and it is here that you can enjoy some of the better value wins in the game.
• Bonus Features: 18 / 20 - I love the bonus features in this game, and I think Realtime Gaming have hit upon a real winner with this slot. The Diamond Wilds are very useful, but they are also not the only Wilds as the Skeleton Scatters can also act as Wild symbols too. This means that triggering bonuses, especially with some symbols stacked, is not as onerous a task as in other similar games. The features themselves are well designed, fun to play and can be genuinely rewarding even if you are only playing for low value coins.
• Entertainment Factor: 17 / 20 - Diamond Fiesta is one of the more exciting Realtime Gaming slots that I have played in a good while. The regular wins, allied to regularly tripping the bonus features, means that you are seldom caught in a very long run of non-winning spins and the fact that the bonuses are so interlinked helps make this game have huge appeal. This is a slot you will keep coming back to play often.
• Play Value: 16 / 20 - As a lower variance slots with regular wins, you would expect this slot to have a good value for money rating for players and it certainly does. One small gripe is that so many wins are relatively small in value, but these are balanced nicely by the better value of the wins you can get in the bonus features. Add to that the two jackpot prizes and the variety of bonus features on offer and this is a slot that rewards its players very well from time to time.
• Overall 83 / 100 - At times I have given a few Realtime Gaming slot releases a bit of a pasting on here, but I am happy to admit it when the opposite is true and with this Dia de los Muertos themed slot, Realtime Gaming have got it absolutely spot on. This game is a joy to play, its bonuses are fun, frequent and can be rewarding. Sure, the jackpot isn't the biggest but when a game is as fun to play as Diamond Fiesta, you don't really care.

Good Luck!

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