Pay Dirt

It's easy to see why the era of the great Gold Rush in the late 19^th century has become a fertile ground for slot development. The idea of people turning up with very little hoping to find their fortune is a neat little parallel to people playing modern online slots, hoping their small wager can turn into a massive win.

As a result, it is not surprising that there are a fair few slots based on the gold rush around nowadays and Realtime Gaming have come up with their own. It's called Pay Dirt and you need to be aware that there may be another slot from another company with the same name available, so it is advisable to check you are playing the Realtime Gaming version of the game before you play.

So how does Pay Dirt shape up? Are you sifting through the rubbish here looking for a nugget, or is this a slot so blessed with golden moments that you'll be mining this seam for many years to come? Let's take a closer look and find out.

Overview

• Game: Pay Dirt
• Developer: Realtime Gaming
• Reels: 5
• Pay Lines: 25 (selectable)
• Minimum Bet: $0.25
• Maximum Bet: $125
• Jackpot: 10,000 coins
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: Yes
• Volatility: Medium

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Presentation

It is fair to say that the presentation on the Pay Dirt slot is somewhat basic and in truth, could do with a bit of an update. The setting is what appears to be some farmland where our prospector fellow is going to try and find his fortune. The sound is minimal with just the chirruping of crickets to accompany you on most spins and the graphics are more cartoon style than realistic.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but these graphics are looking rather outdated now especially when compared to some of the more modern slots available which not just have great graphics but also incredible animations.

You can select between 1 and 25 pay lines to play (playing all 25 is the best way to play) and you can increase the value of the coin wagered on each line which makes Pay Dirt affordable both for micro stakes players and also those who prefer to play for larger sums on each spin.

What's on the reels?

All the symbols on the reels are to do with gold mining and they include the lower value symbols, which are the lantern, pick axe, gold pan, the coyote, the box of dynamite, the mining cart filled with gold and the pack donkey. You can win between 5 coins and 500 coins with these symbols with a standard win.

There are three considerably higher value symbols on the reels to chase too. The first of these is the bandit, then there is the gold miner himself and lastly is the gold mine which is the highest paying item with a 10,000 coin standard jackpot.

Several of the symbols on the reels, the pack donkey, mining cart, bandit, gold miner and mine all pay out when you land just two icons on the leftmost reels on a pay line although these wins are very small (ranging from 2 coins up to 10 coins in a standard win).

Wild Features

The Wild symbol on this slot is the Gold Nugget and it appears on the second and fourth reels in the base game. The symbol is stacked three high and as a result, it is possible to land this symbol and completely cover both reels as well as landing one or two symbols on a spin.

The Gold Nugget serves two purposes, it substitutes for any of the standard symbols above to help create additional winning pay lines and additionally, any win that is completed with the aid of a Gold Nugget symbol receives a 3x multiplier, This applies to every size of win in the base game, meaning the 10,000 jackpot can be as much as 30,000 coins if a golden nugget helps complete the win.

By landing stacked Gold Nugget symbols on the second and fourth reel in the base game, you can land some great value wins in this way if you are lucky and patient enough to do so.

Free Spins Features

To trigger the Free Spins bonus round you need to land three of the Pay Dirt scatter symbols anywhere across the reels. When you land three or more of these symbols on the reel, you will trigger a win of between 2 and 200 coins (depending on whether you land 3, 4 or 5 scatters) plus the bonus game will trigger.

Here you get to pick one of the three Pay Dirt signs to select one of three Free Spins games. The most 'Free Spins' of all these games is the Gold Rush! bonus which sees you awarded 12 Free Spins and on these free spins the Gold Nugget Wild symbol can appear on any of the five reels stacked three high.

Furthermore, if at any point during the free spins you land three more of the Pay Dirt symbols on the reels, then you will receive an additional 12 free spins on top of those you have already won.

Other Bonus Features

The other two bonus games are Strike It Lucky! And Gold Fever!. In the Gold Fever! Game you are given 5 free games and on each of these spins the third reel is turned completely Wild. This gives you a much greater chance of landing a win on each spin. Furthermore you can trigger five more of these spins by landing three or more scatters across the reels on any of the free spins.

The Strike It Lucky! Bonus sees 5 Gold Mines revealed and you select a gold mine to reveal a bonus symbol, you may then be allowed to pick additional bonus symbols hidden behind the other other mines before the bonus starts.

When the bonus starts you receive 10 free spins and any bonus symbol you collected in the first part of the bonus is replaced by a Gold Nugget Wild symbol. Land three or more of the scatters on the reels and you can re-trigger the bonus and receive 10 more free spins.

Finally, there is also a progressive jackpot which can be won at any point on any spin which increases with every spin of the slot made. This jackpot is triggered entirely at random on any winning or non winning spin and at any time.

Best Feature of the Pay Dirt slot

Without doubt the best feature of the Pay Dirt slot is the fact that it has so many different bonus games. One free spins game is good, but having three to play at random makes this game additionally exciting. Add into this Stacked Wilds in the base game and a generous re-trigger in the bonus round and this is a slot which although looking basic and simplistic, actually has excellent levels of complexity built within.

That makes this a hugely playable and enjoyable game. As Han Solo memorably said of the Millennium Falcon 'She may not look like much kid, but she's got it where it counts' so the same could be said for the Pay Dirt slot.

What does the Pay Dirt slot lack?

The only criticism I have of the Pay Dirt slot is that it is presented so simplistically and it actually looks like it is a slot that was first designed about 15 years ago. The music and sound effects are somewhat basic and the graphics are too. The game would look better if it was given an update but in no way do Realtime Gaming need to tinker with the mechanics of the slot.

Conclusion

Forget how Pay Dirt looks upon the first glance at this game, you may think this is a rickety old slot best condemned to the back halls of online casinos, but in truth Pay Dirt is one of the most enjoyable, rewarding and exciting slots you can play from Realtime Gaming. It is easy to see why so many people have enjoyed playing this slot with its generous medium level variance and superb bonus features allied to genuinely enjoyable game-play in the base game as well as the bonus rounds.

Ratings

• Presentation: 12 / 20 - Stylistically, Pay Dirt doesn't really grab and hold your attention. The graphics are very simplistic, perhaps a tad too simplistic for what is essentially a more complex slot game than standard. The sounds are also basic and while the slot functions perfectly fine, it doesn't have that 'wow' factor that can sell a slot to a player before they have even played through a single spin on the game.
• Game-Play: 18 / 20 - This is where the Pay Dirt slot starts to shine. The game-play in the base game is exciting generally because you get a good mix of higher and low value wins and the Stacked Wilds can create some bigger value base game wins, especially with those multipliers. However it is when you hit the bonus features that the slot really kicks up the action and it becomes a thrill to play.
• Bonus Features: 20 / 20 - You have stacked Wilds with a 3x multiplier, three different free spins games that are randomly selected when triggered and which each have very different options, complete with a generous re-trigger bonus (which triggers a lot more frequently than on other slots I've played) and then add to that a progressive jackpot bonus and I think you have about the perfect balance of bonus features for any slot game.
• Entertainment Factor: 18 / 20 - What makes Pay Dirt so entertaining compared to other slots? Well, it's certainly not its looks but it is how the slot melds together and plays that makes it such great fun to play. It's not an easy slot to win big on, but it is a fair one and by that I mean you will have sessions where you come out worse off, but others where you earn a nice profit. Big wins don't seem impossible and the feature re-triggers really add to the entertainment value.
• Play Value: 18 / 20 - Normally medium variance slot tend to have a play value of between 10-14 when I rate them simply because of the nature of the slot. Pay Dirt however is different because it does seem to pay out bigger amounts a lot more often and you trigger the bonuses a lot more frequently. You get good sessions and bad for sure and there's no guarantee of a win, but this is a medium variance slot that won't take a huge chunk out of your bankroll, without giving you something back in return.
• Overall 86 / 100 - Pay Dirt is an exceptionally good slot. Don't be fooled by its simplistic graphics and presentation, this is a brilliantly put together slot game and I think Realtime Gaming will have to push themselves to the limit to come up with a slot as good as this. This is a slot that has to be on your must-play list.

Good Luck!

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