After the success of the 2020 release Big Bass Bonanza from Pragmatic Play and Reel Kingdom, it was no major surprise to see a string of follow-ups. Till now, this has included Bigger Bass Bonanza, a Megaways version, as well as a Christmas rendition. However, fish only stay fresh for so long out of water, so the studio has made the savvy decision of moving the gameplay to a brand-new setting. Well, not exactly brand new since the resulting slot Clover Gold is Irish/Leprechaun-themed. As part of the move from land to sea, Pragmatic Play has come up with a few new things in the form of special Collect Symbols which can enhance the core Money Symbol collection feature.
So yes, it means we are off to the Emerald Isle once again, the land of rolling green hills, blue skies, and magical characters. Players can find all of these things on or around a 5x3, 20-payline game grid, while a jolly Celtic tune is there for your ears. Pragmatic Play has a number of Irish themed slots under their belt, and Clover Gold is made to the usual standard, being neither a knockout nor bad for your eyes. It is hard not to sling the g-word at it, though.
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Behind the emerald green scenes, Clover Gold runs on a medium volatile math model, which comes in three RTP forms, where the standard is a 96.54% version. The win cap is equally respectable, and larger wins are more likely to occur during free spins with a Money Symbol multiplier on board. Any device is suitable for sampling Clover Gold on, while stakes of 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin may be set.
Money Symbol collection might be the most exciting way of winning cash in Clover Gold, but regular line wins are there to be considered as well. On the lower half of the paytable are J-A card rank tiles paying 2.5x the bet for five of a kind, then there are high pay mushrooms, beer mugs, a lady character and a Leprechaun, worth 3.75x-12.5x for a five-symbol hit. Landing on reels 2-5 are wild symbols which replace any of the normal pay tiles.
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There is plenty of symbol collection going on in Clover Gold, should your luck be running hot. The four-leaf clover, in this case, is the Money Symbol, appearing on reels 1, 2, 3, and 4. If Money Symbols land at the same time as a Collect Symbol on reel 5, the Money Symbol values are awarded. In this game, there are 5 types of Collect symbols:
Hitting 3 bonus symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 awards 8 free spins. Free spins function the same as base game spins, except that Collect Symbols are collected on a trail when they hit as well. Every 4th Collect Symbol added to the trail awards +8 additional free spins as well an x2 multiplier for the first trigger, x3 for the second, and x5 for the third. After the third trigger, the feature cannot be triggered again. The multiplier is applied to Money Symbol collection wins.
There are several ways of looking at Clover Gold. One, it's an answer to players calling out for more use of the Big Bass Bonanza dynamic, but in a jolly Irish setting. In this case, Pragmatic Play has simply given slot enthusiasts what they want to play. Fair dues. The other way of processing Clover Gold is a bit more cynical. You know how something can grow unexpectedly massive, then attract the attention of others who rush over to cash in before the fad implodes? Let's use cryptocurrency as an example. After the surprise success of meme coins like Doge, a bunch of wannabes sprang up in its wake, such as Shiba Inu and those Elon Musk related tokens like Lorde Edge, Dogelon Mars, and goodness knows how many others. The amazing thing is how popular these bandwagon meme coins can get before a rug pulls occur, leaving the investment pots of starry-eyed speculators hopped up on hopium chasing million x gains incinerated.
Where were we? Oh yeah, Clover Gold. Well, Clover Gold feels a bit like that but does dodge the issue since Pragmatic Play (and Reel Kingdom) were the originators of Big Bass Bonanza, after all – with a bit of Fishin' Frenzy inspiration. And to their credit, they have injected some newness into Clover Gold to explain its existence. These new bits are the alternative Collect Symbols. Not a major switcharoo, but they do add something novel. It might have helped some players if Clover Gold wasn't such a generically themed slot, but then again, Leprechauns are white-hot in the online gambling sphere, and no doubt Pragmatic Play has done their market research instead of just throwing darts in the dark.
Still, chasing low hanging fruit means Pragmatic Play were hardly bold in their subject choice, and Clover Gold splits its potential audience into fans and haters of this slot theme. Many in the former group should be thrilled with Clover Gold's pot of familiar thrills, while the latter group will have to content themselves with Big Bass Bonanza, for now, unless Pragmatic rolls out these alt-Collect Symbols in future games, which is not hard to envisage.
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