Gold Rush POKIE

Gold Rush Pokie Review

Gold Rush is a retro-style pokie featuring a local progressive jackpot. Games based on a 3-reel scheme are not common these days and progressive three-reelers are even rarer. NetEnt designed this pokie to fill in the gap for the gamers who love classic machines and prefer games with life-changing awards. On the game screen you will see a realistic slot machine standing at a land-based casino amid other slot cabinets. The game has a massive lever on the right side that has a decoration purpose only, and you operate the pokie and adjust certain settings by using three buttons on the front button panel under the reels.

The pokie has only one central payline, along which the symbols should land to award a win according to the paytable. The combinations that qualify for a win are displayed on the same screen as the reels, which makes the gaming easier as a single-screen design negates the need for pausing or leaving the game to check up the paytable.

Betting options are very easy because the pokie has only one coin denomination, $0.2. By pushing Bet, you can select the number of coins per line. When clicking the button, a related column at the top move along the columns, and you will see the bet level you are currently playing at. That said, there are only three bet sizes: $0.2, $0.4 and $0.6 per round. Clicking Bet Max, the pokie begins spinning the reels automatically at the highest bet.

Symbols and payouts

The table above the reels shows possible combinations and their payouts, and you will get to see that the lowest-paying combo is when one wheelbarrow loaded with gold appears on the payline. In this case you get 2 coins. Note that each payout is always larger than a bet. In many pokies, low-win symbols award lower than a total bet, for example, betting 20 coins you earn just 10 coins for 3 Ace symbols – some experts call this a “loss disguised as a win”. Anyway, in Gold Rush, a net outcome is always higher than a bet spent on a specific spin. Other symbols include 5 BARs, 7 BARs, cherries and the jackpot triggering “GOLD”. All of these symbols, except for the latter, award the maximum of 200 coins, or $120.

GOLD symbol and progressive jackpot

GOLD is the highest-paying symbol in the pokie. Putting 1 coin into play, you’ll grab $480 for three of these symbols aligned exactly on the payline. Placing a 2-coin bet, you will win twice as much, $960 coins. If you place 3 coins and hit that combination on the payline, you will scoop a progressive jackpot at the value shown at the top of the game screen. The GOLD symbol also pays out 1000 coins when it is visible on the screen below or under the payline, not exactly along the payline.

There have been 11 wins of the Gold Rush progressive recorded so far, with the smallest win amount being around €9000 and the highest win being almost €280,000. It takes gamers an average of 41 weeks to hit the jackpot. To recap, playing at the highest bet level, $0.60 per spin, is a qualifying requirement for landing the jackpot.

Summary

Gold Rush is a progressive pokie with 3 reels and 1 payline. It is a very easy game with only three bet sizes ($0.2, $0.4 and $0.6) and the maximum regular reward of $960. It is the most preferred game for players who like progressive jackpots and an old-school game design.