Avalon Gold

Throughout our adventures with ELK Studios‘ intrepid explorer Kane, we have accompanied him to search for a lost plane bound for Osaka, searched for a temple in the KwaZulu-Natal district of Lesotho, Southern Africa, and journeyed for inner peace in the Nepalese mountains. Now it’s time to look back a few generations, to Kane’s ancestor – Sir Kay, one of the Knights of the Round Table. After being knighted by King Arthur in the year 498 AD and building up impressive wealth, only his true blood line can unfold his ancient treasures – and who better for the job than Kane, who takes it on in Avalon Gold. With a fixed RTP of 94.0%, this highly (8/10) volatile release can produce wins up to 25,000x bet.

Avalon Gold Base Game

Visually, Avalon Gold slots perfectly in with its’ predecessors in this series. Symbols are bold, bright, with gold lining around premiums to ensure they stand out. The background is pretty plain, but still fits in with the overall theme, with green stone walls and archways in the background. Audios tie everything together well – pretty bold, but not so bold that they become irking.

Avalon Gold Offers Players a Minimum of 4,096 Ways to Win

Avalon Gold Base Features

Taking place across 6 reels, wins are formed on Avalon Gold by matching at least 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel. Each reel starts with 4 symbols, producing a minimum of 4,096 ways to win, although this can increase, which we’ll cover soon. Symbols available begin with non premiums, with Js, Qs, Ks, and As, awarding wins between 0.10 and 0.30x bet, for matches between 3 and 6 of a kind. In the mid range we have four emblems, with birds, snakes, wolves, and deer atop. Land 3 of a kind of any mid range symbol to see wins between 0.15 and 0.20x bet, increasing to values between 0.80 and 1x bet, for 6 of a kind. Finally, premium symbols consist of 3 masks and Kane – colours help to distinguish these masks, with blue green and purple available. Kane himself has a red background, meaning each group of symbols comes in blue, green, purple, and red. Anyway, land 3 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 0.50 and 1.50x bet, increasing to values between 2 and 5x bet for 6 of a kind.

Winning Symbols are Removed From the Reels During Avalanches

There’s a lot to cover in Avalon Gold, some of which you’ll recognise from previous releases in this series, with a few new tweaks thrown in. First up, it’s the Avalanche feature. On every spin, all symbols involved in a win will explode and be removed from the reels. This leaves space for new symbols to drop in and help form additional wins. Alongside this, an additional row of symbols is added to the top, increasing to ways to win. Up to 8 symbols can appear on each reel in total with additional rows being added, producing a maximum of 262,144 ways to win. Avalanches continue until no new wins are formed.

Next up are Big Symbols. In any symbol drop, Super, Mega, or Epic Symbols may drop down in any symbol drop. These will be 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4 in size, respectively.

Avalon Gold Expanding Wild

Moving onto the Wild symbols now, and there are two available in Avalon Gold. First is the regular Wild, which substitutes for all symbols except Bonus symbols or Mystery Box symbols, which we’ll get to next.

Alongside the regular Wild, Avalon Gold comes with Expanding Wilds. These sit behind regular symbols, and are distinguishable by a golden crown shape that pokes over the top of the symbol. When the regular symbol in front of the Expanding Wild is used in a winning combination, the Wild will expand upwards.

Mystery Boxes Can Reveal Any Paying Symbol

Alright the final thing to cover in the base game is the Mystery Box, which is a blue box with a gold pentagram on the front of it. When 5 or more Mystery Boxes land in view, they will be activated, and can reveal any regular paying symbol, Wild symbol, or trigger one of the following Avalon features:

• Coin Win – the value of the coin win symbol is multiplied by the placed bet.
• Multiplier – multiplies the value of any coin values already revealed.
• Swiper – swipes a 1 in front of the value of the coin win previously revealed (ie turns 1 into 10).
• Collect – collects the value of any coin values already revealed, reactivating their Mystery Boxes.
• Redrop – awards an additional symbol drop, and a guaranteed reactivation of the Mystery Boxes currently in view.

Avalon Features

Avalon Gold Bonus

Land 3, 4, 5, or 6 Bonus symbols in view to trigger 10, 15, 20, or 25 Free Drops, respectively. During Free Drops, Safety Levels can be activated. For every Free Drop that results in a win, the Safety Level is advanced one row, with every subsequent Free Drop then starting at the new safety level. This means ways to win increase throughout Free Drops, through the following safety levels:

• 5 symbols per reel – 15,625 ways to win –
• 6 symbols per reel – 46,656 ways to win
• 7 symbols per reel – 117,649 ways to win
• 8 symbols per reel – 262,144 ways to win

It is possible to re-trigger Free Drops. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 Bonus symbols in view during Free Drops awards an additional 10, 15, 20, or 25 drops, respectively.

Avalon Gold Bonus

Mystery Boxes are persistent in Free Drops, until the point that they have been activated. Each time a Mystery Box lands in a drop, it will remain on the reels until there are 5 in view. At this point, they become active, revealing any regular paying symbol, Wild symbol, or triggering an Avalon feature. To recap, these are:

• Coin Win – the value of the coin win symbol is multiplied by the placed bet.
• Multiplier – multiplies the value of any coin values already revealed.
• Swiper – swipes a 1 in front of the value of the coin win previously revealed (ie turns 1 into 10).
• Collect – collects the value of any coin values already revealed, reactivating their Mystery Boxes.
• Redrop – awards an additional symbol drop, and a guaranteed reactivation of the Mystery Boxes currently in view.

Once Mystery Boxes have been activated, they will no longer be persistent.

In the Super Bonus, which can only be triggered through the X-iter options, Mystery Boxes are not removed once they are activated, and remain on the reels for the duration of Free Drops. 5 will still be required in view before they will be activated, but they will now reactivate on every spin.

Avalon Features During the Super Bonus

Speaking of X-iter options, players in appropriate regions can take advantage of the following options:

• 5x bet – 1 drop with a guaranteed Big Symbol.
• 10x bet – 1 drop with a guaranteed Expanding Wild.
• 50x bet – 1 drop with at least 5 Mystery Boxes guaranteed.
• 100x bet – Bonus Game.
• 500x bet – Super Bonus.

The maximum win available in Avalon Gold is 25,000x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 25,000x bet will be awarded.

Avalon Gold Super Bonus

First Impression

Avalon Gold neatly continues this series, remaining true to what has already been developed thus far – like Big Symbols and special acting Wilds – whilst also introducing something new in the form of Mystery Boxes. The opportunity to reveal one regular paying symbol or Wilds can be lucrative enough, but the addition of coin values make the Mystery Boxes something worth fighting for. In an annoying twist, I don’t believe it is noted anywhere what the biggest coin value is, but the display cards show a 15x bet value, so we know they at least go this high – although I would suspect higher. That said, even without knowing this value, Multipliers, Swipers, and Collectors make it clear how these coins can produce potent results.

When Free Drops begin things kick up a notch, with Mystery Boxes persistent on the reels until they are activated. For those who can or will opt for the X-iter options, the Super Bonus then takes this even further by offering Mystery Boxes that are persistent throughout the feature. Through Mystery Boxes, Expanding Wilds and ways to win as high as 262,144, win values are possible up to 25,000x bet.

Maths is highly (8/10) volatile, but RTP is where Avalon Gold falls behind slightly, offering only one setting – 94.0%. Of course, some people argue that in the few spins they might do they don’t feel they’ll notice the difference, and if you’re one of those players, more power to you. Finally, artwork is – as expected in this series – superb. If you’ve liked the Gold series so far, there’s plenty in Avalon Gold to sink your teeth into.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.