City of Gold Slot
City of Gold is a classically-style slot machine based on Aztec civilisation that comes from games developer Vela Gaming. Played out over 5 reels, there’s 30 paylines to land symbols across, but it’s a win both ways slot, where those lines can start from either the left or right sides, which gives punters 60 different chances to line symbols up for a prize.
It’s a simple game, where spinners simply collect reliable wins, helped by the presence of a wild symbol that can complete combinations, but other than this feature, there’s nothing extra to enjoy, in fact at the time of writing, not even a paytable. Perhaps Vela Gaming will correct this soon, we certainly hope so, as players are completely in the dark about how much each combination is worth until they actually land it.
Fortunately, free City of Gold video slots are available, so it’s easy to practice the game and see if it suits your particular style before committing to real cash wagers. It may lack some vital information, but it’s a good-looking online casino slot machine, typical of the extensive Vela Gaming video slots range. We have ancient Aztec pyramids rising up out of the jungle, filling the whole screen, and colourful symbols appear to float above this scene as they spin down the reels.
Entering the City of Gold
There’s options to play 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or all 30 lines of this slot machine, although clearly any winning combinations that land on an inactive line won’t count, so most gamblers will choose to play them all. Any time matching symbols stop across an active line, in an unbroken sequence, a prize is awarded, and this being a win both ways game makes it easier to land a win.
At least 3 of the lower-value playing card symbols will be needed, and while these are commonly-used icons, Vela Gaming have decorated them in a somewhat Aztec style to help them fit in with the overall theme. Because these return the smaller prizes, they tend to create the most frequent winning lines, and we found that it’s rare to go more than 5 or 6 spins without collecting a payout of some sort.
Higher, and consequently less frequent prizes, come from the picture symbols, although just 2 of a kind will be needed from either side to get a win. There’s a compass, map and binoculars, stone tablet with some ancient inscriptions on it, carved statues and gold bars to create these lines, but the top rewards come from the treasure chest.
Wild Pyramid
A classic Aztec pyramid is the wild symbol for the City of Gold video slot, which no-one is going to miss, as it says ‘Wild’ in big letters across it. There’s no direct value to this symbol, and its sole purpose is to complete lines of symbols by substituting for any other if needed.
For example, landing the same symbol on reels 1 and 3 across a payline won’t usually be worth anything, but if the wild is on reel 2 across the same payline, it doesn’t matter what the other symbol is, the wild will act as it and players still get paid out.
Unlike many other slots, there’s no multiplier attached to the win, and no bonus games to trigger. In fact, this is all we have in the way of bonus features in this game. That’s not a criticism however, as many people like simple slot machines, where all that’s needed is to line up symbols for an instant reward.
Other Aztec Adventures
If you want to experience an Aztec themed slot machine, but would like a few bonus features to add excitement to the proceedings, then there’s plenty of choice. Our favourites are Microgaming’s Jungle Jim El Dorado, and Gonzo’s Quest, by NetEnt.
Both games have state of the art 3D graphics and in each slot, any symbols that are part of a winning combination will vanish, leaving spaces for new ones to fall down in to. If this creates another win, the value is multiplied and the process repeats, leading to potential multipliers of 15x the base value for those players lucky enough to get a whole series of new wins from a single spin.
Is it Worth a Trip to the City of Gold?
Without a paytable, it’s hard to review the City of Gold video slot objectively. We really hope that Vela Gaming sort this out quickly, and it’s currently one of the latest releases from the company, so by the time you read this, it could well have been corrected.
The game looks good, follows the very popular ancient Aztec civilisation theme, and returns lots of wins, so punters looking for an easy game to play shouldn’t dismiss this one, as it has quite a lot ot offer them.
But anyone after bonus features will probably want to give the City of Gold slot a miss, and try out games like Jungle Jim El Dorado, or Gonzo’s Quest a try instead.
