Golden Glen Slot
Pixies, fairies, toadstools and treasure chests set the tone for the Golden Glen video slot, which is a classic magical forest-themed game from the studios of Atronic. Many online casino customers will be new to the Atronic name, but this Austrian company has been manufacturing equipment and providing games to the land-based markets for a number of years. Now part of the GTECH group that also owns gambling giant IGT, the company has released a small but growing portfolio of online and mobile-optimized games.
A look at Golden Glen however reveals that old habits die hard. The reels are rather unusually set within the confines of a virtual slots cabinet, with deep surrounds and traditionally styled control buttons that will be more familiar among those spinners used to real casinos than internet-based ones. But once you’re used to the layout, the Golden Glen video slot can certainly provide some entertainment and rewarding bonus rounds in a somewhat basic style.
It’s a 5-reel slot machine where the aim is to land matching symbols across any of the 20 paylines in a continual run from the left side. This is aided by a wild symbol that acts as others if needed. There are also bonus features such as a free spins round with multipliers, along with the option to gamble wins. Symbols and the backdrop of a green and gold forest are livened up by various animated characters wandering around the top of the reels, while butterflies flap their wings as the reels spin. It’s quite effective and comes complete with a tinkling soundtrack that wouldn’t be out of place in an elevator.
Down to the Woods
Players can review the pay table by clicking a big blue button on the simple control panel, which reveals how much each combination of symbols is worth when they stop across an active payline. Although there are 20 lines in total, you have the option of activating 1, 5, 10, 15 or all of them. However, anything less than all 20 lines in play means that you will see winning combinations on the reels but won’t qualify for all of them. Most gamblers, when faced with an option like this, will choose to play all lines and then adjust their stakes to suit their bankrolls.
Traditional high card symbols are used to fill out the lower half of the pay table, with the 10 and J icons each returning prizes equal to 4x the line bet when seen on 3 reels. 4 of a kind will pay out 40x and full lines of either will see punters collecting wins of 120x the amount you bet on each line. The rewards for landing the Q and K symbols are a little more, culminating in the A icon, which is worth 12x, 80x and 200x the line bet.
Just two examples of the high-paying picture symbols are needed to win something, and the pretty purple flowers will pollinate bankrolls with between 1x and 280x, depending on how many reels they are seen on. A wishing well grants you winnings of up to 320x, a red leprechaun-type character will have you jumping for joy with prizes of up to 500x, and you can drink to payouts with a high limit of 400x when the golden goblet lands across a payline. The top awards in normal games are unlocked when the treasure chest appears, as this box of fun is worth between 3x and a massive 10,000x the amount wagered on each payline.
Features From Fairies and Fungi
A blue fairy with bright blue hair is a wild symbol that can turn up on reels 2 and 4. If she’s in the right places, she will act as any other apart from the toadstools to complete winning lines. When she completes a combination, you either win a prize equal to the total bet of the spin, or she can call on the butterfly to start a bonus feature.
In this simple round, you just click on any of the 5 toadstools in a field to uncover a win multiplier, which can be up to 25x the stake. All of the toadstools will then wake up and give you a smile once the selection is made, so you’ll know if you picked the right one or not. These fun fungi will also trigger a free spin round when seen in any 3 or more spots, plus there are scatter symbol awards of up to 50x that are paid out before the feature begins. During the 15 free games, any wins will be tripled in value.
A Gamble in the Glen
Wins can be doubled if you correctly guess the color of a face-down playing card in the optional gamble feature. Get it right and you can either collect the new win, or go again to double it over and over. Tread carefully, though, as a single wrong pick will lose you the initial prize along with anything gained so far in the round.
Betting Options
With a bet range that goes from 0.20 per spin – or even less if you activate just a few lines – all the way up to 100.00, this game is going to suit almost all bankrolls. Don’t forget that higher stakes will let you claim higher prizes. You can even practice with free Golden Glen video slots, although obviously there’s no way you can claim real cash in these free play games.
Other Forest-Based Frolics
You would perhaps be surprised at how many slot games have a similar theme to Golden Glen, including the beautifully designed Forest Harmony video slot from Spinomenal. Like all the best magical forests, it’s packed with fairies, elves, unicorns and druids. And like all the top slot machines, there is a load of bonus rounds to trigger. After each spin, a dark fairy can turn forest creatures into dark versions of themselves, while the light fairy does the opposite. Plus, if the druid wild symbol cures them, they turn into extra wilds. During the free spins, the druid can transform into a werewolf that expands across the reel, or a spirit wolf that multiplies winnings in this unique game that’s desktop- and mobile-optimized.
Perhaps the ultimate in similar magic-themed online slot games is Magical Forest, which comes from the studios of Playson. It’s got toadstools, squirrels, treehouses and flowers to bring in the basic wins, while a magical tree is a high-paying scatter symbol. The magnificent unicorn is a wild symbol that’s worth a spellbinding 900,000 coins when it lands right across any of the 9 paylines.
An Enchanting Game
Although the design of this game squashes the reels into a virtual cabinet and the symbols are a little old-school, the action that plays out on them is quite impressive. There’s a flexible bet range to get you started on, and some potentially big payouts to claim when those magic- and forest-themed symbols land across a line.
Even though she’s not worth anything on her own, the wild fairy is particularly useful. She either completes winning lines for payouts equal to the stake, or takes you to the field of toadstools where guaranteed prizes are waiting to be picked. It’s not optimized to play across mobile devices, though, which is a bit of a disappointment. But aside from this, Golden Glen is a nice little slot game that’s sure to please fans of the magic genre.
An Enchanting Game
Although the design of this game squashes the reels into a virtual cabinet, and the symbols are a little old-school, the action that plays out on them is quite impressive. There’s a flexible bet range to get you started on, and some potentially big payouts to claim when those magic and forest themed symbols land across a line.
Even though she’s not worth anything on her own, the wild Fairy is particularly useful as she completes winning lines for payouts equal to the stake or takes you to the filed of toadstools where guaranteed prizes are waiting to be picked.
It’s not optimised to play across mobile devices though, which is a bit of a disappointment, but aside from this, Golden Glen is a nice little slot game that’s sure to please fans of the magic genre.
