Treasure Pond Slots
You may not have known it, but there’s treasure lurking at the bottom of the garden. Past the potting shed, the brazier and the apple trees, there’s a pond sunk into the paving slabs, and beneath the thick layer of scum that obscures its surface, a world of wonder and wonga awaits.
The cute and innocent-looking pond life – insects, amphibians and fish – have been concealing a closely guarded secret all this time. Plunge to the bottom and you’ll find treasure that by rights no garden pond should contain. Oh well; it ain’t your place to question why, where or how. You’re just here to mop up the cash and other valuables to be found before beating a retreat to the top of the garden to dry off and count your winnings.
Treasure You Can Measure
Treasure Pond takes place within a standard 5x3 framework. 5 reels make for 20 lines in all, with controls across the bottom of the screen for setting the bet level and with it the number of active lines. There’s also a chunky orange spin button and a smaller auto spin option alongside it. To reduce clutter, Gecco have elected to display the value of the stake, win and balance across the top of the screen.
Overseeing the action is a chirpy (or should that be croaky?) frog in waistcoat and top hat sat on a lily pad atop the pond. Reeds and other marine vegetation fringe the reels while in the centre, the reels are overlaid against the pond’s green and murky waters. Spin the reels and a series of fantastic creatures will drop into view. These are your friends, the pond inhabitants whose recurrence and positioning will determine how much treasure you walk away with.
Dive for Glory
The basic playing symbols, J, Q, K, A, are rendered in the same ornate and shining script as the game’s logo. Peer closely, however, and you’ll notice that each one is sporting a toadstool upon its top or tail. It’s a subtle touch, but one that enhances the game’s theme. This is a slot that’s swarming with life everywhere you look.
While the game’s basic symbols provide plenty of entertainment, both to gaze at and to pair winning combos with, the special symbols are the ones that will set your heart racing. If you want to win big – and let’s face it, of course you do – landing 3, 4 or 5 scatters on an active payline will sort you right out. Developers Geco Gaming have applied insane amounts of detail to the game’s prime characters, each of whom is rendered in a beautiful cartoon style complete with electric colours and large anthropomorphic eyes. There’s a tadpole, a snail, a butterfly, a goldfish, a ladybird and the Frog Princess, who you’ll be hearing more about shortly.
Playing with the Pond Life
While the game’s playing card symbols can furnish you with modest wins, the real money lies closer to the top of the pond, primarily by collecting lotuses. Every time a scatter symbol appears on the reels, a lotus is opened and collected on top of the reels. These beautiful yellow flowers have the power to trigger free spins. Activate the spins and any additional lotuses that appear on the reels will boost your multiplier from a minimum of 2x to as much as 6x.
The other symbol to chase down at all costs is Prince Charming – that’s the chirpy frog who orchestrates proceedings. Watch out because not only can this frog leap – he can also kiss. When he’s not leaping dramatically off his lilypad in his role as the game’s wild symbol, he’s awarding the kiss bonus. This occurs when Prince Charming appears on the reels next to his lady, the Frog Princess. When this happens, you’ll be awarded a kiss bonus of 10x the bet per line.
Treasure Pond – Worth a Dip?
Geco Gaming have come up with the goods with Treasure Pond, devising a game that’s not only fun to play, but also lucrative. Naturally, like all slots, this 5-reeler has a fixed return, and as such will pay you no more or less than any other slot in the long-term.
Thanks to its slew of engaging and amusing features, however, there’s rarely a dull moment as you spin the reels and watch as bonuses and wins of all sizes are triggered. With its good humour, cute graphics and innocuous sound effects, Treasure Pond is worth dipping a toe into.
