Play Gold Cup for Free

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. From South America to the far east of Asia, the beautiful game just keeps on growing stronger and stronger. Even the United States has started to embrace the sport (even if they do get the name wrong!). There is perhaps no aspect of football, however, that is more important and exciting than the World Cup, a tournament that is held once every four years and which welcomes some of the world's best players to the central stage. It's a time for worldwide celebrations, that is unless you are an England fan in which case it is a time for crying when your team is inevitably knocked out on penalties in the quarter finals.

This slot machine aims to emulate that sense of global sporting excitement with a series of symbols that depict some of the more iconic football strips of world football. There is the gold and green of the Brazilian national team, the blue and white stripes of the Argentinian football team and the iconic orange of the Netherlands national squad. There is also one other kit included which we can't quite pin to a specific country, but it does resemble the iconic red shirt with a white band of Middlesbrough FC – who are probably definitely on the same par as those international giants!

As far as the graphics go, this game is nice and boldly designed with all of the colour and excitement that you would expect from a celebration of the beautiful game. The reels themselves are set within the frame of a goalpost, ensuring that players keep their eyes on the prize as the reels spin.

What's more, there are a couple of symbols which depict on-the-field action thanks to 3D graphics. There is an image of a football player which will spring into life to score a penalty whenever three or more are aligned on one of the game's paylines. Admittedly, the graphics aren't exactly on the same par as the latest FIFA console video games, but it does provide some extra action to catch the eye.

As mentioned, this game only has 5 paylines permanently placed over the 5 reels. So, like in any game of football, players will have to make sure that they take their chances whenever they come. Since this game has no scatter symbol, all wins are therefore given as line wins when three or more matching icons appear on a payline. This will apply the following multiplier values to line wagers that range from 0.01 to 2.00 credits:

If players find that they keep on spinning small prizes, then they can always up the ante and gamble their wins up to a maximum value of 140 credits. There are two gamble games available in this slot machine: a 50/50 card gamble and a unique ladder game which adds some insurance for unsuccessful gambles.

One disappointing aspect of Gold Cup is the fact that is doesn't offer much in the way of extra gameplay features. There are no free spins, no side games, and no progressive jackpots to be won.

However, there is one special icon should keep players spinning happy – the Gold Cup trophy. This icon (which is modelled after the real FIFA World Cup trophy) acts as the slot machine's wild symbol to complete line wins for all other icons in the game. Plus, when the trophy appears, it will extend to cover all of the reel positions on the reel, meaning that there is every chance to hit one of those 5 paylines.

Let's face it, not every out there is a fan of football, so this slot machine isn't going to appeal to every punter on the internet. However, if you are a follower of the game, then you might be pleasantly surprised by the bright graphics and big winning potential of this Merkur Gaming slot machine. That said, the spins might become boring quite soon since there are no bonus gameplay elements other than an expanding wild in the main game.