Slot Golden Potion — Game Review
Golden Festival Gold Pays Slot Review
Golden Festival is one of two recent releases in the excellent Gold Pays series, joining Golden Princess – another game that you can read all about and find the best alternatives for right here at Mr Gamez. As with any Aristocrat slot series, the two games share plenty in common but these games are by no means clones. While they continue to pack in the most desirable and enjoyable features that the series is known for, they also make sure to change things up sufficiently to offer noticeably different action. We’ll take a look at what makes the game so special as we proceed through the review, but first we’ll mention the online availability of the game. As you’d expect from one of the freshest releases around, Aristocrat is focusing on ensuring a market share among land based players first, so no online version of any of the Gold Pays series is slated for an imminent release at present. Nevertheless, we’ve pulled out everything that is great about the slot and matched it up with existing online games – you can find them on the full Golden Festival alternatives page here on the site, or check out further details at the end of this feature.
Golden Festival Gold Pays Theme
This entry in the Gold Pays series sees Aristocrat turning to arguably their best known theme of all time – Asia. They always put a traditional, classic twist on such games and that’s what you’ll find here, with some familiar icons joined by some highly detailed new additions. The game is certainly nice to look at and even the cabinet itself is highly detailed, with the main jackpot prizes being joined by a pay table at the top of the machine, ensuring that you always have an idea of what you stand to win. There are plenty of fireworks and sound effects to enhance the action, making this a real treat for fans of the Aristocrat slot style.
Gameplay and Prizes
As noted, the game displays the prizes available on the machine itself, so whether you opt for the one cent or two cent version, you’ll always know what’s coming from each symbol combination. In between those pay out amounts, you’ll see perhaps the most important part of the game of all – the four different standalone jackpots. The prizes are won as part of a simple second screen game where you must turn over tiles in order to discover which of the progressives they are hiding. There are twelve tiles in total and each of the four jackpots is represented by three symbols. Whichever one you discover three of first represents the jackpot that you win, with the lower end being just a few dollars and the top prize running into the thousands.
Basic gameplay is certainly not difficult to get to grips with, particularly if you’ve been playing Aristocrat slots for a while. Golden Festival uses the Reel Power 60 configuration, meaning plenty of ways to win without breaking the bank, together with the five by four reel layout that has almost become a standard on any Reel Power game.
Features and Bonuses
By far the most interesting mechanic on Golden Festival, aside from the jackpots of course, is the Gold Pays feature itself. When enabled, all of your standard slot symbols turn gold and, as you’ll notice on the pay table at the top of the machine, they become worth far more than their standard versions. The game also packs in the conventional wilds and scatters that you’ll be used to, together with free spins. These all combine to ensure that even if your jackpot winning luck isn’t in, there’s always a reason to play and Golden Festival stands up well to any standalone slot out there and can be particularly exciting even when the jackpots are not involved.
As we discussed earlier in the introduction to this feature, there is not yet an online version of Golden Festival out there, so our Aussie readers will need to head to the local casino to experience this unique brand of slots gameplay. If you’re based elsewhere, or even an Aussie players that wants to enjoy some similar action online, then you’ll be well served by our full Golden Festival alternatives page, where all of the most notable features and visuals can be found on other games that can be played at the top online casinos around the world.
Play Golden Potion Slot demo from PlayPearls
provider PlayPearls type Scratch tickets RTP 0% Risk N/A Min bid 0.5 Max bid 10 Bonuses N/A Other Violet Theme Magic, Scratch cards Objects Potion Genre N/A Technology JS, HTML5 Last release 2020-02-15
Golden Potion Slot Machine Review
Golden Potion slot is a magical-themed online slot machine game featuring five reels and ten paylines. The game is set in a fantasy world filled with mysterious potions, enchanted symbols, and a charming witch who acts as the game’s wild symbol. Players can trigger the bonus game by landing three or more potion scatters on the reels, which can award up to 20 free spins with a 2x multiplier. The game also features a gamble feature that allows players to potentially double their winnings by correctly guessing the color or suit of a playing card. The RTP (return to player) of Golden Potion slot is 96.5%.
Technical Characteristics Of The Slot Machine Golden Potion
Golden Potion slot is a video slot machine with five reels and ten paylines. It has a theoretical RTP (return to player) of 96.5%, which means that on average, players can expect to win back $96.50 for every $100 they wager. The game features a range of symbols, including standard playing card suits and magical potions, as well as a wild symbol represented by the witch. Three or more potion scatters trigger the bonus game, which awards up to 20 free spins with a 2x multiplier. The game also has a gamble feature that allows players to potentially double their winnings. The minimum bet per spin is $0.10, while the maximum bet per spin is $100. Golden Potion slot is compatible with desktop and mobile devices and can be played in instant play mode or as a downloadable app.
How To Play Golden Potion Slot Demo
Playing the demo version of Golden Potion slot is a simple and straightforward process: 1. Locate the game: Search for Golden Potion slot on your preferred online casino website or mobile app. 2. Load the demo version: Look for the option to play the demo version of the game, which is usually labeled as «Play for Fun» or «Demo Play.» 3. Adjust your bet: Use the game’s control panel to set your desired bet per spin. Keep in mind that in demo mode, you will be playing with virtual credits rather than real money. 4. Spin the reels: Once you have set your bet, hit the «Spin» button to start the game. The reels will spin and land on a combination of symbols. 5. Check for wins: If you land a winning combination on a payline, you will receive a payout according to the game’s paytable. The demo version will not award real money prizes, but it will give you a good idea of how the game works and what kind of payouts to expect. 6. Repeat as desired: You can keep playing the demo version of Golden Potion slot as many times as you like, with no risk to your own funds. Note: The demo version of Golden Potion slot may have slightly different features or limitations compared to the real money version of the game, so it is always a good idea to check the game’s rules and paytable before playing.
Play Golden Potion slot mobile version
Golden Potion does not support the mobile version as it is implemented using JS, HTML5.
The last update of the slot was 2020-02-15
Potionomics Review
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Crawling out of debt is difficult. I’ve been there with college loans, and it’s not a pleasant experience. You feel a sense of gratification upon paying it all off, but at the end of the day, a lot of money’s been spent. Animal Crossing somehow makes the experience of being in debt a zen-like experience, and Potionomics attempts to emulate the same idea with some success — but with a timeline looming over my head to pay the debt off, it felt a little too real.
In Potionomics, you play as Sylvia, an up-and-coming potion maker. She inherits the business from her uncle and by extension the debt he’s wracked up over the years. It’s up to you to pay that debt off, and the only way you’ll scrounge up enough cash in time is to partake in five tournaments. The cumulative amount of winnings should be just enough to get you out of the whole mess.
A Story of Potions and Debt in Potionomics
With each tournament spanning ten days, Sylvia has to prepare three potions in advance. The process isn’t so simple: you’ll have to gather ingredients, accrue funds, plan yourself properly and scrape by with some award-winning potions. To begin with, you need to get ingredients. You do this by sending heroes on expeditions to gather rarer reagents for your potions — there is an ingredient seller who sells rudimentary elements to a potion, but the good stuff comes from expeditions on the island.
After gathering ingredients, you’re able to brew potions with your newfound supplies. It essentially boils down to throwing a bunch of things in a cauldron and waiting a bit, but the science of potion-making is a bit more nuanced. Each ingredient has a set number of «magimins,» denoted through A all the way down to E. Some components have magimins in multiple areas (or even rarer ones containing all the types of magimins), and potions have a recipe that requires a set number and balance of magimins as well. The goal is to increase the brew’s rarity and value with better ingredients. Experimenting with the values of magimins is straightforward and a helpful indicator shows you how much you need to make a more balanced potion.
Next up, you either supply potions to heroes for better component yields from expeditions, or you sell potions themselves. As Potionomics goes on, there’s an increasingly large number of gameplay elements to juggle which truly makes it feel like a shop sim. Haggling is itself a minigame involving cards and a deck of your own making. The goal is to increase the price of your potions by increasing a customer’s interest. With various types of customers, you often have to shift your strategy so you can maximize the price. Bartering with customers is a lot of fun if a bit straightforward. The card component of Potionomics isn’t too complex, but it’s an essential aspect of gameplay since money can be hard to come by.
Money is the real issue here, after all. You only have so many segments in one day to spend time how you please; in other words, there’s a finite amount of time to brew and make money. Money is, at first, very difficult to come by and it feels as though your just scraping by. Whether this is by design or not, it creates a rather stressful experience with the looming deadline constantly there. It takes a lot of effort just to brew the potions required to win a contest; on top of that, you’re encouraged to upgrade your shop to increase your output and create better potions.
Indeed, until the last two weeks in Potionomics I was mostly poor the entire time. I had to pick and choose what I wanted to upgrade very sparingly, as each week increases the cost of equipment, ingredients, and more. Because of this, it’s hard to see or utilize every tool at your disposal. Later on, you’re able to pay an NPC for marketing, which will presumably help you get better customers and make more money. There’s also a service for random grab bags of loot that’ll hold more valuable ingredients — useful for sure, but very expensive. It’s hard to make use of these services and more when the crunch feels so imposing on Sylvia’s business.
To make matters worse, the earnings from the competition are essentially rendered null and void the moment you win. The increasingly pricey reward is spent wholly on wiping your debt away. Sure, I live to fight another day in Potionomics, but I’ll be just as poor as I was before. It’s almost punishing to see the balance tip from $10,000 gold the first week back down to your paltry savings.
As for these competitions themselves, well, think of them as intense haggling sessions. You’re asked to present a potion against another opponent’s concoction. Each potion is given a value, and by design, it seems the opponent’s potion is always valued higher, even if it is technically of lesser quality. You’ll have to make a case to the judge that you’re potion is more valuable, and this is done through the card mechanic. The difficulty here isn’t as significant as the looming deadline to make said potions, since there’s a lot more time to inflate the value of your product. That said, I appreciated these competitions as a moment to breathe and celebrate the fact that I made it to the next step in Potionomics.
Potionomics: A Pixar-like Quality
The main draw to Potionomics isn’t necessarily the gameplay; rather, it’s the Pixar-like quality that the models and animations have. Potionomics executed its vision so well and created a charming experience for the eyes. The models for characters are inventive and so full of life. The animations of each character says a lot about their personalities, despite being a game with a fair amount of dialogue.
One anecdote that speaks to the quality of this animation is the subtle shift in a certain character’s face. This individual’s outside nature belies their true intentions and had I not stopped to admire the quality work from developer Voracious Games, I might not have seen a twist coming. Another character, Corsac, is this socially inept outdoorsman that’s hilariously subtle in his mannerisms. Without reading the dialogue of Corsac, you can immediately gauge what a character’s whole shtick is. The same can be said for the rest of the cast, which I all found to be entertaining and pleasant to interact with.
The writing, too, does a lot for these characters. They’re unique and have crafted backstories you’re able to explore by spending time with them, though this brings up another grip: you’re not able to see every moment these characters have to offer. As mentioned, Potionomics has a finite number of days and a limited number of slots are allotted to you in a given day. It’s likely impossible to see every conversation in Potionomics without replaying it, which is disappointing since the writing is what kept me going when the stress felt intense.
It’s a crying shame, too: There’s no way to continue your adventure after wiggling yourself out of debt in Potionomics. This game is ripe for infinite replayability. I didn’t gather all the upgrades, make all the potions, and interact with every NPC as much as I could. There’s no real reason why I shouldn’t be able to just run my shop as long as I’d like, but alas, I cannot. To experience all the things I missed out on in Potionomics, I’d have to restart from the beginning. This would mean climbing myself out of debt once again and re-establishing relationships I’ve already made. There’s a lot of wasted opportunity by not allowing players to continue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a feature added in the future.
Potionomics Review | Verdict
My numerous issues with Potionomics may very well be fixed in the future. These are problems that should be mendable, but I worry they may go against the original intent of the developers. Perhaps the developers intended to emulate that feeling of being in a tough financial situation, in which case, that’s very evident in the final product. It shouldn’t detract those interested in Potionomics, but it should be known the relaxing outward appearance of the game shrouds the crunch needed to succeed. If you’re willing to get past the looming deadlines, there’s a lot to love with Potionomics. Heck, maybe those with more business acumen than me will find it to be cathartic.
TechRaptor reviewed Potionomics on PC with a copy of the game provided by the publisher. It is available now on Steam.
