Chilli Gold

Different themes have been used over and over in different ways in the online slot world, and Chilli Gold hits on something that makes games with common themes work: adding a major twist. Lightning Box Games has created a fun game with a Mexican theme that creates an experience based more on humor and solid gameplay than anything else, and that's a recipe for an excellent time for any type of player. The volatility is up to the medium level in this game, and there are a lot of spicy features and payouts to win some sizable pays.

Game Layout

The format used in this game is a common one with five reels, four rows and 40 paylines. It's fashionable to play with 40 paylines with four rows instead of three, even though 30-payline and 50-payline games usually have three rows, and we really have no idea why. In this game the extra screen real estate helps you, as you'll see from the features below, so it doesn't matter all that much.

You can choose your bet size based on coin sizes and the number of coins bet per line. You can bet up to five coins on each payline, and the coin sizes run from $0.01 to $1.00 apiece. The minimum bet per spin is $0.40, and you can bet as much as $200 per turn, so everyone from penny players to super high rollers will have a bet size that works for them in this video slot.

Wild Symbol

The chili symbol is the wild in this game, and it appears on the middle three reels only. Something that's really cool is that it also acts as a scatter symbol, and it's responsible for most of the value that you get from the game, so you obviously want to see more of them on the reels whenever possible. If you get six or more of these on the reels, then you'll get a set of free spins. Six of them earn three free spins, and 12 will give you 21 free spins. You can get this many because they show up stacked on the reels in a lot of cases.

During the free spins, you get special stacked golden chili symbols on the last four reels. This gives you better chances to get big wins since they're stacked higher and show up on more reels. The free spins are a bit more valuable than regular spins for this reason.

Top Winning Symbols

The man holding a pepper is the top regular paying symbol, and he pays 1,000x for five of a kind. He's also the only symbol to pay for just two of a kind. Five of the donkey earns a 250x win, and five of the parrot will score 200x. Five of a kind in the maracas is also good for a 150x win, as is five of the guitar symbol.

Low Paying Symbols

There are a total of five symbols on the lower end of the pays. They are the rank symbols, but they don't appear like they normally do. There is no A symbol, and it starts with the K symbol instead. Five of the blue K, purple Q or green J will get you a solid 100x win, and five of the orange 10 or yellow 9 pays 50x. These are some pretty good wins for the low-end symbols in this game, and they can add up to something serious when you get the stacked wilds in on the action because they can give you multiple wins of the same type on the same paylines.

Our Thoughts

You'll be able to find this game on the Microgaming Quickfire as a result of Lightning Box Games' content distribution deal with them. Chilli Gold is a good example of a game completely built around one set of features, but it does a good job of driving the gameplay overall, so it works out really well. Our view is that the graphics and feel of the game give it a lot of character, so it's not just another title with a theme players have seen over and over again. Overall, the medium volatility of this game will sit right with a lot of players, and we recommend checking it out for a few sessions to see if it fits what you're looking for.