888 Gold

888 Gold Review

Pragmatic Play’s 888 Gold leans heavily into the traditional Asian theme, but also pays homage to the classic fruit machine with its 3-reel layout and abundance of BAR symbols. This is mostly an old-school retro experience, though, despite the unique wild symbol twist. More about that in a while. A cute and catchy spin melody keeps you company, and it seems Pragmatic decided to go with a Western tune to accentuate the blending of two worlds.

You start by choosing your preferred bet level between €0.05 and €250 per spin, which should suit both penny punters, high rollers, and anyone in between. Then, you can choose your preferred spin speed from 3 different settings. Normal is the default spin speed, while quick spins are significantly faster. Turbo mode maxes out the pace of the game, and you can also choose to set up the autoplay feature. This allows for up to 1,000 spins to play out hands-free.

888 Gold Slot - Reels Screen

You win by landing 3 matching symbols on 1 to 5 paylines, and any combination of BAR symbols pays 1.6x your stake. The single, double, and triple BAR symbols pay 3x, 5x, and 10x your stake, respectively, while the lowest-value red lanterns award 2x your stake. The highest value pay symbol is the square-holed coin, awarding 40x your stake for 3 of a kind. The red 8 Wild symbol substitutes for any pay symbol, but also comes with payouts of its own.

Unlike in most games, the Wild symbol in 888 Gold pays a different amount depending on which payline the win occurs. Please note that we are only talking about pure wild symbol wins here, and not wins where the wild substitutes for another symbol. Anyway, you can get a complete overview in the feature section below. 888 Gold is a medium volatility slot game, scoring 3 out of 5 on the in-game scale. The game’s RTP is 96.5%, and the max win is 2,000x your stake.

888 Gold Features

While there aren’t too many bonus features to cover here, we will focus on what few features this game has to offer. We would also like to remind you that the 888 Gold free play demo is available at the top of this page, where you can get familiar with the gameplay risk free.

Wild Symbol

The Wild symbol not only substitutes for any other pay symbol to help complete line wins, it also pays for 3 wilds on the same payline. The unusual twist in the 888 Gold slot is that the payout from Wild wins is different for each of the 5 paylines. Here is an overview:

• Line 1 pays 200x your stake for each wild win.
• Line 2 pays 100x your stake for each wild win.
• Line 3 pays 600x your stake for each wild win.
• Line 4 pays 800x your stake for each wild win.
• Line 5 pays 1,200x your stake for each wild win.

888 Gold Slot - Win Screen

Any BAR Symbol Pays

Another thing that stands out in this game is that the BAR symbol not only pays when you land the matching single, double, or triple BAR symbol on a payline. BAR symbols also pay when you land any combination of single, double, or triple BAR symbols on the same payline. Granted, the payout isn’t massive for such a mixed win, but you’ll net 1.6x your stake.

Turbo Spin & Autoplay

Like other Pragmatic Play slots, 888 Gold boasts 3 spin speed settings: normal, quick, and turbo. You can choose your preferred spin speed by clicking on the small bar icons on the left-hand side of the Autoplay button. You can also hold down the space bar on your keyboard to initiate turbo spin mode for the fastest possible pace. Hitting the Autospin button opens a menu where you can choose spin speed and between 10 and 1,000 autospins. Keep in mind that you can stop the Autospin feature by hitting the spin button at any time.

Dynamic Paytable

As is often the case with classic slots, the paytable is on full display next to the reels in 888 Gold. This makes it easy to keep an overview of what you can win, and even more so since this is a dynamic paytable. This means that when you change your stake, the paytable values change accordingly. This way, you know exactly what you can win for each bet level. This is especially useful for the Wild payouts, which, as mentioned, vary per payline.

Theme & Graphics

888 Gold is a blend of classic fruit machine and Chinese aesthetic, featuring a deep crimson backdrop textured with swirling cloud patterns. While there is no soundtrack in this game, the 3 reels spin accompanied by a simple 8-bit tune, reminiscent of physical slots that used to stand around in pubs or supermarkets. This adds to the nostalgic vibe of this game, and the same can be said about all the BAR symbols. These are mixed with Oriental symbols like coins with square holes and red lanterns, which give 888 Gold its exotic flair.

888 Gold Free Play

Now that you have a firm grasp on how this game works, we recommend that you check the free 888 Gold demo game. You’ll find it at the top of this review page, and you can play as much as you want without risking a dime. Simply head up there and hit that play button to get started. Don’t forget to read our verdict of the game below, though, and feel free to tell us what you think in the comment field after your 888 Gold free play session.

Pros and Cons of 888 Gold

Our Verdict

888 Gold is an unapologetic exercise in minimalist gambling, and as such, either a game you love or hate. Hate is too strong a word, perhaps, but there is no middle ground with slots like this. What makes 888 Gold stand out a bit is the somewhat strange mix of classic fruit machine aesthetics with an overall Asian theme. It’s like Pragmatic couldn’t quite decide what they wanted to go for, so instead, they threw the best of both worlds in a blender and let it rip.

The result gives me mixed feelings, just like the theme itself, but full disclosure, I’m mostly interested in feature-rich video slots. I do play classic 3-reelers on occasion, even outside of reviewing them, but mostly as a palate cleanser or when I simply want to relax without too many bells and whistles. For that purpose, 888 Gold is excellent, not least when you utilize the autoplay feature and switch on turbo mode.

I’m not so sure about the somewhat strange wild win feature in this game, though. I mean, it kind of makes your heart skip a beat whenever you land a wild win, since this win can be anything from 100x to 1,200x your stake. You’re gonna have to play a good while before the wild line win system is ingrained enough in your memory that you know exactly what payout each line delivers. Not least since wild wins are fairly hard to hit and don’t come along all that often.

Most of the time, you’ll see BAR symbols of different kinds, and pure triple BAR wins of 10x came along regularly during my test session. More often than not, you get a mix of BAR symbols, though, and like with most classic slots offering no real features, it gets a bit too tedious in the long run. The 2,000x max win is decent for a simple game like this, but hardly enough to make it attractive. Fans of the retro experience might enjoy this for a while, then move on to the next one.