The theme which was selected for use in Reel Gems is one of the older ones and one of the most boring at the same time, at least the way developers usually approach it. It’s about gemstones, so you can expect most of the symbols to be such stones, in different colors, but without managing to offer enough variety to make it fun in the long run. The company that offers this slot machine is called IGT.
5 reels exist in Reel Gems, while on them you will find up to 20 lines active each round. Winspins with guaranteed prizes, wild symbols, scatters and bonus games which can bring you progressive jackpots, all in all it’s a pretty good list of features. As for the big prize, it would be that progressive jackpot, though the slot also offers payouts as high as $100,000.
Features of Reel Gems
If you take a look at the features which Reel Gems has to offer, you will notice on their list things like scatter symbols, bonus games, multipliers and wilds.
Whenever you see the Game Logo appearing on the reels, you will know that you just got one of the wild symbols to appear and lend you a hand. The way it does this is by substituting for another symbol you need, as long as you need it in the spot where the wild landed. You can even get paid by the wild directly, as long as you have a regular combo formed out of wilds, going from left to right on a payline. This combo would pay up to 10,000 coins. You can’t use the wild to replace scatter symbols of any kind, so it will work with regular icons only.
Winspins Feature
If you happen to get three scatter symbols with the Diamond Ring on them, in any position on the game’s reels, you will be awarded a feature called Winspins. The name comes from the guarantee that the game gives you, that you will have a certain number of spins with wins in them. Those that don’t have winning combinations are not taken into account in the countdown.
Each winspin also gets a random multiplier, which is applied at the end of each round, and it can vary in value. You actually have three options to choose from when you start this feature. You can go with 15 winspins that have multipliers of up to x3, 10 winspins with x5 or smaller multipliers, or 5 winspins where multipliers can go as high as x10.
Jewellery Box Feature
The other scatter symbol of the game has the image of the Jewellery Box on it. You can get its feature started simply by having a couple of these icons on the 5 reels at the same time, three being required.
The boxes will open up when the feature gets triggered, showing you three gems in each case. If you have a box with three identical gemstones, then you get a bonus prize. The boxes with gemstones which are not the same will not pay anything. The ones with identical gemstones will give you additional chances to win, and this keeps going until you either get a box without identical gems, or until you collect a total of 9 diamonds from all the boxes you opened.
Getting 9 diamonds collected in Reel Gems will trigger the ultimate prize of the game, its progressive jackpot.
Betting options and jackpots
When a bet is placed in this game, it uses up to 20 coins for the same number of active paylines. The player decides what their denomination is, so you can spend anywhere between $0.01 and $10 for each one, the maximum bet being worth $200.
The bonus game gets you the progressive jackpot if you find enough diamonds in those boxes, while the symbols can form combinations which pay up to 10,000 coins ($100,000).
Design and symbols
The design in Reel Gems is heavily inspired by precious gemstones and by their brilliance. All around the reels you have a border with small precious stones in it, plus a background with a purple color and some elegant patterns. On the reels, you get symbols of two types, playing cards in a Wild West style and gemstones of different types.
Symbols: Reel Gems Logo (wild, 10,000 coins), Jewellery Box (scatter), Diamond Ring (scatter), Diamond (1,500 coins), Green Emerald (1,000 coins), Blue Sapphire (600 coins), Red Ruby (250 coins), Ace (100 coins), King (80 coins), Queen (60 coins), Jack (40 coins) and 10 (25 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
I’m not a big fan of the slot’s theme, the gemstones being too often chosen by developers, but I did enjoy its features and the prizes are among the best you can expect in a slot machine.
You will find Reel Gems at any online casino which chooses to use software from IGT, playable either for free or for real money.
