The design of Rainbow Riches Reels of Gold is a little unusual - the action takes place on 2 sets of reels. On the left is a standard 5 reel, 4 row machine which is joined by a 5 reel, 12 row colossal reel engine on the right. If the set-up is unorthodox, the symbols will be familiar to anyone who enjoys an Irish cliché.
Joining the heart, club, spade and diamond symbols are a 4-leaf clover, horseshoe, toadstool, harp and rainbow. The leprechaun is the top paying standard symbol. He appears as stacked and can fill an entire reel or reels - 5 of these on a payline award 500 coins.
Reels of Gold also comes with standard and expanding wilds - if the Rainbow Riches logo forms part of a winning combination, it will turn into a wild. Land the Rainbow Riches logo symbol fully stacked on the main reel set and it will expand to fill the corresponding line on the colossal reel set, turning both wild.
Look out for the fairy who can float onto the reels at random and deliver some extra goodies with a quick wave of her wand. They include:
- Super Stacked Wilds feature - 1 or more reels on the main set will be filled with Rainbow Riches wilds which will then be transferred to the colossal reels.
- Magic Wilds feature - these wilds slide up and down the designated reels before locking into position.
- Wild Burst feature - after a wave of the fairy's wand, a number of butterflies will fly onto the screen before landing on both the main and colossal reel sets. Symbols covered by the butterflies will turn wild.
- Wishing Well Bonus feature - the fairy will turn all of the playing card suit symbols on both sets of reels into a wishing well. Those wishing wells will then be transformed into a mushroom, horse shoe, harp, shamrock or wild.
- Reel Wins Multiplier feature - the fairy will award a multiplier of 2x, 3x or 5x to your winnings.
- Near Miss Free Spins feature - if you land 2 free spin symbols and just miss triggering the feature, the fairy can award a re-spin, giving you another shot at landing the bonus round.
- Near Miss Win feature - if you have a winless spin, the fairy can nudge the reels to create a winning combination.
Land 3 or more of the bonus symbol (the balloons) and you'll trigger the Free Spins feature. To determine how many free spins you'll receive, first pick from the balloons. The more bonus symbols that triggered the feature, the more picks you'll get and the more free spins you can accumulate. For example, 6 bonus symbols will give you a 2,000-coin win and 4 picks from 6 balloons.
If you think the allocation is a little skinny, you can try and gamble to increase the number - you'll be shown 5 dials, each offering a different amount of free spins, plus the likelihood of winning them. Make your choice and spin the dial. If it lands in the green, you win that number - if it lands in the red, you lose all of your free spins.
Rainbow Riches Reels of Gold also gives the option of playing in Big Bet Mode which is a series of 5 linked spins at higher stakes. Play at the £10 Big Bet and any Rainbow Riches wilds that land on the left hand reels will fill the corresponding positions on the colossal reels.
At £15, you'll still get the mega expanding Rainbow Riches wilds on both reels. Light all 7 bonus symbols and you'll receive between 10 and 50 free spins. Play at £20 and you'll get the Rainbow Riches wilds but you only need to highlight 6 bonuses to get 15-50 free spins. The same wild extras are on offer at the £25 Big Bet level with just 5 bonus symbols required to earn the 20-50 free spins.
The Return to Player % rate increases the higher the stakes you play - at £2 or under per spin, it stands at 94%. £2 or more and it increases to 96%. Play in Big Bet mode and it's 98%.
There really is plenty to get stuck into in the latest instalment of the Rainbow Riches franchise - the fairy can sprinkle her magic dust to award some nice base game goodies. The action really heats up in the bonus round though. Trigger a good number of free spins and there could be gold sitting at the end of this particular rainbow.
I like the way Scientific Games has combined a popular game franchise, Rainbow Riches, with the game engine from some of their WMS slot games to create a unique and very appealing title. If you like Colossal Reels slot games, WMS offers plenty with Giant’s Gold and Spartacus Gladiator of Rome recommended.