The design in Joker Gems is rather unusual - the reels are set against a space nebula backdrop. Many of the reels on each spin will be blank. You’ll also see green, orange, blue and red gemstones, a bar and a lucky 7. The best paying symbol is the female joker.
Winning combinations are created by landing 3 or more matching symbols in a cluster. Rather than being removed, these symbols are held and a re-spin is awarded. These re-spins keep on coming as long as a new matching symbols joins the winning combination.
The bigger the cluster, the bigger the payout on offer. Awards start at 1 times your total stake if you land 3 of the lowest paying green gem but can rise to a mighty 700 times your total stake if you manage to land 16 or more of the joker symbol in combination.
Between any 2 spins you could see a Light Chaser appear – this triggers the Light Chaser feature and this creates a winning cluster of between 4 and 5 symbols which guarantees a win.
Joker Gems also offers a chance to win 3 jackpot prizes. These are triggered by landing specific areas of the grid with matching symbols. Filling the middle 9 positions with the same symbol pays £10,000. Fill all of the outer positions with matching symbols awards £20,000. Fill the whole of the grid with the same matching symbol and a massive £50,000 payout awaits.
Joker Gems is a simple, hypnotic game. The visuals are a little unusual but nicely done and the gentle, electronic soundtrack is a good fit. The gameplay doesn’t offer a huge amount of variety. The cluster pays engine delivers enough action to keep things interesting though.
Variance wise it’s medium to high with maximum payouts of 700 times your stake as well as a jackpot up to £50,000. The good news is that you can win any of the fixed jackpots playing at any stake!
Joker Gems sounds like an old school fruit machine rather than the space age slot game that it actually is. If you enjoy simple, high variance games then that’s precisely what you’ll find in the straightforward but entertaining Joker Gems. I prefer other ELK Studios offerings like Sam on the Beach or Wild Toro.