Upgradium Slot

Upgradium is a simple, gemstone-themed slot game from Playtech. Played using a 5 reel, 25 payline game engine, it comes with wilds that upgrade the level of the win to the next paying symbol plus respins. Play on all devices from between 25p and £250 per spin.



A crystal-filled mine is the setting for Upgradium - the reels are made up of 10 different gemstone symbols. The lowest value purple triangle pays up to 1 times your stake per payline with the pointy-shaped orange crystal offering 20 times your stake if you land 5 on a payline.

Helping to create winning combinations is the W which is, you’ve guessed it, the wild - land 3, 4 or 5 of these on a payline and you’ll pocket an award of 4, 8 or 40 times your stake. The wild also has some magical properties - it does all the usual substitution duties but also upgrades the payout level by 1 when it forms part of a winning combination.

For example, say you landed 5 of the purple shape that normally pays 40 coins - if the combination included a wild, the payout would upgrade to the cube which pays 60 coins. This is simply known as the Upgrading Wild feature.

On the central position of reel 3, you’ll see a translucent pink box which is the Hot Spot. If you land the pointy orange shape in this box then you’ll trigger the Crystallization Respin feature - all symbols are upgraded by 1 and a respin follows. The Hot Spot Box expands to fill all 3 of the middle 3 reels here.

If the orange pointy crystal lands in the Hot Spot box, the process is repeated. You’ll get another upgrade and another respin. That Hot Spot box is removed and you’ll spin again. These respins and upgrades keep on coming as long as a pointy orange crystal hits in a Hot Spot Box. Everything reverts back to normal following a spin that doesn’t fit the bill.

That’s pretty much it as far as gameplay is concerned - you can expect to land the respins regularly, likewise the wild symbol upgrades. The key to a big win is getting on a roll with the respins and the subsequent symbol upgrades – you can take home 1,000 times your stake on every spin if you get a screen full of wilds.

Playtech has kept things simple. There’s nothing too flashy about the design or features. They both work well though. If you fancy some basic, well designed, repetitive action then Upgradium delivers just that. For similar slot games, Starburst by Net Entertainment is a must – if you want more bonus features, Playtech has plenty of options with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice a good choice.