Hot Gems Xtreme Slot Review

Hot Gems Xtreme Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits

The Hot Gems Xtreme slot uses an All Ways Pays game engine. Land 3 or more matching symbols (just 2 in the case of the miner symbol) on adjoining reels, starting from the leftmost reel and you’ll have a winner. The action starts with 6 reels and 4,096 ways to win but this can get much bigger as you’ll find out below.

Stake levels here range from 20p to £240 per spin. Click on the coins above the spin button and pick your level. Click and hold the spin button for autoplay. You can set a defined number of spins or leave them running until you trigger the feature round.

Medium to high variance, the Hot Gems Xtreme RTP is 95.81% which is slightly below the 96% average. Expect fairly frequent wins albeit of smaller in nature.

With the bigger wins coming with the increased ways to win, the max win is 10,000 x your total stake per spin or free spin.

Theme – go mining for riches

There’s a cartoon-style to the design in the Hot Gems Xtreme slot which is very nicely done. With a mining theme, a mine filled with wooden ladders, miniature railroads and gemstones is the setting here.

The soundtrack has an Americana feel to it, especially when you trigger the Free Games feature where it turns full on hillbilly. Like the visuals, the backing track is well constructed. Overall, the design works well.

On the reels you’ll find 8 lower value jewel symbols alongside a lamp, pickaxe and cart full of stones. The grizzly looking miner is the most rewarding symbol. Land 6 in combination for an award of 3.75 x your total stake. He looks like he came straight from the Battle of Blair Mountain.

The diamond is the wild. There are also bonus and TNT symbols which can trigger some nifty extras which we’ll look at shortly. Here’s a list of symbol payouts:

Symbol	Payouts/Info
Pink Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.25 x stake
Purple Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.25 x stake
Yellow Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.25 x stake
Red Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.25 x stake
Orange Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.25 x stake
Green Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3 x stake
Blue Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3 x stake
White Jewel	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 x stake
Lamp	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 x stake
Pickaxe	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.2, 0.4, 0.75 or 1 x stake
Cart Full of Jewels	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.25, 0.5, 1 or 2 x stake
Miner	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.2, 0.4, 1, 1.5 or 3.75 x stake
Diamond Wild	Substitutes for all symbols above
TNT	Transforms into a Wild + adds extra Row
Wooden Gate Bonus	3+ triggers Free Games feature

Hot Gems Xtreme Mobile

Hot Gems Xtreme is available to play on all devices including smartphone. The visuals here are super sharp and work very nicely on a smaller screen, even when the reels reach their maximum 8 row height. The Hot Gems Xtreme mobile slot stacks up very nicely.

Hot Gems Xtreme Bonus Features

There’s plenty of potentially explosive action on offer in the Hot Gems Xtreme slot, starting with the Way Boost game mechanic which can add extra rows into play and with it even more ways to win. Look out too for flaming ?s which are mystery symbols as well as sticks of TNT which trigger exploding reels. Also in play are colossal symbols and a free spins feature.

Growing Reels feature

The action here starts with 6 reels, 4 rows and 4,096 ways to win. Land a winning combination and the Growing Reels feature comes into play. An explosion occurs. The successful symbols are blasted off the reels and new ones replace them. These explosions continue as long as a new winner is formed.

So far, so standard. The wrinkle here is that each win also adds an extra row of symbols. This in turn increases the number of ways to create a winner. If you get on a winning run and expand the grid to its maximum 8-row height, you’ll have 262,144 ways to win active:

The reels return to their starting 6 reel, 4 row, 4,096 ways to win size when you don’t land a winning combination.

TNT Symbol feature

Whenever a TNT symbol lands, it remains on the reels after the initial payout calculation has been made. The TNT symbol turns into a wild. All the standard symbols surrounding it explode, a new row is added and a new payout consideration follows.

Big Symbols feature

All the game’s standard symbols can appear as single or as 2×2 or even 3×3 Big Symbols. When the Big Symbols appear, they drop down to the bottom of the grid, removing all the standard symbols in their path.

Walking Mystery Symbols feature

The flaming ? is the Walking Mystery Symbol. Whenever one of these appear, it walks to adjacent positions and turns them into Walking Mystery Symbols too. When the walking stops, the Mystery Symbols all turn into a standard symbol that’s on show on reel 1 and a new payout calculation is made.

Free Games feature

The wooden gate is the Bonus symbol. Land 3 or more wooden gate symbols anywhere on the reels on the same spin to activate the Free Spins feature. The more bonus symbols, the more initial free spins:

Each time a reel collapse or TNT explosion occurs, 1 extra row is added. Unlike in the base game, this doesn’t revert to the original setup following a winless drop. The added row remains active throughout. The more wins, the more rows are added, up to a maximum of 8 which can mean 262,144 ways to win active for multiple free spins.

Landing 3 Bonus symbols adds another 3 free spins to your tally. You can land the Walking Mystery Symbols and the Big Symbols during the free spins, just like in standard play. Finally, there’s no limit on the number of additional free spins you can win.

Hot Gems Xtreme Review Summary – good alternative to Bonanza Megaways

This Hot Gems Xtreme slot hits the target, combining high class sound and visuals with some cracking gameplay. It will remind you of the Bonanza Megaways slot in that it has a mining theme and an increasing number of ways to win. However, Hot Gems Xtreme offers 262,144 ways to win as opposed to 117,649 in Bonanza.

The exploding symbols and expanding reels mean things are always ticking over in the base game, especially when you factor in the Big Symbols and the Walking Mystery Symbols.

It’s all about the Free Games feature where you can play with the maximum 262,144 ways to win if you manage to land a few early wins to open up the reels. This is where the big wins will come from. The mining theme is a popular one in the slot world. Hot Gems Xtreme is another very playable addition.

If you like the Ways Boost engine, other Playtech slots like Buffalo Blitz 2 and Dragon Spark also use it.