Hot Gems - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

There are now hundreds of Playtech demo slots on dozens of casino sites. They’ve been developing them since the 1990s, and Hot Gems itself was launched in 2012. It has pretty decent RTP percentage - better than some more recent entries like Playtech's Jackpot Giant slot - and doesn’t do too badly when it comes to extras. You can find a free play demo  version at Slots Temple as well as many other online casinos.

Hot Gems has a five-reel, three-column grid with a 25 pay lines. The minimum coin size is 0.01 and the maximum is 1.00. This means the minimum bet size is 0.25 and the maximum is 25.00. There are 10 regular symbols: the Prospector, the Lantern, the Pickaxe, the Cart and the gemstones in the colours Yellow, Red, Purple, Blue, Orange and Green. The Hot Gems logo is the Scatter.

Theme, Graphics and Soundtrack

Playtech have elected to go light on the background and heavy on the grid. We’re in a mine with nothing much to see apart from the spinning and tumbling reels. The spins are very short, and the animations full of sparkle. The music is all hill-billy banjos, and the sound effects are very noisy. Bright and cheerful but nothing special.

Hot Gems RTP and Variance

According to Playtech, Hot Gems has an RTP of 95.99 per cent. The variance is low.

How to Play Hot Gems

1. The game is played with a fixed number of 25 active paylines. Your total bet per game round is your line bet times 25.
2. Select your line bet by clicking on '-' or '+'.
3.    
4. Click Spin to spin the reels with the currently selected line bet or press the space bar.
5. The reels can also be spun with the Auto Play function. Hover over the Auto Play button to display the options. Choose the number of automatic spins. Clicking the Start Auto Play button begins the autoplay session. End the session by clicking the Stop Auto Play button, which shows the number of spins remaining.
6. Before entering the Auto pay mode, you need to set the session restrictions. The session limits only apply to one session in the current game. Stop auto play at a set total loss (mandatory). Stop on single win of more than a set figure. Stop the game on jackpot win. To save your settings and start the auto play session, tap Confirm. To return to regular game mode, tap Exit.
7. To start the triggered feature, click the Click to Start button. At the end of the feature, click Next to return to the base game or switch to the auto mode. Play on if there are auto spins left to play.
8. The Wild symbol only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4 during the base game and the free spins feature. The Wild symbol can substitute for any other symbol (except the Scatter and Free Spins symbols) to appear on a payline and create the best possible winning combination. There is no separate payout for Wild symbols.
9. The Hot Gems logo is the Scatter symbol. The Scatter symbols do not need to appear on any particular payline and can appear during both the base game and the free spins feature.
10. Always play gambling games responsibly, and if playing for money make sure you stay within the limits of what you can afford to lose. When it stops being fun, you should stop playing.

Bet Sizes and Paytable Wins

You can bet from 0.25 to 25. Top pay-out is 5,000.

The paytable values go from 3x to 5x, and the top pay-outs are:

Prospector

5 = 5000

Lantern

5 = 400

Pickaxe

5 = 300

Cert

5 = 200
        
Yellow and Red Gems

5 = 80

Purple and Blue Gems

5 = 60

Orange and Green Gems, interchangeable.

5 = 40
    

Hot Gems Bonus Features

Collapsing Rollers

At the start of each spin, the reels are reset and filled with new symbols. Any symbols that are part of a winning combination after a spin will explode after the winnings are calculated. The symbols above the exploding symbols then fall down and form new symbol combinations. The reels collapse in this way until no new winning combination is formed.

The Collapsing Reels feature is active during both the base game and the free spins feature.

Free Spins

Three or more Free Spins symbols appearing anywhere on reels 1, 3 and 5 trigger 15 free spins with the Collapsing Reel Multiplier feature.

Each free spins round starts with a multiplier of x1. If the spin result results in a winning combination, the multiplier increases by one. A newly formed winning combination due to falling symbols after the explosion of the winning symbol combinations is multiplied by this new multiplier. If the collapsing reels result in a new winning combination, the multiplier is increased again by one, and so on. The maximum value of a multiplier is x5. Each new free spin resets the multiplier to x1.

The free spins feature cannot be retriggered.

Hot Gems Review: Our Verdict

Hot Gems has been around for a long time in online slot years, but its limitations have nothing to do with its age. There simply isn’t enough excitement or variety. The collapsing reels feature can’t really make up for the conspicuous lack of imaginative extras. 

Disclaimer: Hot Gems trademark / license is owned by Playtech. This site is not endorsed by Playtech.