Fire Blaze: Isla Baja Slot by Playtech

The reels don't sit in a clean rectangle. Reels 1 and 5 stand three symbols tall while the middle three run four, so the board steps out to 18 positions in a 3-4-4-4-3 shape across 50 fixed lines. It all plays over a turquoise Baja cove at golden hour, red rock and saguaro cacti ringing a sunset-streaked ocean, with luminous sea life on the reels: a teal dolphin, a violet seahorse, a green sea turtle, a red octopus, plus A-K-Q-J-10 royals cut like colored glass. Rare Stone Gaming built it as a Fire Blaze Jackpots title, so the glowing golden Pearl coin is what you're really watching.

The Pearl drops on every reel and carries either a cash value, from 1x up to 50x total bet, or a Star icon. Land 7 or more and the Fire Blaze Hold & Respin locks them in place with their prizes and hands you three respins. Every new Pearl that lands gets held too, and resets the count back to three. Fill all 18 positions and you take the Grand at 2,000x. A held Star transforms into the Mini, Minor or Major instead, worth 20x, 100x or 500x, and each of those can land more than once in a single feature. Once the respins run out, every Pearl value on screen pays at the same time.

The Wild is a golden mermaid, and she turns up only on reels 2 through 5, covering everything except the Pearl and the red "Caliente" shell Scatter. Three of those shells anywhere award six free games. That's where she earns her keep: any mermaid Wild landing on reel 3 during the round carries a x2, x4, x8 or x16 multiplier on the wins it helps complete, and Pearls on that same middle reel run richer, worth 5x, 10x, 15x or 50x. Three more shells retrigger the round. No buy button, no ante bet, so 7 Pearls or 3 shells is the only way in.