Gold Hit: Tiger Falls Slot by Playtech

The coins are the whole game here. When a Cash Prize Coin, Multiplier Coin or Mystery Prize Coin lands, it locks in place for at least three spins instead of disappearing. A Cash Prize Coin carries a set value. A Mystery Prize Coin pays one of four fixed jackpots, Mega, Major, Minor or Mini, and none of them climb, so what you see is what you get. The Multiplier Coin is the one that turns a decent reel into a good one, boosting every coin sharing its reel. Fill an entire reel with coins and you take every prize on it. The Wild stands in for the regular symbols but not for the Bonus or any of the coins.

This runs on Playtech's Gold Hit coin-collect engine, so if you've played another title in the range the loop will feel familiar. That's the honest catch. It's a reskin, and the base mechanic isn't reinvented. What's new is the setting. The reels sit in a staggered, pyramid-shaped layout inside a jungle gorge at dusk, purple rock cliffs rising on either side and a waterfall feeding the river below. A regal white Bengal tiger with an orange-striped face and a jewelled collar watches from the top as the King symbol, the top premium, above a capuchin monkey, a crocodile, a green snake, a monarch butterfly and gem clusters.

Free games start with three, four or five Bonus symbols and pay out 10, 12 or 15 spins. This time the coins stay put for the whole round, and filling a reel spins a Wheel that multiplies every prize on that reel by as much as x10. Nothing pays as you go. Every prize on screen is collected in one hit when the round ends. Retriggers are possible. There's also an optional Extra Bet that doubles your chance of triggering the free games, worth a look since that's where the coin collect stacks up, though the ceiling on the whole thing stays fairly tame for a game this volatile.