Gold Trio: Calacamania Slot by Playtech

A grey Xolo dog sits beside the reels, and he's the reason this Dia de los Muertos entry plays differently from the rest of the Gold Trio lineup. The Mexican hairless, sugar-skull face paint and a marigold collar, does one of two things on any given spin: he rains extra coloured coins across the grid, or he scatters Fire Coins. Both count in the base game and inside the respins, so he's not just decoration in the corner.

Fire Coins matter because a single one anywhere wakes the Fire Wheel. This is the wild card of the game. It might kick off the respins with a pot or two already loaded, drop a fresh pot mid-bonus, hand over one of the four jackpots outright, or simply pay a cash prize worth up to five times your total bet.

The respins are the Gold Trio part. Three ornate calaca sugar-skulls sit above the reels, blue, red and purple, each ringed with roses, and each runs a job once the Hold & Win locks in. You need three to five coins to hold and start it. Blue BOOST lifts the value of every cash and prize coin on show. Red MULTIPLY doubles the value sitting on every coin in view. Purple COLLECT sweeps up all the cash prizes on screen and pays the total in one go. Lock more coins to earn more respins, and cover the whole grid with coins for the Grand at 1,000x.

Four fixed tiers run across the top: Mini at 10x, Minor at 20x, Major at 50x, and that Grand, all fed by the special prize coins and the wheel. The lane behind the reels is a dusk street of adobe houses with iron balconies, papel-picado bunting strung overhead and marigolds under warm lantern light. Don't want to wait on the dog? The Buy Feature drops you straight into the respins with one, two or all three skulls already active.