Ancient Gong Slot
Ancient Gong is an Eastern-themed video slot that offers gamers 243 different ways to win. The non-progressive GameArt Games slot, which comprises 5 reels, is a feast for the senses, with ornate, gilded symbols playing across the reels. The arresting casino title boasts a top jackpot of 2,000 credits, but also contains a brace of lucrative bonus features, including a scatter, a wild, free spins and multipliers.
Layout, Controls and Stakes
Ancient Gong is a visually stimulating game, with plenty of gold flourishes on the 5x3 grid, which is bordered at each end by smooth colonnades. Symbols include a laughing, be-robed Buddha, a golden ship, a gorgeous Faberge egg and a couple of other golden trinkets. There are also the usual playing card icons, from 10 through to A.
Keeping track of your balance and win amounts is easy thanks to the tabs at the bottom, and players can click on the gearwheel icon in the lower left corner to enable the gamble mode or mute the music. The audio is fairly generic, in truth, with the usual casino slot sound effects (here’s looking at you, click-clacking reels) to soundtrack your game. The animations themselves aren’t too bad. If you land five of a kind, for instance, each winning symbol is ringed by golden flames as the win tab tallies up your pay-out.
The bet multiplier in this game stretches from 0.01 to 0.50, meaning you can stake a total of 25 credits for every spin of the reels.
The Base Game
There are only 12 icons in Ancient Gong. The graphics are not photorealistic, but they are well drawn, with lots of detail on the golden ornament-like symbols. They also stand out in the reels in near three-dimension.
The best-paying regular symbol is the one which looks like three golden cymbals. It pays 1,250 for five, 250 for four and 100 for three. Next it’s the golden ship, which pays 500 for five, 125 for four and 50 for three. Third best is a golden trinket with a purple background, paying 500 for five, 125 for four and 50 for three. Then it’s the Buddha and the Faberge egg, both of which pay 100, 50 and 25.
All wins pay to left to right on adjacent reels, and only the highest win on each line is paid. All positions on all five reels are active.
Wilds and Scatters
The scatter is the golden gong. It pays 625 for five, 125 for four and 50 for two. Three or more scatters also triggers the bonus feature. You will be taken through to a selection screen featuring ten gong symbols. Pick any five symbols to reveal the total number of free spins won. Each selected gong will reveal two, three, four or five free spins. Additionally, an extra bonus wild prize can be awarded (see below). All wins during free spins are doubled, with the exception of extra wild bonus prizes. The bonus feature can also re-triggered during free spins.
The wild icon is the decorative music box. As such, it substitutes for all symbols in the game to help you form pay wins. It cannot, however, replace the scatter. The wild is also linked to a bonus prize during the free spins round, totalling one, two, five, ten or 20 times the total bet. The prize is randomly awarded, with every wild symbol appearing anywhere on the reels during the free spins bonus feature.
Gamble Feature
You can opt in to a double-or-nothing gamble on any win hit in Ancient Gong. All you need to do is make sure the gamble feature is enabled at the start of the game. If you don’t want to risk the temptation, just disable it before spinning.
The gamble game has you guess whether the face-down card on the table is black or red. Your winnings are doubled if you guess correctly. Winnings can be gambled up to five times, but if you make a wrong guess, you lose the lot.
Banging the Gong
Ancient Gong is a solid offering from one of the most respected software firms in the business. Its pay-outs are strong, the gameplay is superb and the ways to win format always makes for an interesting ride. If you like eastern-themed slots, give this one a go and see how you fare. If not, GameArt have more unique themes to keep you entertained like the unusual 5 Elements slot game.
