Introduction to Oracle of Gold
Oracle of Gold is a casino slot from Pragmatic Play, granting you an audience with a mystic enchantress, whose magic powers may foresee great prosperity in your future. Oracles were powerful and respected individuals in ancient times, believed to possess supernatural, almost divine prophetic abilities. Hence, all kinds of people, from ordinary townsfolk to rulers of various nations, cherished them and turned to them for advice. The most prominent ones known today come from Greek culture, with the Oracle of Delphi being the most famous, and that might also be the one Pragmatic Play based this cluster-paying slot on. As you enter her sanctuary, adorned with characteristic Greek motifs, you'll be able to test your fortune on a 6x6 grid empowered by Wilds and multipliers.
Knowing one's future might be an intense experience, so if you prefer to first watch from the sidelines how such a seance is performed, you can give it a go in a demo available at the top of the page.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Oracle of Gold is a video slot from Pragmatic Play with 6 reels, 6 rows, and a cluster-pays win system, where you need to match at least 5 symbols horizontally and/or vertically adjacent. In the bet selection panel, you can choose your active stake from multiple options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.2 up to a Max.bet of 240, which can increase to 480 with the use of Ante Bet. With the game's default RTP of 96.55%, you can expect steady long-term returns, although two lower variants of 95.54% and 94.54% are also available for operators, so be sure to check your version before playing. Wins might be less frequent but more valuable due to high volatility, while the top prize from a single spin may reach 10,000x the bet. The probability of hitting max win is, on average, 1 in 2,052,545 spins, while the bonus game triggers at a rate of 1 in 425.41 spins. The base frequency of 30.86% should deliver a hit every 3.24 spins, on average.
The place where the Oracle of Gold weaves her magic is saturated with divine energy, manifesting itself in crackling lightning and mystical fog enveloping the scene. Shades of purple and blue dominate in the background, covering the ancient Greek structure formed into a half-circle supported by massive columns with elaborate decorations. On the right, the seeress draws the arcane forces from a brazier bursting with bright blue flames, encircling herself with a golden aura as the spells gain potency. The overall feeling is quite intense, and you can sense something really impressive hanging in the air. So, if you're ready to part the magic curtains and glimpse into the future, you can launch the game on any modern device, like a desktop, a smartphone, or a tablet.
The paytable is divided into two groups of symbols that award wins when you form them into clusters of 5 matching instances vertically and/or horizontally adjacent. The low-paying ones are brown tiles with gemstones in different colors, including green, blue, and red. They award between 20x and 30x the bet for matching 15 or more in a cluster. Stone tiles with animal heads, including an owl, a ram, a bull, and a lion, represent the high-paying symbols. Those pay from 40x to 150x the bet when 15 or more combine into a cluster. In addition, there are Wilds in the form of a glowing orb with the letter "W" inside and Scatters appearing as the image of the Oracle herself.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Oracle of Gold?
You can win up to 10,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Oracle of Gold?
The features are Cascading, Extra Multiplier, Free Spins, and Feature Buy.
Cascading
The cascading feature, or tumbling, as Pragmatic Play calls it, comes into play each time you hit a winning combo on the reels. Next, the winning symbols will be removed from the grid and cause all the remaining ones to drop to vacant positions. New symbols then come down from the top to take their place and complete the view. This process continues until no new wins are formed.
Extra Multiplier
At the beginning of a spin, some symbols may land on golden tiles, signifying a potential trigger of the Extra Multiplier feature. When such a symbol becomes part of a winning combination, it leaves behind a Wild once the cluster is removed. Additionally, the Wild may receive a multiplier of x2 or x3, which will boost the payout respectively. Several multipliers involved in the same winning cluster will have their multipliers added together before being applied to the win amount.
Free Spins
When 4, 5, or 6 Scatters end up on the grid simultaneously, you'll activate the bonus game with 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. During this round, there's a general multiplier that amplifies all wins, and it increases by +1 with every cascade triggered. On top of that, it combines multiplicatively with the ones that may appear on Wilds. So, for example, forming a cluster with a Wild Multiplier of x3 with the general multiplier increased to x10, will multiply the payout of that combination by x30. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 Scatters scored during the bonus game awards 5, 10, 15, or 20 extra spins, respectively.
Feature Buy
If you can't wait to glimpse into the future to find out if it's filled with luck, you can make use of several options to boost base game spins or trigger the bonus round instantly.
2x = Ante Bet, with a 5-times higher chance to activate the bonus game.
10x = Super Spin, with 5x or 10x multipliers added on Wilds when they're generated.
100x = Regular Free Spins with 10-20 spins.
400x = Super Free Spins with 10-20 spins, with 3x or 4x multipliers added on Wilds when they're generated.
Final Thoughts on Oracle of Gold
Our initial impression of Oracle of Gold is along the lines of "Oh yeah, that's Pragmatic Play, alright". Right off the bat, the game looks like a template-based production with an arbitrary mystical/mythological theme thrown on top of it. If you look at slots set in a similar magical environment, like Spellmaster or Madame Destiny Megaways, you'll see exactly what we mean. Of course, there's nothing wrong with it, as it plays smoothly and envelops you in an intense scene permeated by arcane powers; it just doesn't ignite any particular spark (aside from the lightning crackling in the background) when you look at it from an originality angle. Hence the impression of the usual Pragmatic vibe, where eye-catching, polished graphics meet some arcade audio effects and together create a familiar experience. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to flinch from either, just another functional production embellished with the usual style and range of effects from the studio.
Once the Oracle starts weaving her spells and revealing the game's mechanics, you'll see that the setup is also relatively straightforward. Base game plays like any other cluster-pays slot, with the exception of occasional gold symbols that may transform into Wilds with potential multipliers once they become part of a win. It's always nice to get a Wild to help you create a cluster, but an x2 or x3 boost is not that significant unless the sets are really extensive or you combine multiple Wilds in one set. The situation improves during the bonus round, where a global multiplier is additionally available, and it increases by 1 with every winning cascade. Now that's what we call an enhancement! It's fairly easy to build it up to a two-digit value, and once combined with Wilds, it will be further multiplied. Also, for those who have a taste for extra purchasable features, you can buy Super Spins in the base game with multipliers of 5x and 10x on Wilds and the Super variant of the bonus, with x3 and x4. In the end, Oracle came through quite well with its free spins round.
Oracle of Gold's lack of originality on the audiovisual side is quite well compensated by its powerful bonus round, although, on the whole, it doesn't feel like an overtly standout release.
