Gonzo's Quest slot review

Gonzo’s Quest is one of NetEnt’s most popular slot games, and for good reason! Our titular hero has jumped ship and is seeking his fortune as he searches for the fabled city of El Dorado - the city of gold. The simple gameplay and bonus rounds might not look that exciting to bonus hunters, but there's an opportunity for huge wins with the game's avalanche multiplier and free falls bonuses. so, should you seek gold by playing this game on your favourite slot sites? Read on...

Key information:

• Reels: 5
• Paylines: 20
• Min bet: £0.20
• Max bet: £50
• Slot RTP: 96%
• Provider: NetEnt

Show me the way to El Dorado!

The game’s 5 reels and 20 paylines are situated at an ancient Incan temple, surrounded by greenery and backed by a golden structure. All of the cascading symbols are formed in the likeness of questionable looking human and animal faces, carved into colourful stones in a traditional Incan style.

The mix of hand-drawn symbols and backgrounds and 3D models for Gonzo works surprisingly well, creating a visually cohesive game that is pleasing to the eye.

The South American jungle ambiance is further cemented by the quiet sounds of nature, particularly birds singing, monkeys chattering, and, of course, Gonzo’s laughter, shuffling, grunts and guffaws. Each spin plays a single flute note, and the rumble of falling stones. Wins are indicated by a riff of Spanish guitar, and the bonus is serenaded by a jovial pan flute.  

Playing for gold

There are 9 symbols to contend with here, including Gonzo’s Quest’s wild and Free Fall bonus symbols. The values of these carved stone symbols are not immediately obvious from their colour, however the more intricately designed, gold trimmed human faces are worth more than the simple animal heads. 

In this game, just like Gonzo’s real quest, gold is the goal - which is especially true with the game’s solid gold bonus symbol. The wild symbol is a surprisingly mute grey with just a hint of gold, not what you’d expect from the city of El Dorado. However, the colour and symbol in the centre does change whenever it is part of a winning payline.

Unlike most slot games, in which symbols are replaced in unison by a traditional series of spinning reels, in Gonzo’s Quest, the symbol stones tumble into place in an avalanche-style motion. If you’re lucky enough to hit a winning payline on a spin, the winning symbols explode, leaving gaps that are filled by the remaining symbols, and brand new symbols which cascade from above!

These cascading symbols form a large part of Gonzo’s Quest’s most notable gameplay feature, the Avalanche multiplier. Any time you win on a payline and activate the avalanche, not only are new symbols dropped onto the playboard to potentially give you another win on the same spin, but the win multiplier increases by one too! 

This means subsequent payline wins are worth more, so if one spin cascades into 4 wins, you’ll get a 5x multiplier on all wins! However, when an avalanche completes and there are no winning lines, the board is wiped clean and the multiplier is reset to 1x. 

Free Falls bonus round

The Gonzo’s Quest wild symbol pops up randomly on the reels and, like most wild symbols in online slot games, substitutes any other symbol in a winning payline (except, of course, the Free Fall bonus symbol).

Speaking of the Free Fall symbol, this solid gold carving is totally useless on its own, however if 3 or more appear in a payline you’ll be treated to 10 Free Falls (free spins) with an increased win multiplier! 

Every win from these Free Fall spins benefits from a 3x win multiplier, which can increase all the way up to 15x if you are lucky enough to hit 3 more winning paylines on the same spin as the symbols avalanche. 

The combination of the avalanche multiplier and the Free Fall feature can increase the value of your wins massively, however the requirements to trigger for the Free Fall round is quite difficult to hit. Unlike standard scatter symbols, which trigger bonus rounds no matter where they fall on the play table, the Free Fall bonus symbols must fall in succession on a payline.

Conclusion

Gonzo’s Quest is a fun and friendly game which is enjoyable for novice players and virtual slot veterans alike. Animated Gonzo here bears very little resemblance to the real life Gonzalo Pizzaro and his personal history, but he more than makes up for lack of authenticity with his qualities of entertainment and endearment.

The 96% RTP puts it in the medium-to-high volatility category, meaning on average that cash wins tend to be larger but occur less frequently. The relative simplicity and interesting bonus features make Gonzo’s Quest a fun game with chances to win big, if you’re lucky enough to hit the requirements for the bonus round.