Yes, Chicago was, and still is a beautiful city. But it was also a city that was plagued by crime, and citizens often did not feel safe walking the streets. PearFiction have done their best to capture this combination of beauty and danger, producing perhaps one of the most fascinating depictions of Chicago seen in a pokie.
The background artwork is dripping with atmosphere, complete with foggy streets, glimmering neon lights, and haunting shadows. It is unusual to see such vivid imagery in online pokies, and for that the developers deserve respect.
As far as symbols are concerned, Al Capone, Elliot Ness, a menacing gangster, and a mysterious lady in a red dress take centre stage. They are the highest paying symbols in the game, may appear stacked and all also animate beautifully when landing in a matching sequence. They are backed by traditional playing card icons, including hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. These icons make up the lower value symbols.
There are several special feature symbols to look out for, including a Wild, which appears as the word Wild, a Bonus symbol, which appears as the word Collect, and wads of cash. It’s an interesting catalogue of symbols as far as slots go, and it all goes towards creating a deeply interesting gameplay system.
Gangster Online Pokies Fun
It is rare that online pokies go so deeply into their lore and put such effort into tying the gameplay and theme together. But Chicago Gold goes the whole nine yards, doing everything possible to make every spin of the reels feel like the unfolding points of a deeper plot.
The game features a Free Spins system, a Bonus round, a jackpot payout, and an elaborate Cash Collect feature. The Cash Collect system is one of the more intricate in online pokies and works as follows; wads of cash will continuously land on the reels, with values ranging between 1.00 and 25.00. But they won’t do much unless matched with the word Collect, which must land on reel 5. The Bonus triggered by Collect will depend on if the symbol is a Regular Collect, Respins Collect, or Multi Collect.
The Regular Collect simply triggers the mysterious lady in red, who blows a kiss and awards all the cash currently on the reels. A Respin Collect summons forth the gangster, who smashes the reels with a bat. This results in the current cash on the reels sticking in place, and all other reels re-spinning, which allows more cash to potentially be added. The Multi-Collect features the law enforcer, who spins a wheel and adds a multiplier, which can be as much as 5x. The cash on the reel will then be awarded, enhanced by the multiplier.
Next, Free Spins are triggered by matching at least 3 of the appropriate symbols. However, this is amongst the more generous Free Spins sequences in online pokies. 8 Free Spins are awarded, but additional Collect symbols are also added to the reels, significantly increasing the chances of the Bonus occurring.
Finally, a jackpot round can be triggered by matching a Gold Coin with cash symbols. This will allow the player to interact with a grid, turning over symbols to reveal jackpots beneath. When 3 of the Mini, Minor, Major or Grand jackpot are revealed, that jackpot is awarded.