Treasure Mine Power Reels

Treasure Mine Power Reels is our slot of the month for September. This updated Red Tiger slot is proving very popular with punters right now, thanks largely to the expanded Power Reels game and three special wilds features. As we shall see, these go a long way in compensating for an underwhelming max win potential of just 1,172x your stake.

Theme/Visuals

Cartoon mining is a subject oft-visited by game developers – we’re not talking about the industrialised extraction of coal here, mind. Thematically, that would be a bit of a mismatch for your typical online slot game. No, we’re talking about the mining of precious metals and stones. And we’ve had some real gems in recent years including Bonanza Megaways, Dynamite Riches and Big Boom Riches.

It’s a theme that seems to lend itself to slot development. Many of the aforementioned games, Bonanza Megaways especially, are beautifully designed and highly imaginative in concept.
Treasure Mine Power Reels just about belongs in this illustrious group. While Red Tiger haven’t exactly pushed the boat out in terms of design ingenuity, the game is well presented, even if it does bear a striking resemblance to the first game.

The 8 x 6 reel set is framed within a gilded mining trolley that rolls into view when the game first loads up. It’s set against the same cartoon mine found in the original game, with the clinking of pick-axes and hammers echoing in the background. So the scene is set for what amounts to quite a feature-laden game.

How to Play Treasure Mine Power Reels

Winning combinations can be formed by landing three or more matching symbols from left to right on one of 30 pay-lines. Brushed-metal, gem-encrusted playing card icons make up the low-value symbols. The other symbols include renderings of mining equipment including a lamp, a pair of goggles, a miner’s helmet and a hammer.

The latter is the most valuable of the standard symbols, bested only by Flaming, Diamond, Dragon and Miner wilds. As well as substituting for standard symbols, each will pay out 30 times your stake when one of them appears eight times across a pay-line. This leads us neatly to the central feature of TMPR.

Treasure Mine Power Reels Bonus Features

Given that Red Tiger decided to remove the bonus round found in the first game, featured wilds are where it’s at with Treasure Mine. They’re basically 2 x 2 symbols that represent the Flaming, Diamond, Miner and Dragon wilds. One of each type can land per spin which means it’s possible to land four wild combinations. These are as follows.

Dragon and Miner Wilds

When you land a pair of 2 x 2 symbols representing these wilds, the dragon will breathe fire at the miner who’ll start franticly running around the game area leaving regular wilds behind him.

Miner and Diamond Wilds

Land 2 x 2 symbols representing these wilds will see the miner leaping over the diamond mine to start digging, unearthing various cash prizes in the process.

Diamond and Dragon Wilds

Here, the dragon unleashes his flames on the diamond wild, causing it to disintegrate and form mini wilds which are dropped into random reel positions. This process can occur as many as three times.

Dragon, Diamond and Miner Wilds

Manage to land three feature wild symbols on the same spin results in the following scenario. The dragon will breathe fire on the diamond resulting in mini wilds being dispersed onto the reels. This causes the miner to attack the diamonds with his hammer and award cash prizes. The animation ends with the dragon conducting another thermal assault on the miner which ignites his backside, prompting him to run around the game area leaving more wilds in his wake.

Conclusion

We didn’t hold out much hope for TMPR when we heard that the bonus round from the original game hadn’t been included. But the reel modifiers more than compensate for this rather brave omission. It’s also a lot of fun to play thanks partly to the humorous theme and reel animations. Be advised though that the game’s RTP isn’t all that great (94.7%). And its low volatility means that wins, although regular, are going to be small – ideal for casual players then, not so much for high-rollers.

RTP: 94.7%, Minimum Stake: 0.10

Dale Shelabarger

Freelance Contributor, creating content since 2003

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