Anvil & Ore

Anvil & Ore: Slot Overview

Hard hats on players, we're marching below ground with Games Global partner Alchemy Gaming to bash big rocks into smaller rocks in an online slot titled Anvil & Ore, which is a sort of mining-themed online slot that provides a subterranean vehicle for a bunch of favoured Alchemy Gaming features to step up and perform on. These are things like Echo Roll, Upsizer, Rolling Reels, a win multiplier, and more. Features the studio has bundled together before and which now get the chance to flare up beneath the surface once again.

Anvil & Ore is a heavy, plodding, lumbering (in an encouraging way) hammer 'n tongs event set in the bowels of the Earth. Alchemy Gaming does like sinking beneath sea level, as a previous Echo Rolls slot saw the team dive below the waves to plumb the ocean depths in the slot Aquanauts. In place of murky seas, though, players get dense rock, lava flows, and a fantasy feel to accompany them as they attempt to mine for riches.

Instead of wielding a pick axe in this highly volatile machine, though, players pick a stake where the options are $/€0.30 to $/€42 per spin. When in motion, a 5x5 arranged game grid spins, spitting out wins at a rate of 22.44%. At least, this is the hit rate on the highest 96.26% RTP model, but be aware three lesser return models are also available.

With 3,125 ways to win, players collect a payout when matching symbols land from the first reel onwards, left to right. Winning symbols explode from the grid by the Rolling Reels feature, which drops symbols from above to plug empty positions. The pay symbols are made up of metal fonted 10-A playing card royals as the lows, then a hammer, shield, gemmed rocks, chest of nuggets, and a character symbol as the highs. For landing a 5 symbol winning way, the rewards are approximately 0.67x to 0.93x the bet for the low pays or 1.17x to 2.5x the bet for the highs. Wilds have double the value of the top-paying premium and may be used to substitute any regular paying symbol.

Anvil & Ore: Slot Features

The remaining features to go over in Anvil & Ore are the Echo Roll, free spins, Upsizer, Upsizer Max, Upsizer Buy, free spins + free Upsizer Tokens, plus the bonus buy.

Echo Roll

After any win, the Echo Roll may trigger to award another win. Empty spaces caused by the Rolling Reels are filled with low, high, or wild symbols.

Upsizer

Upsizer Coins randomly land in the base game and are collected when they do. Collected Coins unlock higher modifiers, as indicated by the Upsizer Trail when free spins are triggered. Levels on the Upsizer Trail include 6-12 free spins, a max win multiplier of x10, x20, or x50, and 1 or 2 guaranteed Echo Rolls. Getting 3 or more scatters in the base game awards 1 Upsizer Max Coin. Collecting 5 Upsizer Max Coins triggers free spins with the maximum Upsizer Level.

Upsizer Buy

Before free spins start, the Upsizer Buy gives players a chance to potentially boost the bonus round by buying the Upsizer elements they would like. The cost for doing so is calculated and displayed on the screen before committing.

Free Spins + Free Upsizer Tokens

Landing 3 scatters in the base game triggers 6 to 12 free spins depending on the Upsizer Level. Landing extra scatters on the triggering spin awards 50 Upsizer Coins each. While free spins are going, each landed scatter increases the number of remaining free spins by +1. Also, during free spins, a rising win multiplier is added. The win multiplier increases after each Rolling Reel roll and does not reset between spins, but cannot go past the limit governed by the Upsizer Trail. When the free spins feature ends, players get a spin on the Upsizer Wheel for the chance to win 10 to 150 Upsizer Coins.

Buy Bonus

The bonus buy has 2 options. One, players are able to either buy between the current Upsizer Level or Upsizer Max, or two, they can buy free spins with Upsizer Max. Any already collected Upsizer Coins can be used to decrease the cost.

Anvil & Ore: Slot Verdict

If you've been keeping up with Alchemy Gaming's output, then much of Anvil & Ore will feel like repeat. Many of the same features like Echo Rolls, Rolling Reels, and the rising multiplier free spins round the studio has rolled out before on numerous occasions. However, it feels like Alchemy Gaming may have re-jigged the maths for this one making Anvil & Ore less of a do-or-die experience than others have been. It seemed more balanced, more giving than similar games have been in the past; at least, this is how Anvil & Ore generally played out through the test session.

This effect, in part at last, may have to do with the fact Anvil & Ore boasts a much reduced max win. Where a game like Aquanauts flashed a 50,000x top prize (we are yet to see it deliver anything even remotely close to the claimed potential), Anvil & Ore takes a massive hammer swing at that figure, chopping it down to a far less imposing amount of 5,000x the bet. It might mean that players who like this format but would prefer to chase down colossal potential may be put off. But, others who don't want to lay it all on the line as much, so to speak, may prefer the potentially different way the math model manages the RTP and delivers wins.

Still, Anvil & Ore is a very highly volatile game, so it possesses the ability to swing wildly like a pickaxe in the hands of someone deep in the throes of gold rush fever. Get lucky, by encountering the game when it's swinging in a positive direction, and its combo of Rolling Reels, win multiplier, and Echo Rolls could be thrilling. Maybe not as thrilling as hitting a thick vein of golden ore snaking its way through the ground like a sparkling serpent of rich stuff, but thrilling all the same.