Bushido Gold Demo Play Free Demo Slot

Slot Overview

Bushido Gold is the latest ELK Studios release, and it’s yet another instalment in their “Gold” series. Here, you’ll see Kane sent to feudal Japan, and the action unfolds on a 6-reel expanding grid, with avalanches, slicing mechanics, and explosive wild features! With a maximum win potential of 25,000x, it’s one of the most (potentially) lucrative Elk Studios releases yet, so how did it stack up during our testing? Let’s find out.

Gameplay & Bonus Features

Bushido Gold is played on a 6-reel grid starting at 4 rows high, although this can expand up to 8 rows high once the game begins. The ways-to-win system is also dynamic, beginning at 4,096 ways and climbing up to as many as 531,441 ways to win! You can bet between €0.20 and €100 per spin, and the game offers a slightly below-average RTP of 94%.

The slot’s core mechanic revolves around Avalanches. After each win, symbols explode and a new row is added to the grid. There can be 8 of these in total. New symbols then drop down, and the process repeats if additional wins are formed.

Most of the game’s paying symbols can also land giant blocks. These come in 2×2, 3×3, and 4×4 sizes, and these oversized symbols count as multiple positions. When Wilds contribute to a win, or, at the end of the spin if they haven’t yet been used, they explode, and this clears adjacent paying symbols so new ones can drop down.

The Slice feature activates when matching symbols land on the far left and right of the same row. When triggered, it doubles paying symbols, scatters, or wilds on that row and can also activate feature symbols like Ninja and Canon:

• Ninja Symbol: Acts as a blocker until activated. Once triggered, it throws between 2 and 10 stars onto the grid, converting pay symbols into Wilds or activating feature symbols.

• Cannon Symbols: When activated, cannons fire vertical columns of Wilds upwards, expanding the grid by one row if possible. Variants include Golden Cannons (guaranteeing expansion to 8 rows) and 2×2 Big Cannons, which create double-width wild columns.

Finally, if you land 3 Scatters, you’ll be awarded 6 Ninja Drops, and +2 additional Drops for each extra Scatter. Each Ninja Drop includes the Ninja symbol automatically and operates with a progressing safety level. Every winning Drop advances the safety level by one row, and all remaining Drops begin at that increased level!

X-iter Bonus Buy

Bushido Gold offers an extensive X-iter menu:

• Bonus Hunt: Costs 2.5x your base game stake for an increased chance of triggering Ninja Drops.
• Mega Hunt: Costs 5x for an even higher chance of landing a bonus round.
• Max Rows + Slice: Costs 25x and awards one spin with all 8 rows active and a guaranteed slice.
• Bonus Buy: Costs 100x for instant access to Ninja Drops.
• Super Bonus Buy: Costs 500x for access to Ninja Drops beginning with the grid fully unlocked.

Theme & Design

Bushido Gold does away with the familiar Gold formula and transports you to rural Japan, where you’ll find yourself placed into a battlefield! The game is quite grey and depressing in looks, but that’s sort of the whole point.

Of course, it has that signature “Elk Studios” look and feel to it, and it’s very smooth to play, with fluid animations and graphics throughout. Visually, it sits pretty comfortably alongside Valhall Gold and Elysian Gold, both other instalments in the series.