Katmandu Gold

In the fifth installation about the gold digger Kane, we are taken to Nepal and once again treated to the features that made the previous games so beloved – an expanding game board, epically large symbols and Avalanche mechanics - but refined further to make Kathmandu Gold arguably the strongest title to date in ELK's highly volatile Gold-series.

The strength of Katmandu Gold, as with most games with falling symbols, lies in its ability to produce huge chain wins. These are especially noticeable with expanding reels and is brought to a head when a huge symbol appears. Anyone who has played similar slots (think Gonzo's Quest and Reactoonz knows that it can take a while to hit a worthwhile win, this is also the case with Katmandu Gold.

According to ELK's 10-point volatility scale, the game is considered to be a 7, so it's not extreme in this context, but it still counts as high - it can be compared to Voodoo Gold, which is a 9, but with a maximum win only half as big (5000x versus 10,000x here).

Katmandu Gold has six reels, or six columns might be a more appropriate description given that the game use falling blocks rather than spinning reels. In the base game, these are four rows high. This gives us a potential 4096 ways to win: 4x4x4x4x4x4x4=4096.

The column height increases by one row for every win, but if big symbols lands at the right spot, the playing field can increase by its entire height instantly. Larger symbols come in sizes of 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4. The height of the columns can reach a maximum of 9 symbols. which results in the following number of potential win ways:

• Base game 4096
• 5 Rows: 15,625
• 6 Rows: 46,656
• 7 Lines: 117,649
• 8 Lines: 262,144
• 9 Lines: 531,441

For perspective, MegaWays games often max out at 117,649 ways but here we go almost 5x that.

Big Symbols

All paying symbols (including the wild) appear in larger formats. The Ice Climber symbol (more on it below) can only be 2x2 in size, but the others appear as 3x3 and 4x4 as well. These count as if they were smaller single symbols. A 4x4 symbol is therefore equivalent to landing 16 identical symbols in these positions, and the number of wins are multiplied accordingly.

The Yin-Yang-like symbol represents the innovative "Ice Climber" feature. Two are required for it to be activated. It is activated only after wins are paid out and it will replace (itself and) the entire row of symbols directly above it with ice (and leave an empty space when it cracks). Bonus symbols cannot fall into the gap created by the climbing ice.

It has some further internal logic:

• Expanding wins (more on these below) are affected by the symbol change but the expansion feature itself remains.
• If the ice spreads over a large symbol, the entire large symbol will be affected by the change. When an Ice Climber is activated on the 8th row, a final row is added instead.

Expanding reels are common in slots, but here ELK uses a dynamic variant in three different ways. The indication of an expansion can appear on all symbols except wilds, bonus symbols and Ice Climber symbols. It looks like an arrow and can appear on the top (up), bottom (down), or both.

If the block with an Expansion Indicator symbol is involved in a win, an expansion of the symbol will occur, the symbol then spreads all the way in the direction the arrow is pointing: top (up), bottom (down).

An expanding win that goes through a large symbol it will affect the entire symbol.

The Free Spins mode is called Free Drops, which is of course more accurate when it comes to this type of reel-less games. The bonus mode is activated by the symbol with the text "Bonus". The number of free drops you can start with depends on the number of bonus symbols on the screen:

• 3 gives 10 Free Drops
• 4 gives 15 Free Drops
• 5 gives 20 Free Drops
• 6 gives 25 Free Drops

During free drops, you can win additional free rounds according to the above payout schedule. The bonus symbols also increase a multiplier by one for each occurrence (even if they don’t qualify for extra drops, i.e., when 1 or 2 lands).

The multiplier is persistent and applied to remaining free rounds. However, a new multiplier does not affect the current round, only subsequent ones.