The Grand Galore, a glamorous slot developed by Swedish studio ELK Studios, goes big in more ways than one. According to the game’s promotional materials, they don’t merely go big; they go “grand.” If you’re looking for large numbers, The Grand Galore has them, thanks to its growing reels, insane amount of win methods, and higher than normal potential from this developer. The decision is less black and white when considering the game’s other aspects, such as its gameplay, visuals, etc. Let’s check it out.
When playing ELK, you might expect to be amazed with magnificent wealth in a private presentation or anything. Except, you know, not really because this developer doesn’t generally give you anything like The Grand Galore in terms of a visual treat for your eyes. Typically, the slots they provide are drenched in mood, thanks in large part to the high quality of the visuals. Not so much the Grand Galore. The soothing house music in the background helps to make up for it. The lack of visual flair isn’t the only thing that gets old after a while; the music does, too. There is flashiness throughout, but it lacks substance.
The Grand Galore may be played on any device with wagers ranging from 20 p/c to $/€100 each spin, and it boots up to a default setup of 6 reels and 4,096 chances to win. However, individuals who enjoy exploring fresh options may always choose one of ELK’s four pre-set betting methods. The 96% RTP and the significant volatility given by the ELK mathematicians are more typical. With respins awarded for every win, the hit frequency is fairly high at around once every five spins (22.9%).
To win, you need to get at least three identical symbols from the left side of the screen on the very first reel. In the standard 6×4 layout, there are 4,096 possible combinations based on where the winning symbols land. You haven’t seen nothing yet, since the features of The Grand Galore make the odds of winning absolutely insane.
Nine normal pay symbols, including four low, four mid, and a premium, can be used to form winning combinations. You won’t be blindsided, but you should get ready for some low symbol values. Six of a kind of the low-paying J-A royals returns 0.30 to 0.40x, while six of a type of the mid-paying jewels isn’t much better, returning 0.50 to 0.90x the stake.
The golden cat premium, which resembles the lion monument outside the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas strip, is the only one that offers any solace. If you get six of them in a row, you win five times your wager. The last symbol is a golden ‘W’ wild that stands in for all others save the bonus. All wild symbols on a payline are valued at the same as the highest value symbol.
A Grand Extravaganza, Loaded With
The primary goal of The Grand Galore is to showcase ELK Studios’ innovative infinitely growing win ways/reels mechanism. The many different types of respin features and the randomly generated free spins round allow players to discover its capabilities firsthand.
After a successful spin, the reels may have an additional row added to them at random. The winning symbols and their adjacent locations then respin for a fresh chance. As long as there are new winners, the reels will keep growing and the respins will keep happening. Of course, there is a restriction; reels may only have a maximum of 10 rows. If all reels are 10 places high, the win way counter that runs across the top of the reels will reach a maximum of 1,000,000.
Stacked Respins are also available to players. Here, the same symbol appears on adjacent respining rows anytime two or more rows join on the same reel. In addition, players might receive Synched Respins. This occurs when two or more of the adjacent reels spin again in unison and stop on the same symbol.
Keep an eye out for the diamond bonus scatter symbol; getting 3, 4, 5, or 6 anywhere in view will trigger 10, 15, 20, or 25 free games. In the same way, free spins can be retriggered while the feature is active. Grand Synched Respins are triggered on an increasing number of reels from 2 to 5 for every 5 wins during free spins. In addition, the height of Reels 4, 5, and 6 has been increased from 7 to 10 rows.
The Great and Powerful Conviction
It would appear that reel expansion is experiencing something of a resurgence right now. Recently, a number of programmers have implemented the component to increase their game’s uniqueness. One possibility is Spartacus Megaways, which is somewhat close to The Grand Galore. Both games have massive reels and break the million-way barrier. While this strategy is effective in The Grand Galore, it does come with certain drawbacks when used to other games.
One drawback to The Grand Galore is that the gaming might grow boring after a while. There isn’t much character to carry you through the low points. Another thing is that the symbol values are low, so there will be plenty of tiny wins while you wait for the action to pick up. It’s possible, and getting another chance to win is always nice. It evens out the low values and lets players extend their bankrolls, something The Grand Galore has no issues with doing.
It’s a shame that ELK has stopped sharing the results of their evaluation of free spins to frequency. It’s worth noting that, on average, free spins appeared after about 200 paid spins. The Grand Galore, however, is not always an easy opponent. Because of the tremendous volatility and the expanding reels/re-spins, the outcome can change dramatically in any direction. With potential payouts of up to 10,000 times the initial wager, The Grand Galore is one of ELK’s highest-paying slot machines. But, obviously, the height was a must. The 2,500-5,000x multipliers found in most other ELK games are impossible to achieve through game design.
In sum, those who enjoy the extending row idea will get more out of The Grand Galore. It’s entertaining for a short while, but if you’re not into large reels and win methods, you can grow bored. Players who are fortunate enough to survive a potentially devastating blow to their bankroll before discovering respectable profits will be rewarded.