Diamond Mine 2 Megaways: Slot Overview

Diamond Mine Megaways, the first instalment, was Blueprint Gaming’s debut Megaways slot and leaned heavily on the benchmark of its day – Bonanza, created by the mechanic’s originator Big Time Gaming. It was a solid mining-themed title at the time, but the wave of Bonanza imitators released since has, in some respects, made Diamond Mine Megaways feel less distinctive. Blueprint Gaming may agree, as the team has headed back to the drawing board (or down the mine) to deliver a follow-up. Diamond Mine 2 Megaways keeps almost everything the original offered, while adding several extras to modernise the resource-extraction theme.

The first thing many players will clock is Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ look and feel, which isn’t drastically different from the original. That’s not a drawback, as the first game was attractively put together, keeping both the base game and free spins action above ground, which is slightly unusual for a mining slot. So rather than staring down a timber-framed shaft descending into the earth, the wood here is used mainly to frame Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ 6-reel game grid. Behind it, when cascades hit, you can spot a mine entrance, but otherwise the backdrop is mostly rocks, cacti, and a bright blue sky. It’s a cheerful setting, helped along by a crisp, twangy banjo soundtrack, even if this kind of scenery is fairly familiar these days.

In the original game, the only pre-spin decision was choosing your stake. With Diamond Mine 2 Megaways, players still select a bet of 10 p/c to $/€10, but they can also opt into an extra bet or pay 100x for the Gold Bet to instantly trigger the bonus round. Turning on the extra bet increases the stake by 20% and also increases the chance of triggering a bonus. To make the choice easier, perhaps, the default RTP across all three options is identical at 95%. From a maths perspective, the slot is medium to high volatile, suggesting the potential for sizeable swings in results.

Any win activates a reaction feature. This mechanic removes winning symbols from the reels, then drops new symbols in from above to fill the gaps. If another win lands after the cascade, the feature repeats. The pay symbols are largely unchanged as well, with colourful 9-A card ranks as the lower-value symbols, followed by a pick ‘n shovel combo, a lantern, a prospector, and a diamond as the premium icons. All symbols pay for 3 OAK or more, except the diamond, which pays from 2+. When you land 6 matching symbols, returns range from 1 to 1.5 times the bet for card royals or 2 to 50 times the bet for the higher-paying symbols. Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ layout is split between 6 main reels and a horizontally spinning tracker reel at the top. The main reels change height each spin, creating up to 117,649 ways to win. On the top tracker, a dynamite wild symbol can appear, substituting for any regular pay symbol.

Diamond Mine 2 Megaways: Slot Features

Diamond Mine 2 Megaways introduces two extra symbol types in the form of mystery symbols and scatters, while the wider feature set includes free spins, Gold Spins, and a free spins gamble.

Mystery Symbols

TNT barrels act as Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ mystery symbol. When they land, every mystery symbol on display reveals the same random symbol, though scatters are excluded.

Scatter Symbol

Hitting 3 or more scatter symbols activates the bonus round, and players can choose free spins or Gold Spins. When 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatters land, they award 8, 12, 16, 20, or 24 free spins, or the x5, x7, x9, x12, or x15 Golden Guarantee for Gold Spins, respectively. In the base game, scatters can land on the main reels only; during free spins, they appear exclusively on the top reel.

Free Spins Gamble

Before the bonus begins, players can choose to gamble for up to 30 free spins. This is done via a segmented gamble wheel that shows the potential outcomes, so players can see what’s on offer (and what isn’t) before committing.

Free Spins

In free spins, a win multiplier is in play, beginning at x1 and increasing by +1 after each cascade. Landing 3 or 4 scatter symbols awards +5 or +10 extra free spins, respectively.

Gold Spins

This mode also uses a win multiplier that climbs by +1 after each reaction. It spins until the win multiplier reaches the Golden Guarantee. Every scatter that lands increases the Golden Guarantee.

Diamond Mine 2 Megaways: Slot Verdict

Diamond Mine 2 Megaways was always going to struggle to recreate the same wow factor the original delivered. At the time, there were fewer rivals, and a polished mining-themed Megaways slot was harder to find. Now, the Megaways floodgates are wide open, and it feels like every studio (and its dog) has joined in. That means there’s plenty of fool’s gold out there, but also a lot of genuinely strong Megaways titles, so Diamond Mine 2 Megaways needs to work harder to stand out in the way its predecessor once did.

Without wanting to sound overly negative, it’s not obvious that Diamond Mine 2 Megaways fully manages that. To be fair, the test run was an enjoyable trip back to the mine, and the atmosphere remains upbeat. However, since many (if not most) of Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ features are also found in Diamond Mine Megaways or Diamond Mine Extra Gold Megaways, the standout reason to try this sequel seems to be Gold Spins. That bonus can be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the plus side, Gold Spins reduce the chance of a completely dead bonus, because you’ll need to land wins to eventually reach the guaranteed multiplier, regardless of how many spins it takes. On the flip side, once the guaranteed multiplier is reached, that’s the end of the feature—done. With the lower guarantee levels not being huge (x5, x7, for instance), some players may feel it caps the excitement too early. Then again, the wins that push the multiplier upward could still be strong. Either way, it’s a gamble and it’s optional, so it may appeal to curious players who want to experiment. In theory, it should be possible to hit Diamond Mine 2 Megaways’ win cap of 10,000x the bet.

So, while Diamond Mine 2 Megaways doesn’t feel dramatically different from the original, its Gold Spins are a fresh twist and could tempt fans of the first game to take a look, along with newer prospectors searching for a machine that isn’t available in just any old saloon.