Gem Elevator: Slot Overview

Hit the button and come along as we descend into the Earth’s crust, with software provider Pragmatic Play leading the way through this underground setting. The reason for the trip is Gem Elevator—yes, another mining-themed slot to dig into, pickaxe and all. It feels like we were only just down here, headlamp on, hunting for gold, jewels, gems, and whatever else might be buried. Honestly, give it a week and we’ll likely be back again. Maybe a lot of online slot developers were miners in a past life and can’t shake the urge to tunnel underground. Either way, Gem Elevator is today’s stop, where nudges, multipliers, and cluster wins take centre stage.

If Pragmatic Play’s slot Drill That Gold and Relax Gaming’s Mega Mine ever produced a mash-up, it could easily resemble Gem Elevator—right down to the standard bearded miner standing off to the side. The gem symbols especially gave off Mega Mine vibes, and the inclusion of nudging adds to that comparison. Beyond that, it’s all gritty, serious subterranean business. Perfectly fine, but not exactly remarkable.

Gem Elevator’s play area takes up most of the screen, built from 6 reels and 5 rows of symbols. This is a cluster pays game, meaning wins happen when at least 5 matching symbols connect horizontally and/or vertically, which then sets off tumbles. Hidden somewhere deep in the mine is Gem Elevator’s highly volatile math model, which comes into play when players wager 20 c to $/€240 per spin. If you’re after the best possible RTP, you’ll want the 96.53% version. Lower RTP variants also exist.

Once winning symbols have paid, they are removed from the grid via the tumble mechanic. Any remaining symbols fall into place, while new ones drop in from above to create another opportunity to win. Tumbles keep going until no further win is formed. The paytable is all about gems: the small blue, purple, green, and orange gems make up the 4 low-paying symbols, while the larger green, blue, purple, and red gems are the 4 higher pays. Clusters of 5 matching symbols return 0.25 to 2.5 times the bet, and 13-30 OAK clusters reward 10 to 500 times your bet. Nuggets act as wilds, showing up on all reels and substituting for any symbol except the scatter.

Gem Elevator: Slot Features

This is where the “elevator” in the name really starts to make sense, as it ties directly into the Elevator Nudge feature. That mechanic works alongside the tumble feature, free spins, and a bonus buy option.

Elevator Nudge Feature

Randomly, on any spin, after any wins and tumbles have resolved, any number of reels can be selected to nudge up or down up to 5 times. If nudges create winning combinations, those wins are paid and the nudging continues. Nudging can also bring wilds into view. These wilds may come with random multipliers of x1 to x10. If wilds move during nudges without contributing to a win, the multiplier they hold doubles with each nudge.

Free Spins

Landing 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols activates the bonus round and awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. During each free spin, at least one reel is randomly chosen to nudge up or down by at least one position. Additional spins are also available: hit 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols to gain +5, +8, or +10 free spins, respectively.

Feature Buy

Spending 100 times the bet purchases direct access to the free spins bonus. When the feature is bought, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols appear on the triggering spin.

Gem Elevator: Slot Verdict

Is everyone getting on the elevator? Probably not—but there will definitely be players up on the surface who are craving some underground cluster pays action. For them, Gem Elevator could be worth checking out. It was decent enough to review: not exceptional, and definitely not a new milestone in online gem digging, but still worth a look. The nudging mechanic is the main attraction, and it can occasionally deliver a fun chain of events. If you enjoy getting second, third, or even more chances, the way the Elevator Nudge feature can turn a blank spin into a win may appeal.

And you’ll likely want that extra assistance, because Gem Elevator had no problem serving up dead spins. Fortunately, the support comes in two ways: the nudging reels can help build clusters, and wilds can boost their multiplier when they shift along with a nudging reel. You’ll see bits of this in the base game like scattered flecks of gold, but meaningful paydirt felt far more achievable in free spins, where cluster wins, nudges, and multipliers showed up much more often.

Gem Elevator looked far more impressive in its bonus round, to the point where the base game started to feel like something you simply had to push through. With a free spins frequency of 1 in 320.58, that may be a concern. The max win is less troubling at 10,000x the bet, though the chance of landing it is pretty discouraging for a Pragmatic Play slot at 1 in 217,391,304. Taking everything into account, Gem Elevator has its ups and downs (yes, pun intended), but it’s debatable how much—or whether—the ups truly outweigh the downs.