Mustang Gold (Pragmatic  Play): Introduction

Pragmatic Play still has a few launches lined up for the remainder of the year, but the title that really stood out to us was Mustang Gold, which is expected to be Pramatic’s first 2019 release. Since we’re drawn to high variance and big upside, it looked like the most entertaining one to cover—at least on paper.

As many of you have likely noticed—particularly if you spend time in casino communities or watch Twitch streams—Pragmatic has been getting a lot of attention lately. Some of that is surely down to strong marketing, but the games themselves are also clearly becoming more engaging, with both volatility and potential trending upward.

There are still a few aspects we’re less thrilled about, such as the relatively low bonus frequency and a slightly generic vibe that sits underneath the presentation—something plenty of studios struggle with. What we mean is that most providers develop a recognizable “house style” that can be difficult to move away from. Sometimes that’s perfectly fine, but other times it can start to feel stale and repetitive.

Mustang Gold is a western themed slot that any kid that’s into horses would love to play (lol). It features that familiar western tumbleweed-style melody made famous by the film The Good, the bad and the ugly starring Clint Eastwood. While the overall design is fairly average, it still looks appealing thanks to warm tones and a background of dusty canyon scenery under blazing skies.

Mechanically, it’s also pretty standard, using 5 reels, 3 rows and 25 paylines. It runs on all devices, and the betting range sits between €0.25 and €125 per spin, which is typical for Pragmatic Play.

Mustang Gold (Pragmatic Play): Paytable & Symbols

We’ve mentioned it before and we’ll repeat it—Pragmatic’s paytables are refreshingly simple. There are no awkward coin conversions to work out and none of that unnecessary nonsense. From a responsible gaming perspective, that clarity matters a lot, and it’s one area where we genuinely hope Pragmatic keeps doing what they’re doing.

The low-paying symbols are the A, K, Q and J royals, and their payouts are a bit odd: 3 and 4 of a kind pay almost nothing, while 5 of a kind gives 4 times the stake. There are 4 premium symbols in total—cowgirls, cowboys, black mustang horses and white mustang horses—with the white mustang being the top payer at 20 times the stake for 5 of a kind.

The wild symbol is the Mustang Gold logo and it can land on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5. While standard symbols only show as 1×1 on the reels, the wild has the ability to appear stacked across the full reel.

Money Collect Feature

Mustang Gold includes a Money Collect feature that can activate in both the base game and the free spin feature. Two symbols are important here: the horseshoe symbol, which can appear on reels 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the Collect symbol, which is exclusive to reel 5. When one or more horseshoe symbols land, each one comes with a cash value. If the Collect symbol also lands on the 5th reel on the same spin, all horseshoe values are gathered together and paid out to your balance as a winning spin.

Jackpot Bonus Game

The game also includes a fixed jackpot bonus. The Grand, Major, Minor and Mini jackpots scale with your current stake and pay 1000x, 200x, 100x and 50x respectively. The jackpot bonus is activated by landing one or more JACKPOT horseshoe symbols followed by the Collect symbol. You’re then taken into a pick-and-win bonus, where hitting 3 matching jackpot symbols awards the relevant jackpot.

Mustang Gold (Pragmatic Play): Free Spins

Landing 3 fireplace scatter symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 awards 8 free spins. The free spin feature can be retriggered by hitting another 3 scatters, which grants a further 8 free spins. There is no cap on the number of retriggers.

During the free spins feature, players get enhanced reels that include more horseshoe and collect symbols, which boosts the chances of connecting with larger wins. Aside from that, there isn’t a lot else changing, so the free spin round plays very similarly to the base game.

Mustang Gold (Pragmatic Play): Conclusion

In our own play sessions, Mustang Gold felt fairly even and consistent, which is largely what you’d expect from a medium variance slot. That said, any online slot can swing wildly from session to session, so nothing is ever guaranteed.

As for the jackpot bonus, it’s not really our favourite type of addition. We would have preferred it removed, with that jackpot RTP shifted into the free spin feature instead—potentially giving the game a bit more volatility.

The theme isn’t really for us, but Mustang Gold is still a solid slot with a huge 12,000 times the stake maximum potential. To get anywhere near that level, we’d expect you’d need to rely heavily on retriggers, since the upside on any single spin is fairly limited (we’d estimate around 500 times the stake).

Will we keep playing it? Probably not. The potential is ultimately what keeps it afloat for us, though others may feel differently. If we were suddenly in the mood for something newly released from Pragmatic, we’d choose Da Vinci’s Treasure or Ancient Egypt Classic instead.