Pirate Gold Deluxe: Slot Overview

It’s common to see a sequel slot branded with “Deluxe” or “Gold” where the upgrades aren’t obvious at first glance. Usually a few spins in, or after checking the paytable, the added mechanics, higher potential, or visual improvements reveal themselves. Pragmatic Play seems to be working from a different rulebook, because Pirate Gold Deluxe comes across as more of a downgrade than an upgrade versus the original Pirate Gold. Although the Lucky Treasure Bag feature has been tweaked, several important stats have been sent overboard, and the free spins feature has been removed entirely.

In terms of presentation, the two games are largely comparable. The Deluxe edition does feel a touch more inviting thanks to the brighter, warmer palette in the animated backdrop. Still, it’s essentially the same setting, and the tense soundtrack is much the same too. The 5-reel, 40-payline layout doesn’t look quite as authentic as the first game, though. It’s tidier, less intricate, and gives the impression it might actually survive rough seas. Overall, there isn’t much to separate the pair when it comes to visuals or audio.

One clear difference between the two is the betting range. Pirate Gold Deluxe is still playable on any device, but it caters more to low rollers with stakes beginning at 20 p/c. On the other hand, it’s less appealing for high rollers, as the maximum stake is capped at $/100 per spin. Alongside the reduced max bet, the default RTP has dipped slightly to 96.48%, while volatility stays high with a 5 out of 5 rating.

With so much else kept intact, it follows that the standard symbols are the same too. Starting from the low end you’ve got bronze, silver, and gold doubloons, plus a hook, which require at least three to pay. The higher group only needs two matching symbols and includes telescopes, maps, ships, parrots, a lady pirate, and a male pirate – paying 10 to 25 times your stake. The wild is a treasure chest bursting with riches and appears on reels 2-5. It doesn’t pay on its own, but it substitutes for any symbol except the Money Symbol.

Pirate Gold Deluxe: Slot Features

We’ve probably given this away already by saying the free spins are missing. In their place there’s, essentially, nothing—although the Lucky Treasure Bag feature has been changed. To activate it, you need 8 or more gold Money Symbols to land anywhere on the reels. These bags hold a random value or show the minor or major jackpot. When 8 appear, they lock in place and you receive three respins. During respins, only empty spots, chests, or purple, red, or green bags can land. When they do, the respin counter resets to three. They also apply one of the following modifiers:

• Purple Bags lock in place and copy all the values from the gold money bags that triggered the feature.
• Red Bags also stick in position and take the values of every bag visible at the moment they land.
• Green Bag – adds a value of x2, x3, or x5 to the total multiplier of the round. Green bags are not sticky.
• Chest – retriggers another Lucky Treasure feature when the current one is over.

The round finishes when respins hit zero or every position is filled. All bag values are totalled, then any win multiplier is applied to that final sum. If all 20 positions are filled, the Grand Jackpot is awarded, worth 1,000 times the bet.

A genuinely new addition is the Buy Money Respins feature. For 100 times your bet, where available, you’ll receive 8-19 Money Symbols on the next spin.

Pirate Gold Deluxe: Slot Verdict

Pirate Gold Deluxe is a strange release, because it feels like the opposite of what “deluxe” suggests. If you subscribe to the idea that less is more, then maybe it fits—though that’s not usually what players expect from a remake. It could be that Pragmatic Play used this as a trial run for new bag symbols that might appear in future hold and win mechanics if they perform well here. Beyond that, it’s difficult to come up with many reasons for Pirate Gold Deluxe to exist.

Maybe there was a strong call from Pirate Gold fans for a feature buy option? If paying to jump straight into a hold and win round sounds appealing, this could be worth adding to your list. For this style of mechanic, the Lucky Treasure Bag feature is solid enough. It doesn’t reach the over-the-top extremes that something like Money Train 2 can deliver, but it does have its moments. Multipliers are excellent and, as expected, quite rare—though still not as scarce as the chest retrigger. Even landing a single multiplier can turn a mediocre bonus into a strong one.

That brings us to another Pirate Gold Deluxe mystery. If the bonus round really kicks off, Pragmatic Play states wins up to 15,000 times the bet are possible. That’s a big number, but it’s still less than half of what’s promoted in the non-deluxe version, where wins of 32,270x are advertised. And yes, Pragmatic Play’s max win claims are often debated because they rarely seem to materialise—let alone come close. Still, why the reduction? Why remove free spins? There are so many questions around Pirate Gold Deluxe that thinking about them too long becomes a bit of a dead end.

Pirate Gold Deluxe is perfectly playable, but it doesn’t really feel like it justified the effort of being made. Then again, it probably didn’t take much work to implement the small adjustments. If you ever played Pirate Gold and thought it would be amazing if they ditched free spins and cut the potential in half, then this one might blow your mind.

Don’t Miss

For more pirate-themed slots action, make sure you check out Push Gaming’s Booty Bay slot, which uses progressive unlimited respins and gives you a shot at landing huge rewards.