Sherwood Gold: Slot Overview

Grab your tights and feathered caps—we’re off to the Middle Ages with Play’n GO and the online slot Sherwood Gold. If that immediately brings to mind the famous outlaw who took from the rich and gave to the poor—Robin Hood—you’re on the right track. While the game never outright says it, Sherwood Gold is packed with Robin Hood-inspired visuals wrapped around mechanics that mainly revolve around landing as many scatter symbols as possible to claim the matching instant prize.

Life as an outlaw back then can’t have been easy: sleeping rough, staying ahead of the law, lifting gold from the wealthy, sharing the haul, and keeping morale up when your own is sinking. None of that struggle shows up in Sherwood Gold, though—this is about as bright and upbeat as slots come. The base game plays out against a sunny medieval backdrop with a castle on a hill, although you won’t see much of it much of the time because the reels and the instant-prize panel dominate the screen. When free spins trigger, the action shifts to a treasure-stuffed room—basically an outlaw’s fantasy, with piles of loot just waiting to be redistributed from the haves to the have-nots.

Sherwood Gold is a highly volatile slot (rated 9 out of 10), running on a 5-reel, 3-row layout with 20 paylines. Wins are formed with 3 to 5 matching symbols, paying left to right from the leftmost reel. As is typical for PnG, it comes in multiple RTP setups, with the default set at 96.2%, and stakes range from 20 p/c to $/€80 per spin.

For the paytable, the low symbols are the card royals 10-A, while the higher-value icons appear to be Friar Tuck, Little John, Marid Marian, and Robin as the top premium. In terms of payouts, 5 matching royals return 0.2 to 0.65 times the bet, and 5 matching premium symbols pay 1 to 7.5 times the bet. Wilds top that, awarding 25x the bet for five of a kind, and they also substitute for all symbols except scatters.

Sherwood Gold: Slot Features

Ready your bow, because Sherwood Gold sends plenty of arrows across the screen as it moves through features like Cash Bag scatter instant prizes, free spins, and the Archery Game.

Cash Bag Scatters

Hitting at least 3 Cash Bag scatters anywhere on the reels awards an instant prize. Only the top prize for the number of scatters showing is paid. In the base game, landing 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 Cash Bags awards 1x, 5x, 20x, 80x, 200x, 800x, or 2,000x the bet.

Arrow Scatters

Landing 3 arrow scatters triggers the free spins feature. Each Arrow scatter displays 1 to 3 arrows. The arrows are totalled to determine the number of shots players get in the Archery Game.

Archery Game

In the Archery Game, players see 9 targets arranged in a 3×3 formation, which they select by clicking or tapping. Each chosen target reveals free spins, a multiplier, or a Cash Bag Booster. After all shots are taken, the free spins, multipliers, and Cash Bag values are totalled, and then the free spins round starts.

Free Spins

During free spins, the Cash Bag prize values can be increased by at least 0.2x and up to a maximum of 3x, while the multiplier applies to any standard line wins. Cash Bag prize wins follow the same rules as in the base game. Any Arrow scatter that appears during the feature awards +1 free spin, up to a maximum amount of 110.

Sherwood Gold: Slot Verdict

Play’n GO clearly enjoys a trip to old England. The studio has released plenty of Arthurian-style slots, and here it takes aim at a Robin Hood-flavoured theme (not for the first time either—Riches of Robin is an earlier example). It’s a solid attempt too, especially for players who like scatter symbol instant prize win mechanics. Sherwood Gold also enters a crowded field: the Games Global group of studios has practically flooded the market with this style of game, and other developers—like Push Gaming with 10 Swords—have joined in as well.

Sherwood Gold lands somewhere between the long-standing reference point 9 Masks of Fire and a more premium-feeling option like 10 Swords. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does bring a few touches you don’t always see in this niche—like the Archery Game and the rewards it hands out, including the two multipliers. Base symbol payouts are generally on the low side, so any boost is appreciated. Then again, line wins aren’t really the main focus in a title like this, where the real aim is stacking up Cash Bag scatters. The way the features are woven into the theme works nicely, and the constant arrow action helps sell the concept. There’s also a respectable amount of upside, with a 6,500x the bet max win placing Sherwood Gold around the middle—perhaps the upper-middle—of the scatter prize slot range.

Overall, Sherwood Gold is a decent entry in this gambling sub-genre. Some players might have hoped for more given Play’n GO’s reputation, but Sherwood Gold hits most of the expected marks while adding a couple of fresher ideas for scatter prize fans to dig into. How much of the loot ends up with the townsfolk is up to the player.