Secret City Gold Slot Review
With Pragmatic Play's Secret City Gold slot machine and our Secret City Gold review, we will go on a quest to discover ancient secret treasures. Secret City Gold has a five-by-four reel configuration and twenty-five paylines. In the game players can gain access to a unique Shape Wins feature that offers a random multiplier boost of up to 10x. Continue reading our Secret City Gold review to learn more about the lost city, which offers 10,000 times bet max wins, high volatility, and a 96.06% RTP rate.
Secret City Gold
Secret City Gold RTP and Wagering
There are 25 fixed paylines used in the Secret City Gold slot machine which has a less common 4 rows and 5 reels configuration. To create a winning combination, land three or more matching symbols across consecutive reels, starting from reel one.
The range of bets per spin is 25p to £125 which is not the cheapest slot game seen, but well within the realms of the budgets for most players. The plus and minus buttons are located on either side of the primary "Spin" button. Press or click these to adjust your stake.
Up to 1,000 auto spins can be chosen when using the Autoplay feature for players residing outside of the UK. The Turbo and Quick Spin modes can also be configured in this menu, but are not available to UK players.
The RTP of Secret City Gold is 96.06%, which is comparable to the average of 96% for online slots. But it is worth noting that this is less than the RTP average for slots created by Pragmatic Play which is 96.5%. There are also two lower maths models that may be used for the Secret City Gold slot of 95% and 94.06% so be sure that you are playing the version with the most favourable maths model before wagering.
Pragmatic Play has rated the Secret City Gold slot machine as extremely volatile (5/5). The maximum payout available from the Secret City Gold slot machine is 10,000 times the total wager. Large wins are most likely to come from the free spins bonus round, where a multiplier is in effect.
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Secret City Gold Symbols and Audio & Video Design
With its distinctive Aztec theme, the Secret City Gold slot machine transports you on a treasure-hunting adventure into the unknown in pursuit of long-lost wealth. The slot is inspired by the tale of El Dorado, the fabled "city of gold," and is set in a thick forest. The tribal-feeling, rhythmic music perfectly accompanies the punchy graphics of the slot. Its visual style is quite reminiscent of Pragmatic Play's El Dorado: The City of Gold slot machine; so if you enjoyed the theme and style of that slot, you will probably enjoy what Secret City Gold has to offer- at least in a visual sense.
Your standard playing card icons A, K, Q, J, and 10 can be seen on the reels as the low-paying symbols. These have been given a suitably Aztec makeover, and are edged in gold. Each of the playing card symbols has a distinct colour, for example, the 10 is green and the K is orange. This is a great touch as it makes these similar symbols easily differentiated from one another, which is ideal for those gaming on the go on smaller screens.
Gold coins and figurines of monkeys, snakes, frogs, and jaguars are among the higher-value symbols, which is apt considering their cultural significance to the Aztec people. The highest-paying symbol is the gold coin, which pays out 1.2, 2.4, or 4 times the wager for combinations of 3, 4, or 5.
The full paytable for the Secret City Gold slot machine is as follows:
Ten
Is green and edged with gold. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.12, 0.2 or 0.4 x the total bet value
Jack
Is blue and edged with gold. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.12, 0.24 or 0.48 x the total bet value
Queen
Is purple and edged with gold. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.16, 0.32 or 0.6 x the total bet value
King
Is orange edged with gold. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.2, 0.4 or 0.8 x the total bet value
Ace
Is red-edged with gold. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.32, 0.6, or 1 x the total bet value
Frog Statue
The frog statue is blue. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.4, 0.8 or 1.2 x the total bet value.
Monkey Statue
The monkey statue is purple. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.6, 1.2 or 2 x the total bet value
Snake Statue
The snake statue is green. 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 0.8, 1.6 or 2.4 x the total bet value
Jaguar Statue
The jaguar statue is red and 3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 1, 2 or 3.2 x the total bet value
Gold Coin
3, 4 or 5 on an active payline awards 1.2, 2.4 or 4 x the total bet value
Jade Cicada Mask Wild
Looks like a green mask with the word ‘WILD’ in gold. This special symbol substitutes for all other non-special paying symbols to form winning combinations and pays up to 8 x bet
Gold Monkey Scatter
Looks like a gold monkey on a red background with the word ‘SCATTER’ in gold. 3 or more landed within a single spin in any reel position will trigger the Free Spins bonus feature
Secret City Gold Mobile Features
Secret City Gold was released in 2023, and like all of Pragmatic Plays releases, was developed using HTML5 meaning it is optimised for play on all platforms. You can play Secret City Gold on a desktop computer, a mobile device, or a tablet. Smartphones running Windows, Android, or iOS are compatible.
Though there is one more row used in Secret City Gold compared to traditional 5x3 slot releases; because the reels have been kept simple and the symbols are easy to differentiate, Secret City Gold is enjoyable to play even on particularly small screens. The soundtrack used in the game can be easily toggled on or off, which is also convenient if you are enjoying a few spins while out and about.
Secret City Gold Bonus Features
There are three bonus features in the Secret City Gold slot machine, but only two are available to players in the UK. In the base game, random shapes with symbols inside change to one randomly selected symbol. After that, wins could be multiplied up to 10 times at random. The Shape Wins feature is active during the Free Spins feature; however, multipliers are accumulated and the general multiplier is applied to each and every shape win. These features are examined in more detail below:
Shape Feature
There is a chance that a random shape will show up on the screen following each spin. All symbols inside the shape change into one randomly selected symbol that is now inside the shape, forming a feature known as "Shape Wins." The symbols captured within the shape will first pay left to right before being multiplied by a random multiplier ranging from 1 to 10x.
Free Spins
When three or more Gold Monkey Scatter symbols show up anywhere on the reels within a single spin, the Free Spins feature is triggered. Unlike other slots, you will receive 8 free spins no matter the number of scatters landed. However, landing three scatters will come with the additional prize payout of 2x, four will award 10x, and five will have the added payout of 50x; which is a nice additional touch for sure.
Similar to the original game, shapes may occur at random on each free spin during the feature. A universal multiplier that is applied to wins of all future shapes, as well as existing ones, is multiplied by the Shape Feature's random multiplier (which ranges from 1-10x). While free spins cannot be retrigged in their entirety during the bonus, each extra scatter landed during the free spins bonus will increase your total number of free spins by one, without any restrictions on the number of additional spins you can accrue.
Bonus Buy (Non-UK Only)
Finally, the Buy Free Spins function is available to gamers outside of the UK. For 85 times your entire stake, you will automatically enter the Free Spins feature. Additionally, the RTP rate rises to 96.22%, making for a relatively generous bonus buy option; so long as you have the budget and are in an eligible region to use it.
Secret City Gold Final Thoughts
There is a decent selection of Aztec-themed slots out there, but Pragmatic Play’s Secret City Gold deserves its share of the attention. A lot of developers can be quite ‘heavy-handed’ when it comes to their approach to representing world cultures in their slots. I am always a little put off by culturally inspired slots which feature outdated stereotypes and Eurocentric-appearing scantily clad females acting as tribal queens or priestesses.
Luckily, Secret City Gold has none of this, and it is clear that Pragmatic Play has taken their time to read up a little on the Aztecs, as the designs of the symbols are spot on, not to mention the animals chosen such as the jaguar, were all of great cultural and spiritual significance to the Aztec people; put simply, it is putting in the extra effort and attention to detail in slots such as these which truly make all the difference.
Focussing on the more technical elements, the 96.06% RTP is nicely above the market average but is a little below typical Pragmatic releases, especially those with a very high volatility rating. However, considering the top payout of 10,000x a player’s total wager, as well as the highly lucrative nature of the shape feature when used during the free spins bonus, this statistic seems a lot more fair.
Speaking of the shape feature, this is definitely a stand-out feature to me, and I think that a lot of players will enjoy using it. Cluster pays slots are all the rage right now, and the shape feature feels like a nod to this popular mechanism. It is always great to see when a developer notices a trend and offers a unique twist on the concept.
Overall, the Secret City Gold slot machine is just a solid slot machine all around and ticks all of the boxes that most players will be looking for and for that reason, I have given this slot a strong 8.5/10. I really hope the Secret City Gold slot does not stay secret to new players for too much longer!
Rating: 8.5
If you like Secret City Gold, then check out these other Aztec Theme slot games
Secret City Gold FAQ
Here are some of the most common questions we get asked about Secret City Gold.
