Golden Goddess Slot Machine

One of the reasons why playing online slots is such an enjoyable activity is that these games provide a needed escape from present day concerns. The chance to win big money makes them even more appealing. But if they also allow you to temporarily immerse yourself in a world far removed in time and place from your own life – the experience is exciting, entertaining, and therapeutic all at the same time. That’s why many slots, like Golden Goddess, are rooted in Greek mythology.

Whether we’re experts in the field or not, we’re fascinated by the characters, stories, and symbols. No one today believes that these characters actually existed, so no controversy surrounds them. But if a readily recognizable magnificent god or goddess said to have incredible powers appears on the screen and gifts us with a mountain of cash, we happily accept it. Golden Goddess beckons, and if she can’t deliver the coveted bounty herself, she has her beau, horses, and doves to help her.

Golden Goddess basics

Golden Goddess, an online video slot released in 2017 by the slot manufacturing giant IGT, consists of five reels, three rows, and 40 fixed paylines. It is one of many slots that IGT originally developed for land-based casinos and later adapted for online and mobile play.

Players will find this game not only alluring but highly entertaining. The mountains appearing on both sides of the reels with a temple in the background together with the colorful symbols themselves tell you even before you start playing that you are in ancient Greece. The extra-large symbols become animated when you win, but to rev up the excitement level even more, IGT has added a special super stacks feature. Stacks of like symbols on any reel or every reel can create colossal wins.

There’s also a bonus round you can trigger, which will award seven free spins, starting with a pick’em game where you get to pick one of nine symbols. During all of the free spins, the symbol you pick will appear in super stacks.

Golden Goddess does not offer a progressive jackpot. However, it is still capable of producing fantastic payouts. The maximum possible payout is 40,000 coins. In order for that to happen, though, the whole screen would need to be completely filled with wild symbols. So it’s extremely unlikely. But it’s not impossible.

Golden Goddess bet size

As with several other IGT slots reviewed on this website, the range of permissible bets varies depending on where you are playing and whether you are playing for real money or in demo mode.

Real money

This slot does not give you the option of altering the number of paylines you have working for you. You have to play with all 40.

However, you can adjust the coin value or line bet. The minimum value coin you can play with is 1 cent, while the maximum is $10.

After selecting your coin size, simply multiply that value by 40 to get the cost of each bet. If you see that the amount is either too high or too low for your bankroll and playing style, adjust the coin value up or down accordingly. The minimum bet per spin is 40 cents, while the maximum is $400.

If you’re a penny player, this game might be priced too high for you. But most players, including high rollers, will find the wide bet range more than satisfactory.

Demo mode

If you wish to try this game in demo mode first, depending on where you play, your bet range options might be much more limited. I don’t know why many online casinos do this, but they only give you a starting bankroll of $1,000 and then make the minimum bet way in excess of what would be reasonable.

In this case, instead of the coin values you can choose from ranging from only a penny up to $10, the minimum coin in demo mode is $1, making the minimum bet per spin $40. Betting that much on a bankroll of $1,000 is very risky and highly inadvisable if you are wagering real money. If the slot turns cold on you, most of your starting bankroll, if not all of it, can disappear, and you never get a fair chance to try to turn your luck around. As for the maximum coin size, forget it. When multiplied by 40, your hypothetical bankroll won’t even be enough to make one bet!

I only found one online casino–pa.unibet.com–where the coin size and bet size range for playing in demo mode and for real money are the same. Either way, you can bet as little as 40 cents per spin or as much as $400 per spin.

Golden Goddess RTP and volatility

Golden Goddess has a published theoretical return to player (or RTP) of 95.13%. This percentage is clearly above average for slots in Pennsylvania brick and mortar casinos but only about average or slightly above for PA online slots. There are other online slots, especially those from NetEnt, with an RTP of above 96%.

You might not think that a small difference in RTP matters, but it does. Your results for any given playing session might deviate markedly–in either direction–from what the RTP suggests they should be. However, over the long run, the RTP offers a reliable indicator of how much of your starting bankroll the game will return to you.

Along with the RTP, another important attribute to consider in choosing which online slots to play for real money is the game’s volatility – this is the extent to which substantial fluctuations can be expected over the course of your play. I was unable to locate the manufacturer’s description of this game’s volatility, but based on my own brief experience playing in demo mode, I would rate it fairly high. Therefore, to maximize your chances not only of winning but of at least preserving enough of your bankroll to try again if luck doesn’t go your way, selecting appropriate stakes for the funds you are playing with is essential.

Which PA online casinos offer the Golden Goddess slot game?

As of this writing you can play Golden Goddess either online or on iOS or Android mobile devices at the following three PA online casinos:

• www.pokerstars.com
• Pa.unibet.com

Players who are not yet sure if they are ready to play Golden Goddess slots for real money can play this game at Unibet Casino for the same stakes in demo mode.

Golden Goddess symbols

Golden Goddess is a fairly simple slot, so it doesn’t have an overwhelming number of symbols. There are just enough to hold your attention on every spin and reward you with winning combinations on many of them.

Regular symbols

There are nine regular symbols in all. The highest paying of these is the beautiful golden-hair Golden Goddess herself. The remaining three higher paying symbols, in descending order of value, are a handsome man (described as her beau), a horse, and a dove.

The five lower paying symbols are the playing cards 10 through Ace.

Winning combinations for most of the symbols are formed in the usual manner. Three or more of the same symbol need to line up adjacently (horizontally or diagonally) on consecutive reels starting with the reel farthest to the left. However, two exceptions are the Golden Goddess and her beau, which also produce payouts for just two matching symbols, provided they line up adjacently on reels 1 and 2

Special symbols

Wild symbol

The symbol with a Golden Goddess logo is the game’s wild symbol. As such, it is capable of substituting for any other symbol except the bonus symbol to help form or add to winning combinations.

Sometimes a single wild symbol will land on the reels in a place where it is of no help, so you win nothing, which is a bummer. But the good news is that whenever two or more of them line up on consecutive reels starting with reel 1, the Golden Goddess wild symbol, unlike wild symbols on many other slots, produces a payout.

In fact, the Golden Goddess logo wild symbol pays more than any other symbol in the game. The payouts for 2, 3, 4, or 5 in a row are 10, 50, 250, and 1,000 coins, respectively!

Golden Goddess pay table

The following table shows the payouts for two (where applicable), three, four, and five of a kind for all of the above-mentioned symbols.

Bonus symbol

The Golden Goddess bonus symbol is a red rose. It can only appear on lines 2, 3, and 4, so you could be playing a while before you see it. Unlike the wild symbol, the bonus symbol does not produce a payout. Also, while having a whole stack of roses land on one reel or even two reels is a very pretty sight, don’t get too excited yet. You need all three rows of reels 2, 3, and 4 to be filled with nothing but roses (nine roses in all) to trigger the free spins bonus.

Golden Goddess special features

Super stacks feature

All of the symbols, including the wild and bonus symbols can appear stacked (lined up vertically) on one or more of the reels. In other words, the same symbol can show up, one under the other, on either two or all three rows of a reel. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee a payout since the same symbol would also have to appear on two or more or three or more (depending on the symbol) consecutive reels starting with the first reel. However, whenever there is a payout, it is bigger because the stack creates extra winning combinations.

The super stacks feature can sometimes lead to tremendous wins.

Free spins bonus feature

As mentioned above, in order to trigger the free spins bonus, the red rose bonus symbol, which can only appear on reels 2, 3, and 4, needs to fill all nine positions on those reels.

One reviewer commented that “the free spins are harder to catch than climbing Mt. Olympus barefoot.” I’m inclined to disagree because in one of three playing sessions in demo mode, without having to play for an unduly long period of time, I did trigger the bonus.

Or maybe that was just a fluke, and triggering the bonus really is a rare stroke of luck. After all, in many online slots, not nine bonus symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 only, just three scatter symbols anywhere on any of the five reels are all you need to trigger the free spins bonus.

How the Golden Goddess free spins bonus feature works

Activating this feature will automatically award you with seven free spins.

But first, you will be asked to pick one of the nine roses to determine which of the four higher paying regular symbols will appear stacked during the course of the free spins.

Ideally, you will pick the Golden Goddess, and then the stacked symbols will keep landing on multiple reels in a way that generates supersize payouts. However, being awarded the bonus does not guarantee big wins. It does not come with a multiplier, and on top of that, seven spins are not that many, and on some of them, you’re likely to come up empty and win nothing. Also, given that the free spins are hard to get even once, it would be nice if they could be retriggered, but that is not the case.

Lastly, the magnitude of your win depends to a large extent on which symbol you pick. If you pick the Golden Goddess, great. If you pick the dove, like I did, the total payout for the seven spins combined may be no higher than what you’re likely to experience in the base game.

How I fared playing Golden Goddess in demo mode

Session 1: +$13.55

At Unibet Casino, I could have bet as little as 40 cents per spin. But figuring that most of my wins would be equally tiny, I chose a coin value (line bet) of 5 cents, making the cost of each spin $2.

At this betting level, I had frequent but mostly tiny wins. This caused my hypothetical starting bankroll of $1,000 to keep moving in a downward rather than upward direction, but it wasn’t by much due to the small bet size.

Finally, nine stacked Golden Goddesses gave me a “big win” of $20, which brought me practically even. At that point I was only down $3.65 . I continued to play and found myself down by $23 and change just before horses on all but two spaces produced a $30 payout. It was the first time in the game that I was ahead, so I locked in my $13.55 profit and ended the session.

Session 2: +$219

This time I played with a line bet of $2, so each spin cost $8.

Again, I got many small payouts along with a few that exceeded the $8 cost though not big enough or often enough to put myself in the plus column.

Then my luck changed, and I had multiple bigger wins (like $80 when stacked Golden Goddess landed on reels 1, 2, and 3). Soon, instead of losing, I was ahead by $149. I continued to play because I seemed to be winning steadily, and sure enough, after back-to-back payouts of $32 and $54, I was ahead by $219. I debated whether to continue playing to try to trigger the free spins bonus but decided not to chance it I had already won 27x my bet size, so I was more than satisfied.

Session 3: -$300

After two winning outcomes, I wanted to see how I would fare playing for higher stakes. I knew that the bankroll I had to work with was insufficient, but this was for play money and I was curious.

So instead of choosing 20 cents as my line bet, I made it $1, which made the cost of each spin $40. At many casinos, this is actually the minimum bet in demo mode, so I felt that I had to give it a try.

My first five spins all came up empty. On the next spin, I finally had a winning combination. But it only paid $20, so on a $40 bet, it was still a loser. $220 of my starting bankroll of $1,000 had disappeared right off the bat!

Although I managed a few profitable spins after that, including one that paid $200, they didn’t help much The deficit was up to $420 when I finally got the requisite nine roses to trigger the free spins bonus.

Alas, I picked the worst of the four possible symbols–the dove–to appear super stacked during the free spins. So, in the much touted feature in which I thought I would recoup my entire loss, if not more, I only won $120.

The bottom line

My experience playing this slot suggests that this game sometimes has a tendency to get streaky. Huge wins are possible, but so are huge losses. If you’re not careful and overbet your bankroll or play too long, you could run out of funds or come dangerously close. The best thing to do if you are winning or you have bounced way back from a sizable loss to the point where you are even or close to even is probably to call it a day as soon as the winning streak is over. Don’t press your luck.

Also, whenever your spin produces a payout, pay close attention to the amount and how it impacts your bankroll. Golden Goddess pays out frequently, but many of the payouts are very small in relation to your bet size. The slightly more upbeat soundtrack is the same for all wins, regardless of size, so don’t let that fool you into thinking that you are winning if you are really losing. Your bankroll will go down, not up, anytime the amount of the payout is less than your bet.

Apart from the potential for big payouts, the Greek mythology theme, wide range of bet sizes (at least for real money), brightly colored symbols, and relatively simple gameplay make Golden Goddess an online slot that should appeal to many players. I would have liked a bouncier soundtrack and for the spins to be less drawn out. Also, while the two special features–the super stacks feature and the free spins bonus round–are exciting additions, there are other online slots with more to offer. Golden Goddess is nice as it is, but adding more special features and improving the RTP a bit would elevate it to the next level.