Catch the Gold Hold and Win Slot Overview
Catch the Gold Hold and Win is a cruise-themed slot from BGaming with a 5x3 grid and 25 paylines. Released in August 2024, it puts you aboard a fancy cruise ship surrounded by yachts, champagne and gold coins. Medium-high volatility, an RTP of 94.98%, and a max win of 2,000x your stake. Not the biggest potential payout I have ever seen, but the feature variety keeps things interesting.
My first impression was that the theme looks proper polished. You have got bejewelled card symbols for the lows, then luxury items like watches and money bags for the highs. A cruise ship captain acts as the Wild. I'm not entirely sold on the below-average RTP, mind you, but the 45% hit frequency means you are getting regular small wins to keep your balance ticking over.
Symbols and Paytable
Low-paying symbols are your standard A, K, Q and J card ranks, paying up to 2x for five of a kind. High-paying symbols include a champagne bucket (up to 8x), gold watch (12x), money bag (16x) and a yacht as the best regular symbol at 20x. Decent spread, nothing mental but fair enough for a medium-high volatility slot.
Wild is the cruise captain and pays a proper 100x for five across a line. Scatter symbols are VIP tickets that only land on reels 1, 3 and 5. Gold Coin symbols carry multiplier values between 1x and 20x and are key to triggering the Hold and Win round. A special Collect Coin can appear during that round too, adding up all coin values on the grid.
Symbol Payouts
Yacht
Highest paying regular symbol representing the luxury cruise theme.
Bag of Money
High-paying symbol featuring a bag of gold.
Gold Watch
Mid-to-high paying symbol depicting a luxury timepiece.
Champagne Bucket
Mid-paying symbol showing a champagne bottle on ice.
A, K, Q, J
Low-paying card rank symbols with bejeweled styling.
Wild
Substitutes for all regular symbols; highest paying symbol on the reels.
Bonus and Special Features
Landing 3 Scatter tickets on reels 1, 3 and 5 triggers the Free Spins round. You then pick between two modes. Big Catch gives you 5 spins where reels 2 to 4 fill with the same mega symbol, basically a 3x3 block. VIP Only is 8 spins with only mid-to-high paying symbols and coins on the reels. Both can be retriggered. Statistically you will trigger free spins roughly once every 209 spins, so patience is needed.
Drop 6 or more Gold Coins anywhere on the grid and you enter the Hold and Win bonus. You start with 3 respins, and every new coin resets that counter back to 3. Fill one horizontal line with coins for the Mini Jackpot (20x), two lines for the Major (100x), or all three lines for the Mega Jackpot at 1,000x your bet. There is also a Chance 2X side bet that doubles your chance of hitting bonuses, plus a Feature Buy option if you do not fancy waiting.
Bonus Buy Options
A 3x3-sized mega symbol appears on reels 2-4, granting 5 free spins with possibility of extensions.
8 free spins with retriggers where only high-paying and mid-paying symbols plus coins remain on the reels.
Triggers when 6+ gold coins land. Coins stick to reels with 3 respins, retriggered each time a new coin appears. Includes Mini, Major and Mega jackpots.
A bonus bet option that doubles the chance of triggering bonus features.
Allows players to purchase direct access to bonus features.
Volatility and RTP
94.98% RTP sits below the industry average, which is a fair criticism. Medium-high volatility means wins are not as sparse as a proper high-vol slot, but they are not constant either. Max win is capped at 2,000x, which again is a bit modest compared to some modern slots. For a relaxed session though, the 45% hit frequency helps. You are not going to drain your balance in ten spins.
