Golden Empire
Golden Empire Stats
RTP & Maths
- RTP Versions
- 96.50% here · Other versions 94.50%
- Max Win Rule
- 25,000x the bet; the round ends when reached and all winnings are paid
Free Spins & Bonus
- Free Spins
- 4 Scatters in the main game (reels 1 to 6): 8 free spins, +2 per additional Scatter
- Multipliers
- X1 upward (Free Games)
Symbols & Pays
- Wild
- Substitutes for all symbols except the Scatter; appears only through conversion of gold-framed symbols in a win
- Scatter Reels
- 1-6
- Ways Pays
- Top symbol 2x · Lowest 0.05x
Golden Empire Demo by TaDa Gaming
Gold frames with red corner studs pick out some of the tiles on Golden Empire’s stone reels, and every Wild in this slot comes out of one. A framed symbol caught up in a win turns into a Wild. Six red masks pay 2x, the best on the table, while the payout cap is far higher. The Free Game multiplier is the bridge across that gap: it gains a step on each cascade and doesn’t reset until the Free Games end.
Golden stepped pyramids stand on both sides of the reels under a teal-blue sky, with green hills and stone steps below. The intro art adds a chief in tall gold plumes holding a spear-axe staff. It’s a temple setting in bright daylight, and on the reels, a gold mask with a red tongue, a gold bird on purple, a green carved head, a blue idol, and a stone leaf rank above five carved letters.
Slot Features
Gold Frames to Wilds
Letters and carved figures alike can arrive inside a gold frame with red corner studs, and the frame matters more than the symbol inside it. When a framed symbol joins a winning combination, it transforms into a Wild and drops down, keeping the 1- to 4-space size of the frame it came from, so a framed K three spaces tall comes back as a Wild three spaces tall. The new Wild shows a number for how many times it can be cascaded, and that number falls by 1 each time the Wild is part of a win. It stands in for anything but the Scatter. A Wild that only appears through conversion makes every framed tile worth watching once a win forms around it. The pairing runs the other way round in the gold mystery tiles of Relax Gaming’s Templar Tumble, which appear in regular play when a Wild falling in on a cascade converts blockers.
Sideways Top Row
A row of extra positions runs across the top of reels 2 to 5, and it refills in its own direction. After the winners clear, the main reels drop what’s left and fill from above, while the top row takes new symbols from right to left. Each new symbol that drops in takes one space.
Free Game Multiplier
Free Games open with the multiplier at x1. It reads x1 on the first cascade and x2 on the second, then keeps rising by one per cascade. Between free spins, it doesn’t reset; it keeps adding up until the Free Games end. The intro art calls the multipliers unlimited, though a round that reaches the payout cap still stops there.
Four-Scatter Trigger
Scatters can land on all six reels, in regular spins and free spins alike, and the paytable has no entry for them. Four of them in regular spins start the Free Game with 8 free spins, and each Scatter past four adds 2 more. During free spins, 4 or more Scatters add 8 additional spins, again with an extra 2 for each one over four.
How to Play
RTP
Golden Empire’s grid is uneven before a symbol lands, with five positions on reels 1 and 6 and six on reels 2 to 5, where the extra top row above them adds one position each. That 5-6-6-6-6-5 shape allows up to 32,400 ways, but the count on any spin is random, and it falls when tall symbols take up several spaces. The counter above the reels shows the total for each spin.
Wilds and Scatters included, symbols can land 1 to 4 spaces tall, and each still counts as a single symbol. Height changes how many ways exist, not what a symbol pays, and a converted Wild follows the same rule at whatever size it inherits from its frame.
Wins form along those ways, symbol by symbol across neighbouring reels from reel 1 onward, and the Scatter is the exception, with no entry in the pay table and no need for such a run. When several ways win together, the game adds their pays up.
Golden Empire has a 96.5% RTP on TaDa’s figures. As for the top, 25,000x is where a Golden Empire round gets cut off and paid, all winnings included.
Pays begin at three matching symbols, so the shortest win covers reels 1 to 3. On each board, the gold frames and the Scatter count are the two things worth reading, because a framed symbol in a win becomes a Wild and 4 Scatters start the Free Game.
Golden Empire Payouts
The red mask tops a table split into five carved figures and five letters, every one paying for runs of three to six. Six of a carved figure pays between 0.8x and 2x, and six of a letter between 0.2x and 0.6x. K and Q pay the same, as do J and 10, and every pay in the table is shown as times the total bet. There is no row for the Wild or the Scatter.
| Symbol | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red mask | 2x | 1.5x | 1x | 0.5x |
| Gold bird on purple | 1.6x | 1.2x | 0.8x | 0.4x |
| Green carved head | 1.2x | 0.9x | 0.6x | 0.3x |
| Blue idol | 1x | 0.75x | 0.5x | 0.25x |
| Stone leaf | 0.8x | 0.6x | 0.4x | 0.2x |
| A | 0.6x | 0.45x | 0.3x | 0.15x |
| K | 0.4x | 0.3x | 0.2x | 0.1x |
| Q | 0.4x | 0.3x | 0.2x | 0.1x |
| J | 0.2x | 0.15x | 0.1x | 0.05x |
| 10 | 0.2x | 0.15x | 0.1x | 0.05x |
Ultimate Slots Verdict
3.9/5 for a ways slot whose Wilds are earned from gold-framed symbols in a win, and whose Free Game multiplier climbs a step per cascade without resetting until the Free Games end. That climb is what makes a 2x top pay workable.
✓ What We Like
- Wilds come from gold-framed symbols that are part of a win.
- A converted Wild keeps the 1- to 4-space size of its frame.
- The Free Game multiplier rises one step per cascade and does not reset until the Free Games end.
- Symbols, Wilds and Scatters included, can land up to four spaces tall.
- The top row above reels 2 to 5 refills from right to left.
- Retriggers add 8 spins for 4 or more Scatters, plus an extra 2 for each one over four.
✗ What Could Be Better
- Six red masks pay 2x, the highest pay on the table.
- Free spins need 4 Scatters to start.
Detailed Review
Slot Review
At the centre of Golden Empire, Wilds have to be earned from gold-framed symbols that are part of a win, and each one arrives at the size of its frame with a number showing how many times it can be cascaded. Add a Free Game multiplier that climbs a step per cascade and doesn’t reset until the Free Games end, and the free spins have a clear direction.
Six red masks pay 2x, the best way on the table, and the paytable alone wouldn’t earn this a second look. Free spins also need 4 Scatters, and a board showing three of them with no fourth reads as a near-miss that stings, because the climbing multiplier belongs to the Free Games. Watching that multiplier tick past x2 and x3 is the pull here, and a cascade chain that stops early lets the air out of it. TaDa Gaming released Golden Empire in March 2021, and the gold-frame idea has aged better than the table under it.
Its limit is that the best parts are conditional. A framed symbol turns into a Wild when it’s part of a win, and the multiplier arrives with the Free Game, which starts with 4 Scatters. When neither appears, what’s left is a ways game with a modest paytable.
