Edward How To Play It
Remember Gulag starts with 6 reels, but you will get some of them wrapped in barbed wire. You get the first two reels with 3 symbols, the next two with 4 symbols, and the last two with 5. To unlock the 5th reel, you need a scatter landing, and this can be guaranteed with the help of an extra bet. The same happens when unlocking the 6th reel, but you need that scatter to appear on its own. This is a ways to win system, with anywhere from 720 to 614,656 combinations forming.
Special Features
Each of the three sets of 2 reels get their own special symbols that will land on them.
xWays are symbols that you can see on reels 1 & 2. They turn into regular symbols, of a single type, and they count as up to 3 symbols (adds more ways to win).
xNudge Wilds are the ones showing on reels 3 & 4. It nudges into place when it lands, until it becomes fully visible. Following each nudge, the multiplier of the wild goes up by 1x. The multipliers are added together, to find out how much they can influence wins.
xSplit Wilds and regular wilds are both available, though the former show up only on the last two reels. These split symbols that are found to their right and left, so you get twice as many in those positions. After they do their job, they turn into two regular wild symbols.
Remember Gulag has its own scatters, and these are symbols that will trigger Gulag Spins if they land 3+ times on those reels. The All Aboard version comes via 4 scatters, while Double Vodka is reserved for when you have 5 scatters visible.
During free spins, the game area is reversed, so the reels and symbols that used to be in columns 5 and 6, are now 1 and 2.
The first stage decides how many free games you’re getting, along with the multipliers of the character symbols. You get 1 character in the regular mode, or all of them active if you had at least 4 triggering scatters. Their multiplier can also go up along the way, using the extra reel shown at the top.
If you collect 3 scatters in this mode, you can upgrade the free spins to All Aboard, which means that the multipliers are active for all premium characters.
Maximum Payouts
I love highly volatile games that also manage to cram inside huge rewards, and they’re not just risky to play without giving anything back. Remember Gulag manages to do that, paying 30,000x the stake for its top prize.
While the RTP can be set to 96.08%, it also has a variant at 94.37%, so make sure you’re playing the right one before you get started.
Summary
Remember Gulag is a memorable slot machine, and not just because it has a unique and very sad theme behind it. The big rewards, high volatility, and the very long list of features, all contribute and help sell it to an experienced player.
