Gonzo’s Treasure Map By Evolution Review
The Game in Short
Gonzo’s Treasure Map is a simple game that consists of a large 7×10 grid with 70 individual positions. Players can place a bet on one or several of these.
Once bets are in, five blocks will drop from the top of the grid and randomly land on certain positions. These blocks will either consist of an x10 multiplier or x20 multiplier.
If the block lands on a position you have placed a bet, you win whatever you have staked multiplied by the block’s multiplier.
The Bonus Round
On every game round, three bonus symbols will appear on the grind at random positions. If a multiplier block drops down on top of one of these symbols, a bonus game will trigger.
In the bonus game, all 70 positions on the grid will consist of win multipliers ranging from x10 – x200. Higher multipliers will appear if the bonus is triggered by an x20 block. There will also be special ‘x2 multiplier’ positions on the grid during the bonus.
A block will randomly drop down to one of the positions. If it lands on an x2 multiplier position, all win multipliers are doubled and another drop is initiated. This can continue to happen until the block drops on a normal win multiplier which will then be the bonus prize.
Note that you are only eligible for the bonus if you’ve placed a bet on the position that triggers the bonus.
Payouts
The payouts in Gonzo’s Treasure Map range from 10 times your stake all the way up to 5 million times your bet amount. However, it is very unlikely to win more than 2,000x. Realistically, you are looking at maximum winnings of 400x even though the game can pay a lot more.
In the base game, you will either get paid 10x or 20x depending on the block that triggers your win. These are the only amounts that can be won in this part of Gonzo’s Treasure Map.
The bonus round is where things can heat up. As a minimum, payouts in the bonus will range from x10 – x100. However, thanks to the ‘x2 multipliers’ that can infinitely double the payouts, these can become a lot bigger. The only cap to how much you can win is R10 000 000, which is a hard cap set by the game developer.
This means that if you only stake the minimum of R10, you could potentially win 5 million times your bet amount, assuming that x2 multipliers are hit one after another to result in such a massive win multiplier.
Of course, the chance of this happening is pretty much non-existent. Realistically, in a lucky bonus, you wouldn’t hit the x2 multipliers more than three or four times. This could result in payouts of around 2,000x. But even such a win would be very rare to encounter.
RTP (Payout Percentage)
The RTP in Gonzo’s Treasure Map is 95.26%. While this is slightly lower than the 96% that I expect casino games to have, it is acceptable. However, what I truly find disappointing is that the original game that was released as “Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt” in 2021 had a higher RTP of 96.56%. This means that Evolution Gaming lowered it in order to increase its profits.
Fun Factor
I enjoy Gonzo’s Treasure Map quite a bit even though it definitely isn’t among my favorite live dealer games. To me, its high points include the amazing design which I absolutely love. The adventurous game studio looks spectacular and the animation of the treasure-seeking Gonzo next to the game host is great. It creates that immersive experience that I like to have when gambling online.
Another positive note is the fast-paced game rounds. I don’t necessarily mind games that are slow as long as they are interesting, but it’s also nice to have games where you don’t have to wait around. With 45-second game rounds, Gonzo’s Treasure map is definitely one of those.
What I like less about the game is its features and limited payouts. I’m normally not a big fan of simple games. I prefer when there’s a lot going on. In Gonzo’s Treasure Map, there isn’t much that can happen. You either lose or get an x10 or x20 win in the base game or the bonus trigger.
Now, the bonus could be exciting, but I think it falls short. Not only is it basically the same as the base game, but it is almost impossible to win those huge amounts of 1,000x or more that you would often find in other games. The upside to this, however, is that the bonus is always guaranteed to pay something, and opportunities of winning around 50x – 100x are really good.
All in all, I would say Gonzo’s Treasure Map is best suited for gamblers looking for a fast and low-volatile live game where payouts are common, but rarely get very big.
Strategies
There are two strategies that you can use in Gonzo’s Treasure Map which are as follows:
- Bet higher only on one or a few positions
- Bet lower on many or all the positions
These are strategies that affect the game’s volatility, also known as your risk versus reward.
Let’s say that your budget for a game round is R700. If you only bet on one position, you can afford to make one bet of R700. To win, you would have to be really lucky as only 5 out of 70 different positions will be selected and you are only betting on one. Triggering the bonus will be even harder. However, if you do get lucky, those R700 could quickly turn into R3 000 or over R20 000 in the bonus game.
On the other hand, if you bet R10 on all positions in the game, you would be guaranteed to win on every game round while still staking a total of R700. However, to make up for the amount you bet, you would have to win 70x and in the base game, you would only win R60. So, unless a bonus is triggered, you would effectively lose R10 on every game round.
The good thing about this strategy though is that whenever a bonus is triggered, you will be eligible for it and you will win whatever it pays on top of what you already win in the base game.