Gonzo´s Treasure Hunt Live

If we had to create a hall of fame for online slots, it’s highly likely that Gonzo’s Quest would be one of the first inductees. Ever since its release in 2011, players haven’t been able get enough of this now-iconic game. Its story, based around a Spanish explorer named Gonzalo (Gonzo) who’s on a quest to find El Dorado, is a seamless fit with its innovative format and features.

Amazingly, this medium-variance slot got an update in 2021. And a major one at that. After  Evolution Gaming acquired NetEnt in 2020, everyone was excited to see how the two giants will work together. Well, with Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live, we got a taste of just that!

Our team got its hands on this fresh live casino game, and played it, analyzed it, and judged it in a thorough manner. Is all the hype warranted? Should you play the game? To find out, read our Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live review. Let’s see what it’s all about, eh?

What’s So Special About Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live?

Well, for starters, it’s the first live casino game that can be played with a virtual reality (VR) headset. That’s right, nobody even dared to do this before two of iGaming’s biggest developers joined forces. This immediately makes it one of the most immersive, if not the most immersive game you can play at this moment in time.

Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live is also pretty unique, when you consider its format. To play it, you have to choose how many symbols you want to uncover, as well as the number of picks you get to complete the uncovering process. It’s also packed with various multipliers, bonus rewards, and repeated drops.

If you’re a fan of innovative live casino games and you like to play only the best of the best, then let’s take a look at how the game works. Don’t worry, we’ve taken our time to break down everything in a simple manner, just because this is a brand new concept. Bear with us, and you’ll get in the hang of it.

How to Play Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live?

First of all, let’s take a look at how the game works and what are its phases. After putting in several dozens of hours of playtime, we’ve realized that it’s pretty clear that Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live has four phases:

1. The betting phase. At this point, nothing is revealed and you just have to place your bets. The game is presumed to be customizable, so expect it to appear with different limits, depending on the live casino site that’s offering it.
2. The Treasure Hunt. Here, you pick which stones do you want to find on the treasure wall. It’s basically a wall of light brown bricks, very reminiscent of Incan architecture in modern-day Peru.
3. The Prize Drop. Now, the RNG mechanism randomly picks any bonus rewards and multipliers. They are added to the stones and will affect your winnings if you ultimately win.
4. The Big Reveal. At this final stage, all the stones are revealed, along with their respective prizes. If you’ve selected a stone/stones and they are revealed within the number of attempts to find them (you pick this), you win!

How to Bet on Live Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt?

Throughout our testing period, we’ve determined that the most confusing part about Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live is the betting phase. Don’t get us wrong — the game as a whole is very simple. It’s just that the concept is new and it takes a few turns to get used to it. Here’s how it works:

1. There are six stones to choose from: Brown, Orange, Purple, Green, Blue, and Red. You can choose one or more of them, with the hopes that they will be revealed within the number of searches you’ve selected. Do this by simply clicking on the stones, in the bottom middle part of your screen.
2. After you’ve chosen 1-6 stones to look for, you have to select how many attempts at finding it/them you’ll get. Just tap/click the unrevealed stones. You can make anywhere from 1 to 20 picks. That’s all there is to it, really!

How Are Bets on Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Calculated?

The total amount you wager is calculated according to the following formula:

the amount of money you’ve wagered on each symbol * the number of searches you’ve selected

So, let’s say you’ve bet £1 on 3 symbols and you’ve picked 5 searches. That’s (1+1+1) * 7, which equals to a total bet of £21. What’s important is that not all stones have the same payout rate. Some of them are rarer than the others. Here’s how many of each you can find on the wall and how much they pay.

How do Bonuses and Multipliers Work in Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live?

After you’ve selected your stones and your searches, an animated Gonzo will turn a key beside the wall and commence the Prize Drop. 0-7 prizes will show up above the tiles on the wall, and they’ll all be in the form of multipliers (2x-10x). They can also be Bonus Value, which range from 3 to 100.

If there are less than 7 multipliers/Bonus Value appear, the value of the prize drops down and stops at a randam tile. This makes the tile more lucrative. There’s also the re-drop. A maximum of 10 can appear in a single round, and they basically just repeat the Prize Drop. One stone can be worth more than 20,000 once the dust has settled.

Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live Strategies

So, how to win at Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live? Well, if you ask us, there are several ways to do it. If you don’t like taking risks, you can pick just one stone and lots of searches. If you’re a high-roller and want to risk it all, you can pick all the stones and a moderate number of searches. You’re most likely to win with this one, but the winnings won’t cover the entirety of the bet sometimes.

But what’s the best Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live strategy? We’ve found that it involves picking Purple and Green stones, with 7-14 searches. You won’t risk a lot of money, and you’ll have a decent chance of winning because there are lots of searches and the stones pay relatively well, whilst not being overly rare. It’s by far the best risk-reward ratio. If you want to reduce the risk even more, pick the Orange one, too.