Gold Rush in South Africa: Habanero's Dynamite Free Games and Mine Collapses
Habanero dates Gold Rush to 2015: five reels of three rows, 25 fixed lines, a gold nugget for the wild and a bundle of dynamite for the scatter. Three, four or five dynamite anywhere award 10, 12 or 15 free games. In each of them a mine collapse may drop 3 to 15 of one symbol onto the spinning reels, and the last free game always has one. The studio's game page gives the volatility as high and the maximum multiplier as x1,000.
On this page
What Gold Rush looks like
Images: Habanero, official game page (habanerosystems.com); Our screenshot of Habanero's official free demo (habanerosystems.com), September 2026.
How Gold Rush works
Every spin plays all 25 lines, and the stake in coins is 25 times the bet level. Habanero's demo starts at 12.50: a coin of 0.50 at bet level 1.
The pay table's Other Rules count a line win 'in succession from the leftmost reel to the right' and pay the 'Highest win only on each line with at least 1 non-wild symbol in combination'. By our reading, three nuggets then two mine doors on a line pay as five mine doors, 500 line bets, not as three nuggets at 100. Dynamite wins are added to line wins.
Habanero calls the game a 'precious metal-inspired period piece'. Among the regular symbols a boarded-up mine door pays the most, then a moustached miner in a plaid shirt, a masked robber with a revolver, a donkey with a sack, a cart of gold, a barrel and a bulldog; a gold pan, a pick and an oil lantern pay the least.
The wild is a gold nugget. It 'substitutes for all other symbols except' the dynamite and pays in its own right, 1,000 line bets for five; the game page says wilds 'appear on all Reels as singles'. The scatter, a bundle of red dynamite, pays anywhere: 2, 5 or 10 times the total bet for three, four or five.
The Gold Rush pay table on a R12.50 spin
Habanero's pay table shows each pay as an amount for the chosen bet; here are its figures at 12.50, the demo's first bet, written in rand. The last column, our arithmetic, gives the five-symbol pay as a multiple of the bet; the dynamite's is the rules' own.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Symbol | Five | Four | Three | Five, x bet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold nugget (wild) | R500 | R100 | R50 | 40x |
| Dynamite (scatter, anywhere) | R125 | R62.50 | R25 | 10x |
| Mine door | R250 | R50 | R25 | 20x |
| Miner | R125 | R37.50 | R7.50 | 10x |
| Robber | R62.50 | R25 | R5 | 5x |
| Donkey | R50 | R25 | R2.50 | 4x |
| Cart of gold | R50 | R25 | R2.50 | 4x |
| Barrel | R50 | R12.50 | R2.50 | 4x |
| Bulldog | R50 | R12.50 | R2.50 | 4x |
| Gold pan, pick or lantern | R37.50 | R7.50 | R2.50 | 3x |
Dynamite and the free games
Three dynamite anywhere award 10 free games, four award 12 and five award 15, on top of the scatter pay. The dynamite 'does not appear during the feature', and 'The feature cannot be retriggered'.
Each free game is played 'at the lines and bet of the triggering game'. In Habanero's own screenshots the round moves underground, into a timber-propped mine lit by lamps, with a count of the spins remaining above the reels.
The mine collapse: 3 to 15 of one symbol
The rules: 'In each free game there may be a random mine collapse', and the last free game always has one. In a collapse, '3 to 15 of the same symbol will fall and land anywhere on the spinning reels'. Any symbol can fall, the nugget wild included, except the dynamite, and 'Every mine collapse has a different random symbol'.
Habanero's game page says a collapse 'causes random numbers of a random symbol to fill the screen'; this page follows the rules' 3 to 15.
Five reels by three rows make 15 positions, so a collapse of 15 fills the screen and puts five of that symbol on each of the 25 lines, by our count. By our arithmetic that pays 75 times the total bet for lanterns, 500 times for mine doors and, for nuggets, 25 x 1,000 line bets: 1,000 times the bet, the same number as Habanero's listed maximum multiplier. Habanero's page and rules do not tie x1,000 to this, and do not say how often a collapse picks a given symbol or size.
Line pays against the x1,000
Habanero's game page gives x1,000 as the game's 'Max Multiplier'; on a R12.50 spin that would be R12,500, by our arithmetic. It is the studio's figure, not a promise.
The line pays sit far below it. By our division, five nuggets on a line pay 40 times the total bet and five mine doors 20 times. For three of a kind, seven of the ten regular symbols pay a fifth of the bet, and three mine doors or three dynamite pay twice the bet.
What sits around the reels
- No feature buy. Buy Feature and SuperBet both carry a No on Habanero's game page, and nothing on the demo's bar buys the free games.
- Jackpot Race: the casino's choice. The demo's Help lists Habanero's Jackpot Race, taking 1.000% of each bet, with its own RTP of 1.00%. Habanero's race page tells operators they set a race up from their Back Office, with a contribution of 0 to 2% or a fixed prize.
- Casino tools and the jackpot meter. Bonus Free Spins and UP Tournaments are ticked on the game page too; the solutions page puts 'Free spins, jackpots, tournaments' among the tools a casino switches on. The GRAND JACKPOT meter in Habanero's screenshots is not in the pay table.
Gold Rush RTP and volatility 📊
Habanero gives Gold Rush's return to player as about 86%, 92%, 94%, 96% or 98%, set by the operator.
That is 5 settings, and each operator picks one. The highest is 98% and the lowest 86%: a 12-point gap on the same game with the same name.
Volatility is high: long quiet stretches between the wins that matter.
Top payout: 1000x.
What RTP and volatility mean, and why the operator picks the RTP
Paying for Gold Rush in rand
Gold Rush is in the lobby at 8 operators we list: all of them take cards; 7 take Ozow; 5 take Capitec Pay; 7 take cash vouchers.
The smallest first deposit for Gold Rush among them is R1, at Luckyfish.
Gold Rush winnings are paid by EFT to an account in your own name, after FICA.
Get FICA done first · How to deposit in rand · Every payment method
Is Gold Rush legal in South Africa? 📜
Gold Rush is a slot, which licensed bookmakers carry under their provincial betting licences.
All 8 operators we list for Gold Rush hold a South African provincial licence.
Before you play with real money ⚠️
Set your Gold Rush budget and a deposit limit before the first round, not after a losing one. If it stops being fun, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation helpline is free on 0800 006 008.
Pros, cons and verdict ⚖️
- The last free game always brings a mine collapse
- A collapse can drop up to 15 of one symbol, nuggets included
- Dynamite pays anywhere, 10 times the bet for five
- The free games cannot be retriggered, and no dynamite lands in them
- Small line pays: by our division, most threes return a fifth of the bet
- The casino picks the RTP setting, and Habanero lists one as low as about 86%
A 25-line slot from 2015 whose free games turn on one random event, a mine collapse of 3 to 15 of one symbol. Line pays are modest beside Habanero's x1,000 figure, and the studio rates the volatility high. The Help says player strategy cannot affect the RTP; no staking pattern or system beats the house edge. The game's Help carries a Return To Player section: read it at your casino before a real-money spin.
Gold Rush FAQ ❓
What is a mine collapse in Gold Rush?
The free games' random event: 3 to 15 of one symbol fall and land anywhere on the spinning reels. The nugget wild can be that symbol, the dynamite cannot, and the last free game always has a collapse.
What triggers the free games in Gold Rush?
Three, four or five dynamite anywhere award 10, 12 or 15 free games and pay 2, 5 or 10 times the total bet. Dynamite does not appear during the round, which cannot be retriggered.
What is the RTP of Habanero's Gold Rush?
Habanero's game page gives five settings, about 86%, 92%, 94%, 96% and 98%, and the casino runs one of them. In the studio's free demo the Help shows 96.00% for the game and a separate 1.00% for its Jackpot Race.
What is the maximum win on Gold Rush?
Habanero's game page puts the 'Max Multiplier' at x1,000, R12,500 on a R12.50 spin by our arithmetic. By our sums, five nuggets on one line pay 40 times the bet, and a collapse filling all 15 positions with nuggets would pay 1,000 times; Habanero does not say how its figure is reached.
Is this the same game as Pragmatic Play's Gold Rush?
No. Pragmatic Play and Split The Pot each list a different game called Gold Rush on their own sites. This page covers Habanero's 2015 slot: check that the lobby tile names Habanero. Habanero's own demo also shows the studio's name in a corner of the game screen.
Where to play Gold Rush in South Africa
Licensed South African operators we have found carrying Gold Rush, each with its licence and our score, and the date where we saw the game in the lobby ourselves. Ordered by that score. How we score Offers checked September 2026.
Also carrying Gold Rush. Bonus, payment and payout terms for each are on its review.