Nugget Ridge Slot Preview: Relax Gaming Strikes Gold Again

by Kevin Lentz 28.08.2026

Nugget Ridge by Relax Gaming digs into familiar territory on September 3. We’ve got sticky Wild respins, expanding Wilds and a Free Spins feature with its biggest bang at the end. With a 96.36% RTP and wins reaching 10,000x, there may yet be gold in these hills.

Digging for Wilds and multipliers at Nugget Ridge

Nugget Ridge in Brief:

• Release Date: 3 September 2026
• Type: Video Slot
• Theme: Mining, Gold, Wild West
• Software Studio: Relax Gaming
• RTP: 96.36%
• Hit Frequency: 20.85%
• Volatility: Medium
• Special Features: ReSpins, Expanding Wilds, Multipliers
• Bonus Rounds: Free Spins
• How to Trigger Bonus Round: Land 3 or more Scatter Symbols

With thousands of similar slots flooding the market every year, it’s only natural to occasionally get that feeling that you’ve been here before, that sense of déjà vu all over again. But with this dusty old mining game, you might actually be right.

It’s not the well-traveled gold nugget theme, or even the pickaxes and tunnels you’ve probably seen before, but that Relax Gaming took one of their marginally successful games from five years ago, and reskinned it for a bit more North of the border Western look, which can leave you feeling like you’ve got amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. That strange sense you’ve managed to forget this before.

Full Rules & Information About the Nugget Ridge Online Slot

Following in the footsteps of its source material, Wild Chapo, which Relax Gaming released back in 2021, we have a 5×3 grid with 15 paylines, paying left to right. We will be swapping out the colorful Mexican gunslinger for a bit more traditional mining game, however.

Bets can range from 20 cents up to $100, and the default RTP is a very generous 96.36%, though there are versions with only 94% and 92%.

Two bonus symbols in the base game will trigger a respin feature while those symbols then transform into sticky wilds. Then, any additional wilds that land stay in place and award yet another respin until no more wilds land.

Nugget Ridge Symbols & Payouts

The original game used hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades, but now we have Jack through Ace for the lower-paying symbols. But the real loss is in the premiums, where we’ve traded a wild-eyed Chihuahua, a malevolent mule and a rather dapper owl for a mining cart, a lantern and a pickaxe. The most dire downgrade, though, is trading crazy Chapo himself for a boring gold nugget.

Five matching premiums on a payline can get you 10x to 25x your bet. The W wild substitutes for all other symbols except for the bonus ones, and five of them can pay up to 40x. The detonators can expand upwards to create additional wilds whenever that would trigger a winning combination.

Nugget Ridge symbols, Wilds and payouts

• All symbols: 8
• Highest-Paying Symbol: Gold Nugget
• Wilds: Sticky and Expanding Wilds
• Paylines Pay: Left to Right
• Maximum Win: 10,000x

Nugget Ridge Bonuses & Features

Three, four or five bonus symbols will get you a corresponding seven, nine or 11 free spins. Another three bomb bonus symbols will get you another three free spins. But each of those bonus symbols leaves a sort of minefield behind with a burning fuse and bomblets waiting for the final spin.

Then on that final free spin, they burst into wilds and can repeatedly collect and grow in value up to 5x.

60x your bet lets you play just the Free Spin Game

Several of these multiplier wilds can contribute to the same payline, as their values multiply together, which can make things interesting. In effect, the whole bonus builds toward that last final spin, which adds to the suspense and excitement as we work our way through the free spins.

If you’d prefer to just play the Free Spin Bonus round, there is a buy feature which costs 60x, which is a tad high, but the RTP of just the bonus game played this way is a seldom seen 97% RTP.

Similar Games & Best Alternatives

If you enjoy this game, then you are certain to enjoy the original Wild Chapo, and perhaps even its sequel, Wild Chapo 2 from Relax Gaming, though in our estimation the very best bang for your buck from their portfolio will always be their completely unmatched and hilarious Holy Hand Grenade.

If you’d like to delve a little deeper into mining slots, you can’t go wrong with Fire in the Hole 2 from NoLimit City or another in the Smokey Raccoon series from Hacksaw Gaming, called, you guessed it, Le Digger.

I Think We’ve Been Down This Shaft Before

We suppose there is nothing wrong with mining your own back catalog to wrench out every last ounce of potential, and at least here they picked a pretty good vein of material. The sticky respins are entertaining, and you can feel the tension build as you work towards that final free spin before that one last satisfying boom.

Still, if you’ve played Wild Chapo, you’ve pretty much played Nugget Ridge, and we prefer the personality of not only our unhinged Chapo but his animal co-conspirators to mining equipment and a shiny rock.