Gonzo’s Treasure Map Live is a revamped version of Evolution’s failed gameshow Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt. This new game uses the same high-quality game studio and animated imagery from Netent’s Slot character, Gonzo.
This newer game is a simple adaptation of the original, with straightforward betting and one bonus round feature that delivers multiplier wins.
Head to BetVictor casino or LeoVegas, my top-rated casino overall, if you want to try playing Gonzos Treasure Map.
In this article, I will explain how to play, the strategies you can use and what I think about this latest version.
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As the title suggests, the game is centred around a 70-grid map, seven columns wide and ten squares deep.
The map contains a non-descript picture of land masses and seas and is there more as a visual aid than providing any help in the game. It’s a better option than having a blank screen of seventy squares!
The game’s basic premise is to place a wager on one or more squares, hoping that one or more stone blocks dropped from the top land on a square where you have a bet. If that happens, you win a minimum of 10x your bet. Three of the squares contain Gonzo Key Stones, which, if landed on, trigger the bonus round. If you happen to have a bet on the Gonzo Key Stone, you’ll take part in the bonus round, where the big wins are delivered.
The bonus wall contains squares with values and multiplier squares that double the values on the bonus wall if landed on. A Red Jewel is dropped from the top, and the value of the square where it settles is the payout everyone receives.
It’s that simple.
There are cases where multipliers increase payouts and boost the value on the bonus wall, which I’ll describe in the How to Play Section.
In summary, a player places bets and then watches the game unfold – a bit like playing Roulette but with 70 numbers rather than 37! The main difference is the RTP and the value of the payouts.
Gonzo’s Treasure Map Live can be found in the live casino lobby of casinos with Evolution Live Games.
Although the game is purely RNG and should live with Slot games, the presenter’s presence makes it a live game, so it appears in the live lobby.
If you can’t find the game in the Casino Lobby, go to any Evolution game and select the lobby from there, and you’ll find the game listed under Entertainment / Gameshow games.
I recommend LeoVegas, which has extensive live dealer games and dedicated tables.
If you want a greater choice, pick from one of the casinos listed on my Evolution Casinos page.
The treasure map plays a central role in this live-presented RNG game show. This is where you place your bets, where the prizes are shown and where the action unfolds as the game moves through its three main phases.
The flow of the game is:
The payouts in Gonzos Treasure Map are multipliers of your bet, with the base payouts being 10x and 2x (which pays 20x). If the 2X lands on a Key Stone, the bonus round payouts are doubled on entry to the bonus round. The bonus round contains multipliers of 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x,150x, 200x, 500x & a 2x square that will double all the prizes.
The first phase is to place your bets on the Treasure Map grid.
There are Seventy spots where you can place a bet.
There are no restrictions on the number of bets you can place on the map.
The underlying objective is to try to find at least one of the Gonzo keystones when the map is revealed. The benefit is you enter the bonus round if a block lands on that square.
Check out my strategy below, where I explain how many bets it takes to find a stone. Seven bets placed on the grid give you a 50% chance of finding one.
This is your only interaction with the game, so sit back and watch as the game unfolds.
When the betting time has closed, the Treasure map dissolves to reveal the location of the three Gonzo Key Stones.
Five Golden blocks cycle through the top of the Treasure Map in randomly five block arrangements, eventually settling over five of the seven columns on the map.
The Gold Blocks are worth 10x, and the Red 2X block is worth 20x, or if it lands on a Gonzo Key Stone, acts as a 2x multiplier, doubling the prizes on the Bonus wall.
The five blocks cascade down the map, stopping at grid positions within the map.
If you’ve got a bet on the space where the Stone stops, you win 10x or 20x.
If you have a bet on a Gonzo Key Stone and the Stone lands there, you qualify for the bonus round.
Otherwise, the game ends there.
The Bonus Round initiates when one of the Golden Blocks drops onto one of the Gonzo key Stones.
The treasure map rotates to reveal a 10 x 7 grid containing a mixture of multiplier prize squares and multiplier squares.
The possible options are 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 150x, 200x, 500x with a 2x square.
A Red Jewel slides across the top of the map, stopping on one column.
The Jewel drops and settles on one of the prize squares.
If the prize is a multiplier, all qualifying players receive the multipliers as their prize. If the square contains a 2x symbol, all prize squares on the grid are doubled, and the Jewel is dropped again.
The Bonus round ends when the Jewel has landed on a prize multiplier square.
You can employ some obvious strategies when playing Gonzos Treasure Map and some less obvious tactics.
It’s worth understanding some of the probabilities of the game, as that can help with the number of bets you can place.
Let’s quickly go through some of the fundamentals start with.
There are 70 squares on the treasure map, so if you bet one unit on each square, you’d have a total bet of 70 Units.
The maximum the initial part of the game will pay is 60 Units. That’s 4 Gold Blocks at 10x each and one Red Block at 20x. The Red block doesn’t occur every time so the average max payout will be less than 60 and somewhere just above fifty units. Either way, you’d be down by 20 units or so. So, it’s not a good long-term strategy.
However, if the result includes a Key Stone, you get to enter the bonus round where the minimum payout is 25x – so you’d make a profit of 5x! Again, the Bonus round doesn’t occur that often, so when it does, you’d need the win to be big to offset the losses. The best you’d probably do over the long term is break even. The worst and most likely consequence of using this approach would be losing all your bankroll.
We can be a little more scientific with our bets if we understand how many bets are needed to give yourself the best chance of finding one of Gonzo’s Key Stones. There is nothing to say that if you do, one of the Gold Blocks will land on it, but you’re halfway to the bonus round if you have managed to find it!
There is a 50% chance you’ll find one of Gonzos Keys Stones if you place seven bets on the betting grid. You can increase that chance by adding more bets.
We can use the concept of probability to calculate how many chances you need to find one of the three Gonzos Key Stones hidden in the 7×10 grid.
Assuming the stones are randomly placed by the RNG engine, and each cell has an equal chance of containing one of the Stones, we can calculate the probability of NOT finding an item in a single attempt.
There are 70 cells in total (7 columns x 10 rows), and there are three items Stones, so the probability of NOT finding an item in a single attempt is:
(70 – 3) / 70 = 67 / 70
Now, to find the probability of NOT finding a Stone in n attempts, you raise this probability to the power of n because the events are independent:
(67 / 70)^n
To find the probability of finding at least one Stone in n attempts, you subtract this probability from 1:
1 – (67 / 70)^n
You can set this expression equal to a desired probability threshold (e.g., 0.5 for a 50% chance) and solve for n. For example, if you want a 50% chance of finding at least one item:
1 – (67 / 70)^n = 0.5
Now, you can solve for n:
(67 / 70)^n = 0.5
n * log(67 / 70) = log(0.5)
n = log(0.5) / log(67 / 70)
Using a calculator, you can find the approximate value of n:
n ≈ 6.27
So, you need approximately seven attempts (rounding up to the nearest whole number) to have a 50% chance of finding at least one of the three hidden Gonzo Key Stones in the 7×10 Treasure Map if you’re searching randomly.
I like to place ten bets scattered randomly over the treasure map.
That means I have a better than 50% chance of finding one of Gonzo’s Key Stones, and if I win, I at least break even with a 10:1 payout. More if I get the 2x Block.
The optimal theoretical RTP for Gonzo’s Treasure Map is 95.26% (95.10% – 95.26%).
The RTP of 95.10% is achievable when playing at maximum bet, which is £500 in the game I’ve been playing.
The probability of the top prize is one in 917,450,000,000,000,000. Long odds, eh!
The standard payouts for a Gold Block are at 9:1, while a red Block pays 19:1; your bet is also returned.
Like most RNG games, there are no results stored of past results, and Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt is no different.
You have no idea what the previous results and payouts have been, not that they would help you in any way.
But seeing when the last big win was can be a motivating factor to play the game.
The maximum payout without multiplier boosters applied is 500x on the bonus round. However, this can be increased by the 2x Red Blck and the 2x multipliers during the bonus round. It’s easy to see this could reach 2000x without any trouble.
The game has been created for a specific demographic of players. I’ve no idea what that is, as it’s not a game Live Dealer players will like, and it’s too slow for Slot players. It’s a rehash of a game that failed and, in my opinion, is no better despite being much simpler and easier to understand.
The maximum payout is £$€500,000, but the maximum multiplier is likely around 2000x – 4000x. The chances of getting that are slim.
Gonzos Treasure Map is an RNG game, start to finish. The only live element is the presenter, who stands there commentating on the game and having a general chit-chat with players.
Yes and No. The game is RNG, so the results are random, and as the player, you cannot influence the outcome. However, playing with a betting strategy is possible to maximise your Bankroll. For example, you have a 50% chance of finding a Gonzo Key Stone with seven bets. Read more in my Strategy Section.
Gonzo’s Treasure Map Live can be played at BetVictor and Leo Vegas online casinos.
Every player has the same playing experience. The only difference is where players place their bets on the Treasure Map. If a Bonus round is activated and you haven’t qualified, you can watch what happens.
The theoretical RTP is 95.26%.
There is no ability to play Gonzo’s Treasure Map Live for Free. Bets start as low as 0.10, so you can play with only a few £$€.
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Gonzos Treasure Map Live is meant to improve the rather disappointing Gonzos Treasure Hunt. Has Evolution achieved that, or are we looking at another flop of a game?
While Gonzos Treasure Map is easier to understand and play, no entrainment factor makes you want to play it. The game is dull, and while there is an opportunity to win, it’s all guesswork. It’s neither a slot nor a live game.
It’s too slow to be a slot, and no live interaction keeps you engaged.
While the same could be true of Roulette, the main difference is once you’ve placed your bet, you’re watching a live event unfold to deliver the result. In Treasure Map, the RNG has already decided the outcome before you see what happens, and while the graphics are superb, the dropping stones don’t build anticipation as they drop too quickly.
This is a game I won’t be playing again, and in my opinion, this game will struggle to keep players engaged, and numbers will be low compared with other games.
I remember the phrase “making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. It’s an English proverb that means trying to turn something of poor quality or little value into something more valuable or attractive. It implies attempting to improve or refine something that inherently lacks quality. Sadly, I don’t think Evolution has managed to do that!