How to play
Split Gems is a five-reel slot with four rows and no fixed pay lines. Instead it pays by ways: a gem or card symbol wins when it appears anywhere on reel 1, anywhere on reel 2, anywhere on reel 3 and so on, on adjacent reels starting from the left. With four positions on each of five reels there are 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 = 1,024 possible paths across the screen.
You start with 1,000 virtual credits.
- Choose a coin: 1, 2, 5, 10 or 20. Every spin costs 50 coins, so the total bet runs from 50 to 1,000 credits.
- Press Spin. All ways are checked when the reels stop and the wins are added up.
- If you trigger free spins, they play out one at a time with their own button. Your coin is locked until they end.
What a split gem does
The thing that sets this machine apart is the split symbol. Each of the four gems (ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz) also appears in a split version: a double ruby, double sapphire and so on, which shows two stones in a single position. When the game counts ways, a split gem counts as two of that gem.
Ways are counted by multiplying how many of the symbol are on each reel. So:
- Ruby on reel 1, ruby on reel 2, ruby on reel 3: 1 × 1 × 1 = 1 way, paying 12 coins.
- Same picture, but the reel 2 ruby is a double ruby: 1 × 2 × 1 = 2 ways, 24 coins.
- Add a wild somewhere on reel 2 as well: 1 × 3 × 1 = 3 ways, 36 coins.
Splits stack. Two split gems on one reel make that reel count as four, and in theory a reel full of split symbols counts as eight, which is why a strong gem screen can climb far above 1,024 ways. Splits are rare, though: on each 40-stop reel there’s one double of each gem, against two or three plain copies.
The wild counts as one of whatever symbol it completes. It never counts double, and it doesn’t stand in for the free spins badge.
Free spins
The free spins badge pays wherever it lands, as long as it shows on three or more different reels. Three badges pay 2 times the total bet and give 8 free spins, four pay 10 times and give 12, five pay 50 times and give 16. Badges landing during free spins add more spins on top of the ones left. The free spins use the same reels and the same pays as the base game, so their value is the extra spins themselves rather than any special multiplier.
Pay table
Pays are in coins, for each way. A 3-reel ruby win on 4 ways pays 4 × 12 = 48 coins.
| Symbol | 3 reels | 4 reels | 5 reels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | 12 | 29 | 70 |
| Sapphire | 9 | 23 | 53 |
| Emerald | 7 | 18 | 41 |
| Topaz | 6 | 14 | 35 |
| A | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| K | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| Q | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| J | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Card symbols have no split versions. They make up more than half of each reel, so most small wins come from them.
The odds
The return is 95.65%, calculated exactly from the reels, the split gems and the pay table, free spins included, rather than measured by simulation. A spin pays something roughly 61% of the time (a measured, approximate figure), but many of those wins are smaller than the 50-coin cost, which is normal for a ways machine.
Strategy
There are no decisions once you press Spin, and the coin size doesn’t change the return: every coin value plays the same reels at the same 95.65%. What you choose is how fast your credits move.
- Small coins for long sessions. At coin 1 a spin costs 50 credits; 1,000 credits last about 20 spins before any wins come back. At coin 20 a single spin costs everything.
- Watch the gems, not the cards. The big payouts need gems on four or five reels, ideally with a split among them. A screen of A and K wins only keeps you ticking over.
- Free spins are where the swings are. Sixteen free spins at the same coin are worth 16 paid spins. Nothing about earlier spins makes them more likely.
If you like the ways layout, Safari Ways plays with it on a different theme, and Shifting Ways changes the reel height every spin.
If you enjoy Split Gems, try Spread Roulette or Stacker next.
