With the weekend just around the corner, sit back and relax as we guide you through some of the industry’s latest slot releases. This week’s round-up includes festive features from Wizard Games, Powderkeg Studios‘ exploding extravaganza and Big Time Gaming’s pyramid party.
Santa Bonanza – Wizard Games
Take a trip to the North Pole for a Christmas spirit-fuelled title from Wizard Games, showcasing a 5×3 reel grid with 25-paylines and a maximum win of up to x5,000 the player’s bet. This jolly title uses medium volatility with an RTP of 88 – 96.02 per cent.
Benedict McDonagh, Managing Director at Wizard Games, stated: “The festive season is fast approaching, and what better way to prepare for Christmas than visiting Santa’s winter wonderland? That’s what players can look forward to with Santa Bonanza.
“With chances to unwrap wild multipliers in the base game, alongside a fun-filled bonus round where extra free spins and multipliers await, we’re looking forward to immersing players in a jolly good time alongside Father Christmas himself.”
Christmas tree scatters are available on reels one, three and five, activating the free spins feature when three land on the same spin.
Before the free spins game mode begins, the pick-and-click feature sees players select from nine different Christmas presents with hidden prizes behind them.
These presents can offer extra spins or increased multiplier values for the wilds that appear in the bonus game, while the feature ends when the player reveals a Santa that waves goodbye, taking players to the free spins with all awarded enhancements.
Additionally, Santa wilds can drop into play, substituting for all symbols other than the Christmas tree scatters. Throughout the game, these wilds can appear with multipliers to be applied to any wins that the wilds contribute to.
Sanctuary – Big Time Gaming
Big Time Gaming has uncovered ancient Egyptian treasures in its latest release, presenting a six-reel slot with 4,096 ways to win and a maximum win of up to x44,070 the player’s wager. The game has high volatility with an RTP of 96.38 per cent.
Nik Robinson, BTG CEO, stated: “The team has created something very, very cool with Sanctuary, with its towering pyramids and mesmerising hieroglyphs that can transport the player into new dimensions. The first time I saw the free spins mode, with four video slots fired up simultaneously, it was a case of: mind blown.”
Pyramid scatters are available, triggering seven free spins if three or more land on the same spin.
Additionally, two full reel wilds are available, with gold Pharoah wilds and purple Pharoah wilds appearing on reels two to five.
While both wilds substitute for all symbols in the game other than the pyramid scatters, all wins contributed to by the purple wilds will multiply the winnings by x8.
When triggering the free spins feature, landing three, four, five or six scatters will activate the bonus game mode with one, two, three or four matrices working at once, respectively.
During the free spins, Ankh wild symbols can drop into play on reels two through five. These wilds will become sticky in their place when they appear on the reels.
Four Ankh wilds in the same column will transform the symbols into an expanded wild that multiplies all wins by x4 while awarding three extra spins upon transformation.
If players wish to receive more free spins than they have been awarded, they can select a gamble wheel feature to win more spins or more spins on multiple matrices. If players spin the wheel to reveal no spins, they will return to the base game empty-handed.
Nicholas Peters, Chief Business Development Officer for Europe at Evolution, added: “You can never accuse BTG of being one-dimensional, and there’s so much going on in Sanctuary.
“It’s literally multi-dimensional! We love the game, we love the features, and we love the soundtrack, and that’s why we believe this is one of the most exciting releases of the year.”
Munition Mine – Powderkeg Studios
Travel down the mines with Powderkeg Studios as the Supremeland Gaming subsidiary launched its latest game, a five-reel slot with a row set up of 3-4-4-4-3, 576 ways to win and a maximum win of up to x10,000 the player’s bet. The slot is highly volatile with an RTP of 88.25-96.49 per cent.
Peter Wasielewski, Studio Director at Powderkeg Studios, stated: “For us, it’s all about the potential of the gaming market and what kind of unique experiences we can craft that are both fun and exciting.
“Munition Mine is all about potential, especially in its namesake feature. Every symbol during the hold and spin has the chance to yield up to x500 for the player, making each foray uniquely thrilling and always evolving.”
Stone vein symbols can drop into play, hiding gold multiplied bet amount prizes behind them. These prizes can only be revealed if special dynamite barrels appear on the same spin, triggering the Munition Mine feature.
In the Munition Mine feature, the barrels will explode causing the reels to become empty with only revealed stone symbols and barrels able to drop into play.
When triggering the game mode, the barrel will reveal the value hidden by the stone symbols that appeared alongside it, which always begin at x1.
As the feature begins, players are given three spins as barrels and stone symbols become sticky when they drop into play while also resetting the number of spins to three.
When barrels appear next to gold prizes in the Munition Mine feature, it will upgrade its prize value, with prizes of up to x500 the player’s bet available.
Throughout the free spins game mode triggered by chest scatters, the Munition Mine feature can be activated. When this occurs, the feature will play out instantly before the remainder of the free spins are completed.
“This is the very first step on an exciting journey we are undertaking with Powderkeg Studios to deliver mischievous, innovative, and really fun-to-play online games,” said Rickard Öhrn, CEO of Supremeland Gaming.
“We’ll be taking this creative, disruptive ethos to the regulated US igaming market in 2024, but for now, we’re excited to see our games being enjoyed across Europe”.
Sherwood Forest – Playson
The next slot in our selection takes place in Nottinghamshire during medieval times to tell the classic tale of Robin Hood, using a 5×4 reel slot with 25-paylines and a maximum win of up to x3,000 the player’s bet.
Tamas Kusztos, CCO at Playson, said: “We are excited to launch Sherwood Coins, the next instalment in our Hold and Win series, following on from the success of Wolf Land and Pirate Chest, as we look to continue a strong Q4 and finish the year in style.
“The variety of different features and symbols should ensure the game is another strong addition to our catalogue.”
Gold coin symbols are also available, displaying either monetary values between x1 and x15 the player’s bet or jackpot prizes of mini (x20), minor (x50) or major (x100).
Also, gold coins can appear with ‘boost’ text. These special symbols will collect all coin values present on the reels and apply them to the player’s winnings.
Landing six or more coin symbols on the same spin will activate the hold and win game mode.
In this hold-and-win game mode, players are given three spins to land as many coin symbols on a reel set as possible. Each additional symbol that drops into play will reset the number of spins to three.
Once all three spins have been used, the player will receive the accumulated value of all coin symbols on the reels, in addition to any jackpot prize coins that have dropped in.
Players can win the game’s maximum win of x3,000, the grand jackpot prize, if they manage to land a full reel set of coin symbols during the bonus game mode.
Moreover, mystery wanted poster symbols can only appear in the hold-and-win game mode, revealing either monetary values or jackpot prizes once the feature finishes. However, if a boost symbol is active on the board, the mystery symbol will be revealed immediately.
Anton Ivannikov, Product Owner at Playson, added: “We’re really excited to show our players how hard we’ve worked on the visual aesthetics in Sherwood Coins.
“The game’s charming soundtrack and colourful background provides immersive surroundings, taking players on a journey for uncovered treasure in the renowned woodland. Alongside the inclusion of the boost and treasure chest features, we have demonstrated our commitment to providing creative gaming experiences for our players.”
Templar Tumble Dream Drop – Relax Gaming
Our final slot title sees the return of Relax Gaming’s Dream Drop jackpot, implemented into one of the studio’s established Tumble titles, offering a 6×7 reel title with up to 117,649 ways to win. The slot is highly volatile with an RTP of 94 per cent.
Shelley Hannah, CPO at Relax Gaming, stated: “We have an unwavering commitment to developing games that players truly enjoy, and we know for a fact that our Tumble games have been hugely popular amongst our player base for a very long time.
“What better way to honour the original Templar Tumble game than with a highly anticipated Dream Drop release that can see players win incredible rewards thanks to our market-leading jackpot prizes.”
Using Relax Gaming’s Tumble mechanic, each time a winning combination is formed the winning symbols will explode and disappear from the reels, allowing new symbols to cascade from the top of the board.
Winning combinations will also cause blocker symbols to explode and disappear, removing an equal number of blocker symbols from the number of symbols involved in the win. These blocker symbols can only be removed from the reels in which the win was formed.
When all blocker symbols are destroyed, the free spins feature will be activated. During these free spins, no blocker symbols will appear as the reels are filled with standard symbols or wilds.
Wilds that appear in the free spins will cause random standard symbols to transform into mystery symbols, as no blocker symbols are available.
Furthermore, jackpot spins can occur with Dream Drop (DD) symbols able to drop into play on an empty reel set. Landing five DD symbols on this spin will activate the jackpot game mode.
As the jackpot feature is triggered, players must spin a special jackpot reel set while various symbols depicting the five jackpot prizes drop into play.
Once players have collected a certain number of jackpot symbols, they will receive that jackpot’s respective prize. Players only need to land three rapid or midi symbols to gain their respective prize, while needing four, five and six maxi, major and mega symbols respectively.
