Flight Mode: Slot Overview
Members of the Reform Club might have flipped out when Phileas Fogg circumnavigated the world in 80 days in the Jules Verne classic, but these days, that’s a snail’s pace. A plane could make the journey in about 45 hours or a satellite in around 90 minutes. Still, when you’re travelling from country to country, rammed in like sardines, choking back aeroplane food, red-eyed from getting up ludicrously early to catch a slightly cheaper flight, those hours in the air can really drag by. Fair dues, this might be a first-world problem, and it’s up there in the sky, experiencing the romance or distress of modern travel that we catch up with developer Nolimit City‘s aeroplane slot Flight Mode.
The title obviously refers to the state electrical gadgets have to be switched to in order not to interfere with the plane’s navigation and communication systems. Graphically, Flight Mode belongs to a group of Nolimit City slots, which includes the likes of Outsourced, Outsourced Payday, and Brick Snake 2000, which have a sort of scrappy 1990s, Beavis and Butthead-type look. The gaming area is wedged onto the back of a seat, next to that hanger thing you can pull, and hair from the passenger in front. It’s not the most savoury view, but it sure beats the bonus round where the plane has fallen out of the sky into the sea, and survivors are threatened by a shark.
Hopefully, gamblers’ fortunes are more favourable when taking on Flight Mode, which accepts bets of 20 c to $/€280 per spin. Its black box, shall we call it, consists of a highly volatile math model, rated 8 out of 10, so not Nolimit City’s most volatile piece of work, spitting out an RTP of 96.07% at its highest return level.
The gaming area consists of a 6×4, 729 ways to win matrix where the fourth row is locked with Max Win symbols. Winning symbols explode off the screen, allowing new symbols to fall down to replace them. Each win increases what is called the next multiplier value by +1, which gets applied to new symbols that fall in. Symbol multipliers are additive. Regular pay symbols are J-A lows, lighters, mobile phones, bowling balls, lobsters, and life jacket highs. A 6 OAK low win pays 0.2x to 0.4x, while for highs, it is 0.5x to 1x the bet. Wilds may land on any reel to replace any regular paying symbols to help construct winning ways.
Flight Mode: Slot Features
Not as packed to the rafters with features as some Nolimit City slots, but nevertheless, Flight Mode comes with Bombs, xHoles, Multiplier Increasers, Flee Spins, Boosters, and God Mode.
Bombs, xHole & Multiplier Increaser Features
- Bombs – Bombs explode when there are no more winning combinations. An exploding Bomb removes all regular pay symbols from its row and reel, causing symbols to fall in. Scatters and wilds are not affected by bombs, but Bomb explosions do unlock the Max Win symbol on its reel.
- xHole – xHole symbols activate when there are no more wins, Bombs, or Multiplier Increasers. All symbols from the main reels are sucked into the xHole and spat out to random positions with the next multiplier value. After this, the xHole transforms into a wild that also gets the next multiplier value.
- Multiplier Increaser – Multiplier Increaser symbols trigger when they land, adding a multiplier of x2 to x10 to the next multiplier. Multiplier Increaser symbols are removed after triggering. The Golden Multiplier Increaser activates when it lands by doubling the value of the next multiplier.
Flee Spins
Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards 6, 9, or 12 flee spins (not a typo) respectively, which are accompanied by a ludicrously macabre Weezer-esque tune. The progress of the next multiplier value is kept during the feature, and Max Win symbols remain unlocked for the rest of the round once they have been unlocked.
Boosters
A number of boosters may be selected at various costs. These are:
- Scatter – at 3.3x the bet, a scatter is guaranteed on the second reel.
- xHole – at 6x the bet, players are guaranteed an xHole symbol on the second reel.
- Print Spins – 11x the bet starts a spin with an x30 multiplier on each pay symbol.
- Printier Spins – 90x the bet starts a spin with an x268 multiplier on each pay symbol.
- Printiest Spins – 270x the bet starts a spin with an x911 multiplier on each pay symbol.
Extra Spins & Nolimit Bonus
Players may have the chance to buy an extra spin when a round ends if the cost is less than or equal to the total win. The extra spin keeps the multiplier state of the symbols of the previous spin but does not land scatters. The calculated cost is based on the next multiplier value. In the bonus buy menu, players may buy 6, 9, 12, or random free spins for 90x, 220x, 500x, or 211x, respectively. Lastly, 911 times the bet buys God Mode for the chance to chase the max win by unlocking all six Max Win symbols on the bottom row with Bombs.
Flight Mode: Slot Verdict
If you could only play one slot on a ~17 hour trip from London to Perth, would it be Flight Mode? Maybe, probably not. The game has merits, but it’s not Nolimit City’s most mind-blowing piece of work. It’s actually on the ‘smaller’ side for the studio, not that bigger always means better. Imaginative gamblers might be better off not choosing Flight Mode, either, due to the depiction of disaster during its Flee Spins bonus round. After all, the last thing you want to think about on a flight is a busted-up plane next to passengers clinging to a lift raft next to a giant shark.
Then again, a depiction of a plane disaster rather than some cheesily romanticised influencer’s voyage above the clouds is exactly what fans have come to love about Nolimit City’s style. They’ve also come to expect a high attention to mechanical excellence as well, and while Flight Mode isn’t the acme of NLC achievement, it’s got a set of effects that link tidily together. In a nutshell, removed symbols and Multiplier Increaser symbols add values to the next multiplier, which is placed on new symbols to potentially multiply wins – Flee Spins are more desirable since the next multiplier doesn’t reset between free spins. As a further sweetener, like one of those little desserts you get on a long haul flight, Bombs not only remove symbols but they also unlock bottom-row Max Win symbols as a visual motivator. Extra Spins are an additional way to keep the chase going and are one of the game’s focal points. In short, Flight Mode is like an offshoot of Outsourced, but with various changes and tweaks worked in.
The top prize, at 5,051x the bet, is not as lofty as we’re used to seeing in a Nolimit City slot, and for those chasing the big one, the max win probability doesn’t compare favourably when compared to, say Nine To Five, Outsourced, or Brick Snake 2000, to pick three slots on the relatively lower end of the win scale (by NLC standards). Considering all the factors, Flight Mode isn’t a Nolimit City game changer, but its interacting features and dark humour might convince fans to book it for a quick getaway.
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