Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail: Slot Overview
Twirling six-shooters on each forefinger, software provider Quickspin regularly trundles bow-legged through the virtual frontier to add releases to its long-running Sticky Bandits range of slots which started off back in 2017. The current game under review is Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail, a train robbing slot that does indeed involve sticky wilds (one of the series’ trademarks) but also an innovative hold ‘n’ win bonus round the likes of which no Sticky Bandit slot has delivered before.
Two riders on horseback, Colt and Ezra, lay the scene, discussing the ups, downs, ins and outs of robbing a train as it rolls through the Arizona countryside. As well as wild symbol action, one thing you can count on from a Sticky Bandit slot is a stylish trip to the Wild West, as well as a bit of gunslinging and whatnot. Graphically, Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail mixes a comic book-style background with boarding a train to shoot it out with a guard during its bonus round. It might not be as brightly presented as Sticky Bandits 3 or Wild Return (or the original) or as grim as Sticky Bandits Trail of Blood, yet Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail nevertheless has its own personality and is neither hard to look upon nor listen to.
Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail splits its time between a 5×4 matrix, which can expand to 7×7 in the base game, and a hold ‘n’ win type grid in the bonus round. Ways to win vary from 26 to 53, depending on the matrix size. Players may stake 5c to $/€100 per game round, and should they choose to do so, activating the Extra Bet doubles the bet to add Mystery Wilds into the game. The max RTP when regular betting is 96.07%, or 96.33%, with the Extra Bet on. As for volatility, Quickspin has recorded it as 5 out of 5 high.
Symbols of the West such as horseshoes, bottles, cigars, boots, and horses are the higher paying premiums, while stars, skulls, bullet chambers, bottles, and tools are the low pays. When the grid is at the default 5-reel size, 5 OAK wins are worth 0.6 to 4 times the bet, but when the reels are 7 in width, 7 OAK winning combinations are worth 10 to 80 times the stake.
Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail: Slot Features
Wilds, wilds, and more wilds greet players in the base game before triggering (or buying) the unique Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail hold ‘n’ win game where a Bandit chap activates symbols while avoiding bullets from the train Guard.
Wilds and Sticky Respins
Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail has 8 different kinds of wilds (9 when the Extra Bet is activated). Wilds substitute for regular paying symbols and are worth up to 200x for a 7 wild symbol win. Any time a wild symbol lands, it sticks in place, the applicable modifier triggers, and it grants a respin. This also applies to respins. Wild modifiers activate after the win evaluation.
- Tall Wild – fills all non-wild positions on its reel with wilds.
- Diagonal Wild – fills all the non-wild positions in a diagonal line with wilds.
- Big Wild – expands to a 2×2 size and fills non-wild positions with wilds.
- Random Wild – places 2 to 4 wilds randomly on the reels.
- Multiplier Wild – gets a random multiplier of x2 to x100, which it retains for the rest of the game round. Multipliers multiply wins they are part of, and if a win is affected by more than 1 multiplier, the total value used is the sum of the multipliers.
- Cash Wild – places a payout value on itself of 1x to 100x the bet, which stays on the wild for the rest of the game round. The prize value is awarded if the Cash Wild is part of a win. Multiple winning lines on the same Cash Wild award the prize value once, but a Cash Wild can pay more than once if it wins in multiple respins.
- Row Expansion Wild – adds an extra row to the grid up to a maximum of 7.
- Column Expansion Wild – adds an extra column to the grid up to a maximum of 7.
- Mystery Wild – only appears when the Extra Bet is active. When Mystery Wilds activate, a wild feature is randomly chosen and all Mystery Wilds convert to that wild type. Between 2 and 4 Mystery Wilds land when they hit, but they cannot land at the same time as other wilds.
Train Heist Bonus Game
Landing 3 or more scatters in the base game triggers the Train Heist Bonus Game. When triggered by 3 scatters, the initial player area is the centre symbol; 4 scatters make the symbols to the left and right of the centre also active, while 5 scatters add the symbols above and below the centre position.
A total of 3 lives are awarded, and when a new symbol lands, it sticks in place and resets the life count. Each spin consumes a life, and when lives run out, the feature ends. The bonus round uses an Activator feature. Landed symbols are only activated if the wandering Bandit character can get to them in a horizontal or vertical direction in the player area. He then randomly picks a direction to activate the modifier on the symbol. All symbols have a value, and those that land vertically or diagonally to the player area become part of it.
If a Guard symbol hits, the Bandit must use hit ammunition to take them out. If Guard symbols land on 3 consecutive spins, the Bandit runs out of ammunition and the bonus round ends. Guard symbols have no value. When the round ends, all symbols in the player area are awarded. Other symbols include:
- Grabber – adds the value of all symbols activated by the Bandit to its own value when active.
- Doubler – doubles the value of symbols activated by the Bandit.
- Booster – adds its own multiplier value to symbols activated by the Bandit.
- Re-Activator – refreshes all the symbols activated by the Bandit so they activate their features again.
Feature Buy
Three feature buys are available in Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail. By paying 5x the bet, players can guarantee a base game wild feature spin. For 60x, players can buy the bonus game triggered by at least 3 scatter symbols, or 155x buys the bonus game triggered by 5 scatter symbols.
Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail: Slot Verdict
Well shoot, pardner, if you like wilds, then Sticky Bandits Thunder Rail serves up plenty of those. Interestingly, while sticky wilds are one of the game’s key attributes, they are only so in the base game, whereas the game’s bonus feature pulls the franchise in a new direction like a derailed freight train. Sticking to the base game for now, 8 or even 9 when the Extra Bet is turned on, is a lot of wild feature variety to sample and helps keep interest up until the boarding of the train for the hold ‘n’ win may occur. We could be killjoys and say few to none of the wild effects, on an individual basis, are crazy innovations or are as intriguing on paper as, say, the Peacemaker Bonus from Unchained, but there are a lot of them, and wild multipliers, grid expansions, on top of straight-up substitution is no bad thing.
The Train Heist Bonus Game is arguably more of a make-or-break component. It’s not the sort of bonus fans will be used to seeing in the series at all, which might throw some people off. Or, it could be just what Sticky Bandits needed to ignite further interest. Either way, it is unusual and definitely not your standard hold ‘n’ win feature. For one thing, newly landed symbols do not automatically add their values to the prize pot – until the Bandit is able to wander over and activate them. There’s a faint, very faint, Pirots/Chomplings touch to the way the feature plays out, so players entertained by those slots might want to take a look. Some may be totally down with all the wandering and activating, others may find it a touch too slow going.
Manage to successfully rip the train off, and what are the rewards? Train Heist Bonus Game actually drives the wedge between the two phases of play deeper when it comes to winning potential. In the base game, payouts are restricted to 1,000 times the stake, while the free spins round ups the potential pot to 10,000x. Whether Train Heist Bonus Game ends up being the greatest Sticky Bandits slot ever, the worst, or something in between, Quickspin has boldly made something new, meaning it is well worth fans taking a look to make their minds up either way.
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