What happens when a full stack of pin Wilds lands on reel 3 in Split Happens?
It splits, once the spin has been paid with three Wilds filling the middle reel. The Split Happens feature then moves the halves to reels 2 and 4 for a respin, on to reels 1 and 5 for another and off the grid in a third, unless a new full stack lands on the way, and each step can pay. In our 750 paid spins a full stack reached the middle reel 9 times, 6 of them on the paid spin itself; spin 408 chained two splits into six respins worth €20.40.
Ten fixed lines, read from the left and again from the right
In the help screens the grid is 3x5, rows first, with 10 fixed paylines. Each line pays its longest win counted from reel 1 and, separately, its longest win counted from reel 5, with no gaps in either.
Three bearded bowlers on a line pay €1.20 at a €1.00 bet, four pay €2.40 and five €7.50; the beer with nachos pays €1.00, €2.00 and €5.00. A five-of-a-kind is the longest win from both ends, so it is paid twice, and all 26 in our log were. On spin 500, our best at 34.8x the stake, four bowlers and a Wild along lines 3 and 4 collected €7.50 four times.
Our logs explain why the server's configuration lists 20 paylines. Line ids 0 to 9 always paid from reel 1 and ids 10 to 19 from reel 5, each tracing the same shape as one of the first ten, so every line is stored once per direction. In our base game the right-hand reading was the busier one, with 361 wins worth €193.00 against 292 worth €179.10 from the left.
A full stack on reel 2 or 4 walks to the edge, one respin at a time
Pin Wilds, a W over a cluster of pins, are limited to reels 2, 3 and 4, where they can replace any symbol except the Scatter. When three fill one of those reels, the Walking Stacked Wilds feature starts respins and the stack shifts with each one. The rules say it moves left or right depending on where it started; Thunderkick's press release says one position towards the outside. Respins go on until no full stack is left.
Every walk in our log went outwards. A stack on reel 2 moved to reel 1 and then off the grid, one on reel 4 to reel 5 and off, which makes two respins at least, and no stack ever landed full on reel 1 or 5. The 29 paid spins that brought a full stack returned €143.60, €100.10 of it in the respins, out of €372.10 for the whole base game.
On reel 3 the stack splits, and both halves walk
Per the rules, the Split Happens feature splits a full stack on the middle reel into two and moves the halves to reels 2 and 4, after which they follow the same respin process. Before that, the paid spin is settled with Wilds covering reel 3, where all ten lines cross. Spin 225 took €6.20 that way from fourteen line wins in both directions, and the three respins after it paid nothing.
Spin 743 shows a fuller run. It paid €2.30 with the stack on reel 3, €10.00 in the first respin, when the halves on reels 2 and 4 completed four beer-and-nachos symbols on five lines, €3.90 in the second, and nothing in the third. Of the 9 splits we logged, 6 started on a paid spin and three inside respins.
Three balls in the meter, then a counter that jumps back to five
A red bowling ball on a BONUS card is the Scatter. It can land on any reel, each one goes into the meter under the grid, and three start the 5 free spins of the Bonus Game. Nothing carries over between paid spins. Every paid spin in our log started the meter at its first slot, and Scatters added up only within one spin and its respins: 195 paid spins brought one, 16 brought two, and one brought three.
Inside the round a global multiplier starts at x1 and rises by 1 with each respin. It applies only to winning lines that include a full Wild stack, and in every round we logged it held its value between free spins. Whenever a full stack lands, the Power Reset puts the free spins counter back to 5 and leaves the multiplier where it is. Sword of Arthur uses the same name for a reset after an expanding win; here a landed stack is enough.
Our one natural round came on spin 194, with Scatters on reels 1, 2 and 5. Two Power Resets stretched its 5 free spins to 8, the multiplier reached x6, and it paid €34.70, €27.20 of that in one respin at x4: five lines of two bowlers and a Wild at €4.80 each, plus two smaller lines.
Two control buys at €100.00 went opposite ways. The first lasted 21 free spins on 5 Power Resets, lifted the multiplier to x13 and paid €140.80. The second lasted 7, yet a stack on reel 2 in its second free spin walked to reel 1 at x2, and five lines that Wilds completed to five bowlers paid €15.00 from each end: €158.80 in one respin, €167.00 for the round. A third purchase, filmed at the same stake, stayed smaller.
For €100.00 it returned €48.60, less than either control buy, €35.80 of it from the free spin with the stack and its two respins.
Just over half the stakes back from our 750 paid spins
€750.00 in stakes at €1.00 a spin brought back €406.80. That is 54.2%, while the listed RTP is 94.16%; the base game paid €372.10 of it and the single Bonus Game €34.70.
- 750paid spins at €1.00 in the demo
- 54.2%of the stakes paid back
- 34.8xbest single spin
- 1free spins round triggered
A win landed on 23.3% of spins, with 0.8x as the median, and the worst stretch was 17 losing spins in a row. 8 spins reached ten times the stake, none 50x. The first spin lost, and from then on the balance stayed below its starting €5,000.00, touching €4,647.80 on spin 741 before closing at €4,656.80.
A full stack was part of 5 base-game spins out of the 7 that paid 10x or more, spin 408 with €22.40 and spin 743 with €16.20 among them. The other two, spin 500 included, were plain line wins.
One buy card, two BET+ prices and the nearest relatives here
A single card fills the buy menu: Bonus Game, at 100x the stake, or €100.00 at €1.00.
The buy's rating on the demo server is 94.23%, against 94.16% for ordinary spins. What plays above is that 94.16% version, the figure Thunderkick prints in the help screens and on its game page. Casinos can pick a different one, and some markets forbid the buy. BET+, off in all our frames, has two server prices, 1.4x or 2.5x the stake (94.18% and 94.22%), and no Thunderkick source we read says what either one changes.
| Option | Price | At €1.00 | RTP of the buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Game | 100x | €100.00 | 94.23% |
A Wild also travels in the free spins of Griffin's Gold, but there the Roaming Wild steps to a neighbouring position before every free spin and carries its own multiplier. Here whole stacks walk outwards during respins, and one global number rises with every respin.
Midas Golden Touch 3 lists the same 94.16% and also tops its 5 free spins back up, though its trigger is a paying respin run where this game needs a landed stack.
Judge it by the rare spins. Most paid spins bring neither a stack nor a Scatter, and our 29 stack spins carried close to two fifths of the base game's money. A bonus round can turn on one walk, as our second control buy showed.
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Where the rules say nothing, these answers rest on the server's records of our spins.
Does the bonus meter keep Scatters from one spin to the next?
No. Spin 37 collected two Scatters, and spin 38 began again from one. Within a single spin the count does build up over the respins: spins 277 and 415 each took one Scatter on the paid spin and a second in a respin.
Are there 10 paylines or 20?
Ten, by Thunderkick's game page and the help screens alike. The server stores each line twice, once read from reel 1 and once from reel 5, which gives the 20 in its configuration and is also why a five-of-a-kind is paid twice.
Does the respin multiplier apply to every winning line?
Only to lines that include a full Wild stack, and only in the Bonus Game; every base-game line in our log paid at x1. In one respin of our first control buy the multiplier stood at x2: lines through the stack paid double while two lines away from it, each a card symbol and two Wilds outside any full stack, paid 0.20 each.
What did the Power Reset add to our bonus rounds?
More free spins at a multiplier that kept its value. The natural round had 2 resets and 8 free spins instead of 5, the first control buy 5 and 21, the second 1 and 7. Twice in the first control buy a reset came on what would have been the last free spin and added the full five.
How often did a full stack of Wilds land in the base game?
29 paid spins in 750 brought one: 12 stacks landed on reel 2, 12 on reel 4 and 6 on reel 3, one spin having two. Those spins set off 76 respins, and 5 more stacks arrived during them.