Can a nine-symbol slot like Triple Royal Gold really pay 5,000x?
On paper, yes. Thunderkick's demo server caps one round at 5,000x the bet, the same ceiling Esqueleto Explosivo 2 has on its 5x3 board. The game has three tools for getting there: 27 pay ways, avalanches that keep a spin going, and a free spins multiplier that steps through x1, x3, x9 and x27. Our 750 paid spins at €1.00 came nowhere near the cap. The best round was 128.5x, from free spins triggered on spin 527, and the best base-game spin paid 20x.
Nine windows, 27 ways and a diamond that stands in for everything
Thunderkick built the game as a green-and-gold fruit-machine cabinet ringed with bulbs, its marquee switching between the title and "WIN UP TO 5000X". Under the reels sit the letters B, O, N, U and S, and below them a strip of four multipliers: x1, x3, x9 and x27.
Three reels of three symbols give 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 ways. A win needs the same symbol on consecutive reels from reel 1, in any rows, and in our log only the crown ever paid for two reels. The rules screen shows the crown paying 5.00 for three and 1.00 for two at €1.00, and the red seven 2.50 for three; our capture stops there, so the demo server's answers in our log fill the gap: three BARs paid 2.00, three bells 1.50 and three horseshoes 1.00. No win in our session was smaller than the stake.
Ways are where this small board finds its size. Each matching symbol on a reel combines with every match on the next, so two horseshoes on reel 1 and three on each other reel make 2 × 3 × 3 = 18 ways. That landed on spin 41 of our log and paid 18.00. Our best base-game spin, spin 540, had two sevens on every reel: eight ways at 2.50, or 20x the stake.
The wild is a violet diamond, and the rules give it one line: it substitutes for all other symbols. In our log that included the letters, since a diamond completed 60 of the 163 letter lines that lit.
Letters that have to land in a single paid spin
The letters are tokens on the reels. One counts when it appears in a winning combination, which in our log always meant the same letter on all three reels. It lights in the meter and leaves the game for the rest of the round. A collected letter also counts like a win for the avalanche, so the reels drop again even when the spin has paid nothing.
Media spin 8 shows it. Its opening screen paid nothing but collected the N, and the drop that followed paid 10.00.
The catch sits in the words "game round": one paid spin with its avalanches. All five letters must light before the drops stop, or the meter goes dark for the next spin. In our log 93 spins lit at least one letter. Of those, 9 stalled at four and 4 lit all five, opening the Bonus Game with 8 free spins.
The trigger we filmed lit the O with a 5.00 win, then the U, then B and S together, and the N last, five drops in all.
Five symbols, two extra spins and a multiplier three times higher
In the free spins the letters leave the reels, and the meter shows a horseshoe, bell, BAR, seven and crown instead. Our capture of that rules page breaks off mid-sentence, so this part comes from the server's answers and our recording.
A symbol lit when it was part of a paying way. Once all five were lit, the sign read MULTIPLIER UPGRADE!, the strip moved up one step, "+2 FREE SPINS" appeared and the meter emptied. Every later win in the round was multiplied by the new step.
Two of our 4 natural rounds reached an upgrade and ran 10 spins instead of 8. The round from spin 527 did it on its fourth free spin in one chain: horseshoes, sevens, BARs with bells, then crowns on 18 of the 27 ways for 90.00. Everything after that paid at x3. The other two rounds never filled the meter.
That is the sixth free spin of our filmed round: three rows worth 4.50 at x1 paid 13.50. Going by what we saw, x27 needs three full meters in one round; our best was two.
Mostly blank screens: our log of 750 spins at €1.00
Our €750.00 of stakes brought back €474.00, or 63.2%. Far under the 96.12% the game reports, but 750 spins of a very high volatility slot can land almost anywhere.
- 750paid spins at €1.00 in the demo
- 63.2%of the stakes paid back
- 128.5xbest round, free spins included
- 4free spins rounds triggered
Only 63 spins paid, 8.4% of the session, roughly one in 12. Wins were rarely tiny: the median was 4x and 10 reached 10x. The longest dry run lasted 45 spins, the balance never got back to its €5,000.00 start, and it bottomed out at €4,704.00 on spin 526, the spin right before the best round.
Free spins came on spins 264, 299, 437 and 527, about every 187.5 spins. With their trigger spins they paid €211.00, 44.5% of all we got back. In the round from spin 299 the trigger spin paid 25x and the 8 free spins added 1x.
The clip comes from a separate 44-spin media session at the same stake, with the bonus on the last spin. Its 8 free spins became 12 after two upgrades, and the final four ran at x9 without a win.
The free spins paid 81.50 of that; the other 6.00 came from the trigger spin.
A 120x buy, and three RTP figures from three places
A BUY FEATURE button sits beside the bet. The demo server lists one option, the Bonus Game with at least 8 free spins, at 120x the stake (€120.00 at €1.00) and an RTP of 96.42%. We did not buy it, so every round here came from the letters.
| Option | Price | At €1.00 | RTP of the buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Game buy, at least 8 free spins | 120x | €120.00 | 96.42% |
The return figure depends on where you look. Thunderkick's game page prints RTP 96.41%; the rules screen inside the demo and the demo server both say 96.12% for the base game, and the server gives 96.42% for the bought bonus. We use 96.12%, the figure the game we played gives for itself, and have no explanation for the difference. A casino can choose another version, and in some countries the buy button is switched off by regulation.
Beside the skeletons, the beasts and its Christmas twin
Of the games already reviewed, Esqueleto Explosivo 2 comes closest: it also drops new symbols after wins and shares the 5,000x cap, on a 5x3 board with 99 pay ways at medium volatility. Its 750 logged spins hit 31.3% of the time against 8.4% here; the 8 older reviews on this site range from 18.9% to 35.7%.
The same very high rating belongs to the Beat the Beast series, such as Kraken's Lair: 9 paylines and a cap of 7,777x. Cerberus' Inferno stops at 6,666x and Griffin's Gold at 22,222x, all three on 5x3 boards.
Multipliers climb in Carnival Queen too, but one level per avalanche. Here the multiplier moves only when the symbol meter fills, so less often and in bigger jumps.
The closest relation is Triple Christmas Gold, the festive edition, listed with the same 3x3 grid and 27 pay ways and released in November 2022.
Built for patient bankrolls rather than steady play
In its favour: a board you read at a glance, where every win is a count of ways. The letter meter gives each base-game spin something to chase, and the free spins multiplier rises in big steps.
Against it: 91.6% of our spins paid nothing, the letters reset every spin, and half our natural bonus rounds never left x1. Players after frequent small returns will be happier on almost any other game here. It suits players who accept long quiet stretches for a shot at a meter-driven bonus.
Esqueleto Explosivo 2 demo review
Triple Christmas Gold demo review
Carnival Queen 2 demo reviewA few checks before the first spin
Each reply here was checked against the rules, the server or our log.
Do the B-O-N-U-S letters carry over to the next spin?
No. The rules remove a lit letter for the remainder of the game round, and in our log the meter was empty at the start of every paid spin. All five have to light inside the avalanches of one spin. In our log, 9 of the 750 spins stalled at four letters and 4 found the fifth.
Is the x27 on the strip the same thing as the 5,000x cap?
No. The x27 is the last step of the free spins multiplier, and the highest step we reached was x9. The 5,000x figure is the most one round can pay in total, set in the configuration of Thunderkick's demo server. The game page calls the multiplier "up to 27x times stake", which is easy to misread as the top prize.
How many free spins did our bonus rounds last?
Every round starts with 8. In our rounds, each time the five symbols under the reels were all lit, the game added 2 and moved the multiplier up one step. Our 4 natural rounds ran 10, 8, 8 and 10 spins, and the round we filmed in a separate session reached 12 after two upgrades.
Which stakes does the Triple Royal Gold demo accept?
Thunderkick's play-money client takes €0.10 to €100.00 a spin, opens at €1.00 and gives you €5,000.00 to play with. The money is play money: no deposit goes in and no winnings come out.