Viking Raid Bonanza Slot Review

Not a single Viking warrior ever strapped a horned helmet 🪖 onto his head. All helmets pulled out of a Viking grave have come up smooth and hornless. Archaeologists have been digging at this for a very long time, and nobody's still holding out hope that a horned one turns up.

The horns are largely traced to a costume designer called Carl Emil Doepler, who bolted them onto his characters for a Wagner opera 🎭. One man with a sketchpad, and roughly 150 years later the entire planet reckons it knows the Norse dress code.

And think about what horns would actually do in a real fight: 2 extra handles bolted onto your own skull, right where an axe is already swinging. That's not protection. That's a free grip for whoever's trying to kill you.

Historical accuracy never made the checklist for Viking Raid Bonanza slot from Novomatic, where the warrior beside the reels is still wearing his.

Gameplay

The camp sits on a snowy fjord, with snow-capped peaks behind it and ice floes drifting past on the water. Somebody pitched a canvas tent on the near bank and stacked the barrels neatly beside it, which seems a bit too much “glamping” than a Viking raiding party.

There’s a lone warrior in fur-trimmed armor, an axe in one hand, a round wooden shield in the other, overseeing what’s taking place on the 6x5 grid. The game runs on a Pays Anywhere structure, so 8 or more of the same symbol anywhere is what pays, and triggers a CascadeOtherwise known as a Tumble, Avalanche, or whatever a studio sees fit to name it. The idea is the same, though; winning symbols get removed, and new ones take their place. This action could result in additional wins, in which case the action continues..

Two symbols share the top of the paytable: the Drinking Horn and the Viking Helmet both pay 2x to 800x across the 8-to-15 count. The Sword and the Map are next at 1x to 400x. Below them are 5 gem symbols in red, purple, green, orange, and blue, each paying 0.2x to 100x.

Only 1 Viking symbol can land on any given spin. When it’s sitting there after a cascade, every highlighted winning tile flips into a Shield symbol, an Axe symbol, or a Collector symbol.

Shield symbols carry a multiplier: Bronze (2x to 5x), Silver (10x to 25x), and Gold (50x to 100x).

An Axe symbol grabs that combined Shield total and multiplies it again by 2x, 3x, 5x, or 10x before it reaches the win. One Axe symbol can do more for you than a screen crowded with Shield symbols.

The Collector symbol is a gold-banded wooden treasure chest, and it banks the multipliers held by every Shield and Collector symbol on the grid. New Shield, Axe, or Collector symbols then spawn where the old ones stood, and that's the bit that builds a real number.

In terms of stats, this game runs on: a 96.01% RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.

RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate., a very high volatility, a 15,000x max multiplier, and a $300,000 max win. The only currency locked out is the Japanese yen.

Features

FREE SPINS

Landing 3, 4, or 5 Bonus symbols sends you into Nordic Raid, Raider's Riches, or Shieldwall Bonanza, respectively, and each one hands out 10 Free Spins.

The only thing separating the 3 rounds is how long the win-tile highlight stays switched on, the same highlight the Viking symbol cashes in. Nordic Raid keeps a highlight alive only until a Viking symbol resolves it, so you're working spin by spin.

Raider's Riches holds its highlight for the whole round. Shieldwall Bonanza opens with the entire grid already highlighted and keeps it that way until the round ends, which is why it's the one everybody wants.

BUY BONUS

The Buy Bonus menu holds 2 modifiers and 3 direct buys. Bonus Boost (2x) gives you a higher chance of triggering Free Spins. Viking Spins (50x) guarantees a Viking symbol on every spin.

Buying immediate access to the Free Spins costs 100x for Nordic Raid, 250x for Raider's Riches, or 500x for Shieldwall Bonanza.

Performance

I ran a long session through the game and the warrior never let a single frame slip past that shield of his. No lag, no stutters, nothing dropped across spins, tumbles, or Free Spins.

Maximum Win

Land the max multiplier of 15,000x on a $20 top bet and the max win of $300,000 is yours to keep. Players who prefer smaller bets can go as low as $0.10.

Conclusion

Get things going through the Shield, Axe, and Collector chain, but none of it moves until the Viking symbol turns a winning tile into one of those three. A handful of Shield symbols on their own gives you small change stacked into a pile.

The number only starts climbing when a Collector symbol banks that whole total and fresh Shield, Axe, and Collector symbols spawn in behind it, again and again inside the same spin.

Getting near 15,000x means running that reseed loop over and over inside Shieldwall Bonanza, and you can't even knock on that door without 5 Bonus symbols landing together first.

The RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.

RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate. clears the 96% mark, so a session here has room to run. And for once the risk and the reward line up, because a max multiplier that big is exactly where very high and extreme games are expected to land.

Looking at the Buy Bonus options, Bonus Boost is the cheap way in, a small bump to your bonus odds without tying you to one particular round. Viking Spins guarantees the conversion symbol and nothing more, so you're paying good money for a maybe.

The direct buys scale with what they open up. Nordic Raid asks a lot for the weakest of the rounds, while Shieldwall Bonanza at least drops you into the round with a genuine shot at the max multiplier, the strongest value of the group.

Patient players with a big bet behind them and their eye on that max multiplier will get the most out of the slot.

Anyone playing small and careful should steer clear, because the very high volatility and the price of those direct buys will chew through a modest bankroll long before the Collector symbols start doing their job.

Slot Details

Game Provider: Novomatic
Game Type: Video Slots
PaylinesPaylines are preset lines that run across the reels, and when you land matching symbols on them, that will result in a payout. The more paylines, the more ways you can win, but also the higher your bet per spin.: Pays Anywhere
RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.

RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate.: 96.01%
Volatility RateSlot games can have low, medium, high, or extremely high volatility rates (or a combination thereof).

The less volatile the game, the more often it should pay out, but the lower the amount, the less the payout, as this is in keeping with the risk you’re taking. Volatility rate should be considered in conjunction with a game’s RTP.: Very High
Bonus Round: No
Progressive: No
Free Rounds: Free Spins
Max Multiplier: 15,000x
Max Win: $300,000
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