Skulls Heap Slot Machine: Review & Demo
In a category that’s getting several new contenders each year, Skulls Heap adds a splash of color and manages to compete at the visual level with the others. It’s a game which relies on the Day of Dead celebration for inspiration, and it does a decent enough job at standing out, though we’ve seen others which look even better. The developer of this slot machine, Gong Gaming, is offering it as an exclusive title on the platform powered by Microgaming.
Skulls Heap offers 6x4 reels and 4096 ways to win. Special features are going to give us scatters, wilds, free spins and multipliers (up to 5x). It looks like the sort of game that can deliver huge rewards, but it’s not quite true. 3,000x the stake is the highest point that it apparently gets to, but at least we found the RTP at 96.04%, which is as expected.
Skulls Heap Betting and Prizes
There will be 40 coins required, for whatever wagers you want to use, but their denomination can change. $0.01 is the smaller value for them, while the highest they can go is $0.50. This allows for bets between $0.40 and $20.
3,000x the stake should be a pretty good return for a lot of slot machines, but I’m not that impressed with it, not since the volatility is likely high in Skulls Heap. There is considerable risk, and the game appears built to perform, at least if we look at the mix of wild multipliers and ways to win, which would allow it to pay a lot more. Still, they made sure that long-term it will pay a fair amount back, as the 96.04% RTP tells us.
Slot Features
First of all, you will find that wild symbols are a part of Skulls Heap, and they can be used for new combinations. You can form these by getting regular symbols and substitutes, to appear left to right on 3+ reels. These may not be used as replacements for any of the scatter symbols.
Second, the game will feature free spins, which you trigger with help from 3 or more Free Spins scatters landing at the same time. Depending on the exact number of scatters, with up to 6 being possible, you receive between 8 and 100 free spins.
After the feature starts, you can retrigger it with as few as 2 scatters, so now you can get an additional 5 to 100 rounds. There is no limit to the number of times you can do this.
2x, 3x or 5x wild multipliers will become available in this mode, and several can be combined in a combo, for better results (their multipliers are added up).
Theme & Design
As I’ve mentioned, it’s a game which is dedicated to the Day of Dead, a famous Mexican celebration which takes place each year. Very well designed, colorful and bright, I think you will appreciate the look for this one. At the same time, if you’ve seen some of the other slot machines which use this theme, you know that there are even better looking options that you can play.
Among its symbols, the game has the Royals initially (9-A), and then there are images of tequila bottles, cactus plants, flowers with candles, skulls, Wild Hearts and Free Spins scatters.
Conclusion
I think that it’s the sort of slot machine that players can really enjoy, though mostly if they can take on the heat of a highly volatile game. Rewards might disappoint though, there are risky games out there which pay considerably more in a best case scenario.
