Have you ever seen the video of Iggy Pop of the Stooges, with the crowd applauding him on below, performing at the Cincinnati Pop Festival in 1970? If not, the singer would be suspended in the air by his adoring admirers as he stood up, rubbed peanut butter all over his body, and then threw the jar over the heads of the onlookers. It’s so extreme that it defines the term “rock god” itself. By assembling a group of potent creatures from different cultures, developer Thunderkick expands the concept of a rock god to its logical conclusion. They are subsequently hurled into the stage in a sonic onslaught named Gods of Rock, where they are joined by wilds, Charged Wilds, exploding symbols, and multipliers.
In Gods of Rock, you’ll experience more than simply ear damage. The game is visually appealing as well, taking place on a 6-reel, 4-row game grid in an open-topped stadium under a starry night sky. Crowds of festival-goers wave their arms in the air to the sides of the stage while snakes with lighting mouths ascend above them, giving the performance a somewhat Viking feel. Strange, until you look down at the game board and see the icons that pay out the most. While Thunderkick are known for their appreciation of the mystical, they rarely give their gods or creatures the kind of literal center stage treatment shown here.
The game has 466 linked pay ways, and players may wager anywhere from 10 pence to £/€100 every spin. A winning combination is made when identical symbols appear next to each other in the same horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. Gods of Rock’s high volatility and potential return value of 96.05% in the default setting is appropriate given the game’s subject matter, but keep an eye on the market anyhow.
There is a diverse array of well-known faces and faiths represented in the paytable. Well, the big payouts are the Medusa, Anubis, Athena, Thor, and Lucifer symbols, which pay anything from 1.4 to 5 times the bet for a full house. It’s an unexpected pairing, but if you’ve seen the fifth season of the Lucifer TV show, you know that it’s full of song and dance. The low-paying 9-A card symbols fill out the rest of the paytable. The game has two separate wildcards. Both feature a hand motion that Thunderkick refers to as “The Horns” and may be used in place of any other pay sign to create a winning combination. One wild acts like any other wild, acting as a substitution for pay symbols, while the other, the Charged Wild, has unique abilities.
Rock’s Deities: Slot Machine’s Extras
When everything goes according to plan, Gods of Rock’s features build tension like a masterful live performance. The first mechanism is called Dropping Symbols, and it works by removing symbols from connected paths after a victory, making room for other symbols to fall into the empty spaces. Until no further victories occur, Dropping Symbols will keep on working.
Here comes the Energized Wild. When one lands, it multiplies the Reel below it by 1, up to a maximum of x11. All winnings are multiplied by the highest-valued Reel Multiplier in play; for example, a combination of three 3x Reel Multipliers would result in a 27x payout. Each winning spin causes the Multiplier Reels to start again.
After the Charged Wild boosts the Reel Multiplier, it detonates, wiping out all other symbols in its vicinity. After traveling as far as it can down the reel, it transforms into a standard wild symbol. As the explosion wiped out some symbols, others tumbled into their place. The Bonus Meters at the side of the reels keep track of how many symbols have been obliterated by a Charged Wild explosion. When 30 symbols explode, the bonus round Wild Encore begins, and between one and three Charged Wilds are added to the grid at the conclusion of the current Dropping Symbols sequence. More symbols are blown up to keep the process running in this way. Between winning spins, the Bonus Meter will refresh.
When 55 consecutively exploding symbols appear, you receive 8 Gods of Rock Free Spins. Free spins do not reset the Reel Multiplier that was active during the basic game. Only after the Bonus Meter is full will it reset, at which point you will receive an extra three free spins.
Winners and Losers in the Rock Slots
Although Play’n GO makes a killing off of rock ‘n’ roll-themed slot machines with collaborations with heavy hitters in the business, this is one of the few games of its kind. Thunderkick has chosen a different tack, and it’s not often that you’ll see depictions of, say, Anubis on a keytar, Thor on drums, or Medusa wail on a guitar. The end product is very awesome in many aspects, and with some creative thinking, it fits well with Thunderkick’s spiritual and mythical leanings.
The features themselves are even more enticing than the flashy visuals. The Charged Wild is the game’s ace in the hole; it’s reminiscent to Nolimit City’s xBomb feature in that it may explode symbols and boost the game’s multiplier. On the bright side, Reel Multipliers multiply each other, creating a potent brew; and, in theory, the sum of all multipliers may be gigantic with a little math. Gods of Rock is the kind of game that can quickly spiral out of control if given the right prod. In order to limit risk, Thunderkick has set a maximum payout for each game at 20,000 times the initial wager.
The gameplay, concept, irreverent attitude, and healthy dosage of humor in Gods of Rock make for an unforgettable experience. Players of all kinds can enjoy this game, from music enthusiasts to mysticism devotees to mythology nerds and everyone in between, thanks to the spectacular winning possibilities while the band is hot.