Thunder Shields

Lightning strikes a Viking longship on the way in, and that image frames Thunder Shields, a hold-and-win release from Isoftbet. The reels sit on a 5x4 grid with 40 fixed paylines, under a reddish-gold horizon that could be either sunset or a burning settlement, with a dramatic soundtrack underneath. Stakes go from 0.40 to 40 per spin.

The numbers are a 96% RTP, medium-to-high volatility and a top prize of 4,035x the bet. Paylines pay for three or more matching symbols counted from reel one. Card royals from 10 to A, drawn in a runic-looking font, form the bottom of the paytable, while four characters make up the upper tier and return between 1.875x and 6.25x the stake for five on a line. Those line values are modest, which is why the feature set carries most of the game.

Mystery Spins can fire at random in the base game. Crossed axes stand in as the mystery symbol, landing in full or partial stacks; when the reels stop, every mystery position flips into one shared symbol. In a Mystery Spins round at least three reels arrive as full stacks of these tiles before the flip happens.

A golden hammer crackling with electricity serves as the wild, replacing the other pay symbols. It also has a job of its own: each wild that lands sets off a Colossal Respin, in which the two leftmost reels join to form giant symbols. A wild landing during that respin grants another one and widens the giant block by one reel, to a maximum of four reels across. On the fourth respin a x2 multiplier appears, and it climbs by one with every further respin a wild causes. Giant symbols count for every position they cover, Cash Shields included, so a Colossal Respin is able to trigger the hold-and-win round.

That round needs six or more Cash Shields in view at once. These gold discs show values from x1 to x250. The triggering shields lock, three respins begin, and any fresh shield resets the counter to three. Once respins run out, the values are paid together. Special shields add variety: x2 doubles all cash values, a Collector clears values off the grid to open space for more shields, Reel Boost adds a reel (up to two extra), Cash Boost raises values currently displayed, and Respin Boost adds one respin to the counter for good.

Three storm shields landing during the round unlock a Thunderstorm Prize, picked at random: Mini worth 10x, Major worth 100x or Mega worth 1,000x the bet. A x2 shield can double these too.