Lightning Strike Megaways Slot – Free Demo
Provider:
Blueprint Gaming
A wild landing anywhere on the four middle reels stops the round: it stretches over that whole reel, holds, and sends the other five back round again, with every fresh wild extending the chain and multiplying against the ones already stuck. Blueprint Gaming caps it at four respins, then dangles a…
Play Lightning Strike Megaways demo
The counter over the reels, from 864 to 6,000
Lightning Strike Megaways blends the Megaways engine with a wild-fuelled respin. The wild does not have to form a win to start it; it only has to land on one of the four middle reels. This makes it a 6 reel, Megaways paying slot. The Megaways counter above the reels re-reads on every spin, and on the frames I captured it stood at 1,800, 864, 6,000 and 1,536. There are up to five symbols per reel and up to 15,625 ways to win. I played 182 spins at a stake of 10.00 credits, and the starting balance of 1,000.00 credits ran out on the last of them.
Blueprint Gaming launched it on February 14, 2019. I wagered 1,820.00 credits across the session and won 828.00 credits back.
Wilds only exist on reels 2 to 5
Wins are paid when two to six identical symbols land on successive reels, at any height. Fifty-two of my 182 spins paid something, and 26 of those returned less than the 10.00 credit stake. They pay both left to right and right to left, and payouts are multiplied by the stake. The Paid field in the footer bar carries the cash figure for the spin just settled; on my captured frames it read 6.00, 30.00, 3.00 and 8.00 credits. Only the largest win on a line is paid. My longest run without a win of any size was 11 spins, ending on spin 120. Wilds land on reels 2 to 5 only, where they replace any of the pay symbols apart from the scatter and bonus symbols. That same restriction is the trigger condition for the respin, so nothing ever starts on reel 1 or reel 6.
Lightning Strike Respin, once through in order
Lightning Strike Megaways arrives with a handful of mechanics. Eight Lightning Strike Respins landed in my session, on spins 8, 9, 13, 93, 95, 99, 133 and 152. They are built around the wilds that land on the central four reels. Between spin 13 and spin 93 I went 80 spins without one.
A Wild landing in view on reels 2, 3, 4 or 5 activates the mechanic; it expands to occupy a full reel and remains in place while the other reels re-spin. The expanded reel is the only thing that carries between spins — everything else re-reads. Each new Wild expands, remains and earns another re-spin. My eight respins paid 1.8x, 9.4x, 2.4x, 2.6x, 3.2x, 5.4x, 1.6x and 1.8x the stake. With a ceiling of 4 respins, it concludes when a re-spin yields no new Wild, and full reel wilds in the same winning combination multiply each other, so 2 wilds at x5 equal x25. Those eight paid 282.00 credits between them, 34% of everything I won.
The Minty Take: Eight expanded wilds across 182 spins returned 282.00 of the 828.00 credits the session won, and the rest arrived in two-symbol scraps that mostly came in under the stake. Everything this game keeps in reserve sits on reels 2 to 5, and reaching Mega Spins means clearing a 5x win first and then handing it to a wheel that can take it back.
What the Cash And Mega Spins Ladder asks for
This mechanic is offered after any win of 5x the bet or higher, and a wheel is spun. At my stake that meant a spin paying 50.00 credits or more, and the largest single spin I logged paid 94.00 credits, on spin 9. The green segment awards the selected prize, which can be collected or traded for Mega Spins. The + and - buttons set the value being played for before the wheel turns. The red segment ends it and the winnings are lost.
When engaged, players get additional wilds and mystery symbols, played at the triggering total bet, and the Winnings panel is paid out as the total win once the spins are depleted. Trading a ladder prize is the only way in, so the base game has no direct route to them.
Where the eight respins left me
Blueprint Gaming has led players an uncommon path to reach this point, and what began as a Megaways layout became a slot where the central four reels do almost all the talking. My session ended on spin 182 with 8.00 credits left. As far as Megaways slots go, Lightning Strike Megaways is not the most intricate out there, and it is not the widest either: Diamond Mine Megaways and Wolf Legend Megaways both run to 117,649 ways where this one stops at 15,625. Two of my respins paid more than 5x the stake, 9.4x on spin 9 and 5.4x on spin 99. Yet it's not without a solid dose of charm, mostly supplied by its expanding full reel wilds. Held wilds only multiply each other where they sit in the same winning combination.
The respin is the element players will recall, and it does the work, since every new Wild both prolongs the chain and multiplies against the ones already retained. Five of my eight respins paid under 3x the stake. By hanging a larger reward in front of any win of 5x the bet or more and then asking whether the player fancies the red segment taking it all away, the Cash And Mega Spins Ladder adjusts the risk to reward ratio after the fact; this change means a respectable win is never quite secured until the player decides it is. Six of the eight came in two clusters, spins 8 to 13 and spins 93 to 99.
The components on offer do their task, and the game is as playable as any other Megaways slot. The peak came early, at 1,075.00 credits on spin 9, and the balance never came back to it.