Double Stacks Slot – Free Demo

Ten Diamonds on One Line

As I observe the reels spin in NetEnt's slot Double Stacks, I strain to locate terms for my overview, kind of stunned by its mediocrity. Not that it's dreadful or that it's visually repulsive; it's not, it's merely that the absence of inventiveness is rendering it tough to summon enough eagerness to carry it through a complete review. Because what is there to state when you've witnessed it all a thousand times previously? And when the returns are so absurd that even the sluggish spins neglect to lift your pulse by a single lousy BPM? I played 360 spins at a stake of 1.00, starting from a balance of 1,000.00.

However, some folks are into this material for motives I will never comprehend, so let's examine the real game. Wins pay for matching symbols on a payline starting from the leftmost reel. Perhaps there's some magic there after all.

Double Stacks is 5-reel, 3-row slot with 10 fixed pay lines, and punters can wager between €0.10 and €200 per spin. A standard line holds 3 to 5 symbols, but a line crossing doubled reels can hold up to 10. The 96.10% theoretical RTP is nothing out of the usual. My own session returned 78.5% of the 360.00 I wagered. It is well within the acceptable range, and Double Stacks is a quick and rather basic slot with emphasis on Double Stacks reels and a bonus game with stacked wilds. Hit frequency is 16%, and 62 of my 360 spins paid something, about 17%.

Double Stacks Reels and the Paytable

Examining the paytable, I can deduce that Double Stacks only comes with 8 standard symbols. Alongside them sit a Wild and a Scatter. Four of them are premiums, and the Diamond, Seven, Bar and Bell embody them, while the low-paying symbols are the Watermelon, Lemon, Plum and Cherry. Five of a kind of the high symbols pays from 2x to 4.5x the stake. The highest symbol is the Diamond. It is worth 4.5 times the stake for five of a kind. Three Diamonds on a line pay 1.5x the stake, and six pay 9x.

The wild symbol substitutes for everything except the scatter. It solely surfaces stacked in the free spins. The premium symbols emerge as Double Stacks on the reels, counting twice when they occupy a whole reel, so it's feasible to hit ten of a kind of the highest paying symbol, handing out an enormous win of 100 times the stake. Snore. On spin 330 a Bar line with a Double Stacks reel paid 3.00, three times the stake.

Scatters and the 7-Spin Retrigger

To activate the bonus, punters will need to hit 3, 4 or 5 scatter symbols, and these will grant 5, 15 or 30 free spins. The Scatters can land anywhere on the reels. During the bonus, 2, 3, 4 or 5 scatters will grant an additional 2, 5, 15 or 30 free spins. There is no limit on how many times the free spins can be retriggered.

In the free spins game, punters will profit from stacked wilds, as Double Stacks pertains to every symbol, wilds included. That includes the low symbols, so a full reel of Watermelon, Lemon, Plum or Cherry doubles too. The game is capped at 1700x. My only bonus came on spin 238, where 3 Scatters gave 5 free spins, a 2-Scatter retrigger added 2 more, and the 7 spins paid 171.00, or 171x the stake.

Stuck at 922.60 After 360 Spins

If it hadn't been for the weak returns, NetEnt could have gotten away with this indolent and uninspired slot. I finished on 922.60, and the balance never rose above the 1,000.00 I started with. The issue is that the upside in the base game is simply laughable, even for a high volatility slot. My biggest base-game win was 11.00 on spin 316, 11x the stake, and the longest run without any win lasted 32 spins.

Minty Slots Verdict: After having activated my sole bonus in 360 spins, it all ultimately began to feel like being trapped on a creaky old Merry-Go-Round. That bonus paid 61% of everything I won in the session. The bonus could profit from some additional oomph, such as including a 2x multiplier or a random feature; instead, I receive more of the same.