Play Slapshot for Free

Like any great sport, you need to limber up before hitting the ice. In the case of Slapshot, that means familiarising yourself with the symbols. So we have low value sets, like the helmet, gloves, jersey, and skates. Then there are two skaters, and the goal. And, finally, two players in a scrap, and an action shot of a hockey stick hitting a hockey puck.

The illustrations are great, calling into mind a children’s cartoon, and the way they depict action sequences makes the whole thing feel a lot more lively. In terms of the background, well there isn’t really one, other than churned up ice trails presumably depicting where people have skated in the past. It’s very simple, but quite effective and completes a very polished package to look at.

OK, now here are the important bits. In order to win at this match you need to match up like-pictures along paylines, but how much you will win depends on what you do before hitting Spin, so listen up.

First of all, in the box at the bottom of the screen that says ‘Click to change’ you can add more value to each individual bet you make. The higher the value of each individual bet, the higher the payout will be if you win. You can also click the box that says ‘Lines’ to bring more paylines into play. The more paylines, the more opportunities there are to win, but this will not impact on the value of what you win.

Obviously, then, if you’re going all in with all nine paylines and a high value bet on each you could clean up, but it’s probably more likely you’ll go bust first.

In addition to the standard pictures, there are a couple of special items you’ll want to look out for, as these can really be game (or should that be match?) changers.

The big red puck is a Scatter symbol. This means it can trigger free spins, giving you more chances to win for the same amount of money. Slapshot is pretty generous in so far as online gamblers go, giving a whopping 50 free spins for landing five of these icons.

Next up is the Wild, which kind of looks a bit like you might imagine an ice hockey team badge to look. As you would expect, these can substitute for any other symbol, completing winning combinations, which is incredibly useful and you’re likely to win at least a few times with these.

So we love the theme of Slapshot, and we love the look of Slapshot. As such, if we were to add the fact that we all seem pretty agreed in our love for the potential winnings from Slapshot, it should be pretty clear that we really quite like Slapshot. Which is funny, because we weren’t really expecting to.

After all, the options are pretty limited here – only 9 paylines (we’ve seen 30 before and not raised an eyebrow), and there are absolutely no bonus rounds up for grabs here, which can be fun. Ultimately, though, despite this being a very heavily stylised and themed game, it’s really about cutting to the chase and getting on with some good old fashioned, wholesome online gambling. What more could you ask for?