Polterheist Slot Machine
The Polterheist online slot sees Side City Studios in collaboration with NextGen Gaming presenting their take on the spooky season. A colorful group of five ghosts plans its biggest heist yet on the reels of this Western-themed slot, promising huge wins of up to 250,000 coins.
BothSide City Studios and NextGen Gaming are subsidiaries of the NYX Gaming Group, which in turn was recently acquired by Scientific Games. Together, they have formed the world’s leading supplier of online games, cabinets for land-based casinos, online sports betting and iLotteries. Their creative power is deployed by nine worldwide game studios, which include well-known brands such as Bally, Barcrest, WMS, Shuffle Master, Red 7 Mobile and BetDigital.
The Ghostly Slot Reels
The result of teamwork from the two studios is a real gem of slot fun and entertainment on five reels and 100 paylines. The game window is set in a Wild West ghost town with quirky-looking ghosts gathering in the saloon to plan their biggest ever heist. The theme is perfectly executed to the smallest detail. A sparsely lit entrance to the saloon serves as the background of the game window. Bats, pumpkins and spider webs complete the spooky scenery. A haunting, Western-type soundtrack adds the final touch to this well-designed video slot.
Polterheist has 10 pay symbols as well as one wild and one bonus symbol. The low-paying symbols are the usual 10s to As card suits. On the medium-value level are four ghost characters: the fashionista and sharpshooter Pinkie Parsons; the best safe-cracker west of the Mississippi, Eli Emerald; the comedian and champion taco eater Oscar L’Orange; and the fastest ghost in the west, Old Blue. The leader Goldie Goldrush with his large mustache is the leader of the gang and the top-paying symbol. The wilds appear as a Wanted poster with the five gang members, appearing on the middle reels only. The bonus symbols are represented by a golden safe.
The Ghostly Numbers and Stats
Polterheist is a video slot with five reels, four rows and 100 fixed paylines. Wild substitutions, a bonus round with initially 8 free spins, plus two random features that can be triggered in the base game and bonus round provide the excitement on the reels. The RTP of this medium-to-high-variance game is set at 96.60%. Pays for a single five of a kind range from 2x to 10x the bet.
Stake sizes start at 0.50 credits for 100 paylines and peak at 50 credits. Auto play allows players to set up to 100 auto spins to be played consecutively. The game can be played on desktop, mobile, and tablet across any OS platform, courtesy of the modern HTML5 format.
The Spooky Random Features
The Haunted Wild and the Ghost Break-In features can be randomly triggered at the start of any spin in the base game and free spins. Neither the opposite random nor the Free Spins feature can be triggered during one of the random features.
The Haunted Wilds feature adds extra wild symbols to reels two, three and four to provide higher potential to score a winning combination. Wilds can now appear stacked on the middle reels. During our trial of this slot game, we easily hit good wins of 25x-50x our bet.
The second random feature is triggered when one of the five ghosts appears from the left. The triggering ghost character will add stacks of his own symbol on all reels. Plus, all other ghost symbols landing on the spin are transformed into the triggering ghost. This can lead to mega wins in excess of 100 times the initial stake when enough ghost symbols land on the reels.
The Big Ghostly Heist
The big money on Polterheist is clearly in the free spins. Golden safe scatters landing on reel one, three and five in one spin will initially award 8 free spins. More free spins can be won during the round when one, two or three safes land on the reels, adding a further 1, 5 or 8 free spins. Any win in free spins will be randomly multiplied by 2x, 3x, and 5x. The two random features can be triggered during the free spins. Hitting a full screen of the main ghost symbol Goldie Goldrush or in combination with wild symbols plus a 5x multiplier will award the maximum win of 2,500x the bet.
Other Creepy Reels
Bank robbers, thieves and other outlaws are prominently featured in video slots. That’s no wonder, since every slot player is looking to score the big heist on the reels. A similarly Western-themed slot with bandits robbing a train is from NetEnt. Equally entertaining titles include Reel Heist from Red Tiger Gaming and Art of the Heist from Playson.
Our Spooky Verdict
Are we planning our own heist after spinning the reels on Polterheist? Well, we got close to doing just that because the game is extremely entertaining. The entire theme and animations are designed to bring more fun during slot-playing sessions. The creepy but increasingly cheerful soundtrack that plays when big wins are awarded adds even more suspense as we wonder whether the spin will produce a mega win.
What surprised us about the Polterheist slot is the math model. Although it trends towards high volatility, the game awards frequent small wins that help avert quick busts. So summon your best ghosts, and go on a reel heist for big and mega wins.
