Apache Way

Apache Way Slot Review

A golden thunderbird spreads red, blue and yellow wings above the reels of Apache Way, carved pillars strung with turquoise beadwork flank them, and a hazy orange desert with mesas and a lone saguaro stretches out behind. It’s a handsome frame, and it needs to be. Nearly everything this slot can pay, it pays in one collect round, and the reels spend the rest of their time holding symbols in place, counting down spins and waiting for a sixth arrival.

Red Tiger have built it on a 5×3 grid with 25 win lines, an RTP of 95.75%, a maximum win of 2,572x the stake and stakes from 0.10 to 50 per spin. It shares its desert-and-eagles mood with Eagle Riches, its collect bonus with Bounty Raid, and Last Chance Saloon rounds out the studio’s frontier output.

How the Base Game Pays

Wins run left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost, across 25 fixed lines, and they’re multiples of the total bet rather than the line bet. Only the best combination on each line counts. Here’s what every symbol pays:

Four animals lead the table, with the royal run of A, K, Q, J and 10 underneath. The wild – an Apache headdress figure that substitutes for all paying symbols – lands stacked, and it pays at the eagle’s rate, which puts it at the very top.

• Eagle – 20x for five, 10x for four, 1x for three
• Bear – 16x for five, 6x for four, 0.8x for three
• Cougar – 12x for five, 4x for four, 0.6x for three
• Snake – 8x for five, 2x for four, 0.4x for three
• A – 2.5x, 1.2x and 0.3x for five, four and three respectively
• K – pays 2x at the top end, then 0.8x and 0.2x
• Q – 1.5x, 0.6x and 0.2x down the line
• J – 1x for five, halving to 0.4x and 0.1x
• 10 – the floor of the table at 0.6x, 0.3x and 0.1x

The gap below the wild is wide: the bear is the only other symbol worth more than 12x, and the royals tail off into loose change. The hit rate is 44.79%, so something lands close to half the time. Most of those wins sit at the small end of the table.

Sun Scatters

Sun scatters can appear anywhere on the reels, and each carries a value worth between 1x and 20x the current stake. They don’t pay as a scatter combination in the usual way. Their job is to build towards the feature.

In the base game, some of them lock in place for between 2 and 5 spins when they land. A locked scatter sits there, holding its value, waiting for company. When its spin count runs out without the feature arriving, it clears off the reels.

It’s a simple device, but it gives every spin something to watch. A locked Sun two or three reels from a sixth one changes how the whole spin reads. And because the locked values range up to 20x, a cluster sitting on screen when the feature arrives can be worth a fair amount on its own.

Ritual of the Sun

Landing at least 6 Sun scatters starts the Ritual of the Sun. Every scatter that triggered the round locks on the screen, holding its value, and 3 respins are awarded to play through.

Any new Sun that lands during those respins locks beside the rest and sets the count back to 3. The count never climbs higher, but it never drops while scatters keep arriving either. Three respins without a single new one, and the round is over.

At the end, the values of every Sun on the screen are summed for the payout. A round that starts with six modest values and never catches another pays those six and nothing more. Fill the whole screen, though, and there’s an additional 2,000x on top, which is where most of the game’s 2,572x ceiling comes from.

The maths of the full screen is what gives the round its shape. Fifteen positions, each carrying values between 1x and 20x, plus the 2,000x completion bonus, is what adds up to the calculated maximum. The last few respins of a nearly full screen are the most valuable spins in the game.

Free Spins

Alongside the Sun machinery there’s a separate Free Spins symbol. Landing 3 of them triggers 5 free spins, under the banner promise that the Apache will lead you to big wins. The round runs on the same reels and the same 25 lines as the base game.

This is the quieter of the game’s two features. The free spins round is a straighter reward: a set number of spins at the triggering stake, with the same symbols and the same stacked wilds doing the work. Nothing new is added on top of the base game.

The collecting, the respins and the 2,000x full-screen prize all live on the Sun path, and that’s the reason to be here. Free spins are the second thing to chase rather than the first.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Playing Apache Way feels like tending a fire: you feed it locked Suns a couple at a time, most spins change nothing, and every so often the whole thing catches. The one reason to choose it over the studio’s other desert outings is that build – watching values stack up on screen knowing a sixth scatter puts the whole lot in play.

The Ritual of the Sun is a genuinely good collect round, because the catch keeps resetting the count and a full screen pays 2,000x extra, so a long round compounds instead of stalling. The weakness is that everything outside it is filler: five free spins with nothing added, and a paytable that falls off a cliff after the eagle.

This is one for collectors, not tourists – worth the patience if you like watching a screen fill, and easy to pass on if you want the base game itself to entertain you. The thunderbird over the reels makes the wait look good, though.

Apache Way FAQs

• How do you trigger the Ritual of the Sun in Apache Way?

  Landing at least 6 Sun scatters anywhere on the reels starts the Ritual of the Sun with 3 respins. Every fresh Sun scatter locks on the screen and sets the respin count back to the full 3.
• What do Sun scatters pay in Apache Way?

  Each Sun scatter shows a value worth between 1x and 20x your current stake. Their values are summed at the end of the Ritual of the Sun feature, and some also lock in place for between 2 and 5 spins during the base game.
• Can the Ritual of the Sun retrigger?

  Yes, in effect. Every fresh Sun scatter sets the respin count back to 3, so the feature continues as long as new ones keep arriving. It ends after 3 consecutive respins without a single new scatter.
• What is the maximum win on Apache Way?

  The maximum win is 2,572x the stake. Filling the entire screen with Sun scatters during the Ritual of the Sun awards an additional 2,000x on top of the summed scatter values.
• What does the wild symbol do in Apache Way?

  The wild is an Apache headdress figure that stands in for all paying symbols. It pays at the top paytable rate, matching the eagle, and lands stacked across the reels.
• How many paylines does Apache Way have?

  Apache Way has 25 win lines on a 5×3 grid. Winning combinations run left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost one.
• What is the minimum and maximum bet on Apache Way?

  Stakes run from 0.10 to 50 per spin, which keeps the game accessible at the low end while leaving room for higher-stake sessions. The RTP is 95.75%.
• Who makes Apache Way?

  Apache Way is made by Red Tiger. Its release date is 7 July 2022.