Blazing Lake

Blazing Lake Slot Review

In Blazing Lake the wild isn’t a helper, it’s the prize – the joint-top payer in the game and the only feature it has, which makes this the rare three-reeler where the most valuable thing on the reels is also the thing you spend every spin waiting for. Around that one idea, Wishbone have hung a jungle hollow lit by twin columns of flame, with a crust of molten lava glowing beneath the grid and glossy fruit symbols turned up to arcade-neon brightness.

Underneath the spectacle it’s a deliberately small game: a 3×3 grid with 5 fixed paylines, medium volatility, a 96.16% RTP and stakes from 0.05 to 200.00 per spin. It’s closer in spirit to the studio’s Kingfisher than to their louder work on Phoenix Reign or Thor Unleashed: one idea, done properly. The fire never quite goes out.

Base Game & Features

This is a three reel, three row game with five fixed paylines. Paylines are patterns of adjacent positions running left to right from the first reel. A win needs matching symbols landing next to each other along one of those lines, and all wins are three of a kind; there’s nothing else to line up on a grid this size.

If more than one winning combination lands on a single payline, only the highest one pays. The same rule applies per symbol combination. Your total payout for a spin is simply the sum of every payline win, so multiple lines hitting at once is where the bigger results come from.

The paytable is short, and it’s quoted in multiples of the total bet rather than the line bet. That distinction matters more than usual here, because the initial bet is the total bet divided by the five paylines played. Three of a kind pays:

• 777 – 100x the total bet
• Wild – 100x the total bet
• Strawberry – 30x the total bet
• Watermelon – 20x the total bet
• Grapes – 16x the total bet
• Mango – 16x the total bet
• Banana – 4x the total bet
• Plum – 4x the total bet
• Orange – 4x the total bet
• Cherry – 4x the total bet

Worth pausing on the top of that list: the wild is joint-highest payer in the game, matching the triple seven at 100x. Most slots treat the wild as a helper that stands in for better symbols. Here it’s the prize itself.

The rest of the roster is classic fruit-shop stock, from strawberry and watermelon down to a bottom tier of banana, plum, orange and cherry that all share the same 4x payout. Wins hit on roughly 8.34% of spins, which works out at about one spin in twelve.

That’s modest, but normal for a three-reel game where a single line of sevens or wilds returns a hundred times your stake. Bets run from 0.05 to 200.00 per spin, a range wide enough that the same game can be a penny pastime or a serious session.

Because every payline is always in play, there’s no line-selection decision to make – you set a total bet and spin. The paytable on display adjusts to that bet, so the figures you see quoted always reflect your current stake rather than a fixed denomination.

Control options are the standard set. Quickspin resolves spins faster without touching the results, and holding the spin button does the same until you let go. Autoplay takes a spin count and can be set to stop on a single win limit, a cumulative loss limit, or a big win.

Blazing Lake Bonus Features

There is exactly one feature in Blazing Lake, and it sits at the centre of everything: the expanding wild. It does three things, and together they’re the whole of what this game offers beyond its paylines:

• Substitution – the wild stands in for all other symbols
• Expansion – a wild that lands on a reel where it can form winning combinations expands vertically to fill that reel before the win is paid
• Own line pays – three wilds on a payline award 100x the total bet

The expansion is the part worth dwelling on. On a 3×3 grid, a full reel of wilds is a third of the game covered in one symbol. Every payline that passes through the expanded reel gets a wild somewhere in its chain, so several lines can pay at once off a single symbol landing.

The condition on the expansion matters, too: the wild only fills its reel when it can contribute to a win there. A wild that lands dead – no combination possible through its position – stays a single symbol. The expansion is a payoff mechanic, not decoration.

That’s the mechanism behind most of the interesting results in the game. It also makes the wild double as the chase symbol: the icon that completes every other combination is also the joint-top payer when you land three of it on its own.

Beyond the wild, there is nothing else. No scatter symbol, no free spins round, no second bonus mode. Five lines and one modifier are the whole game, and every spin resolves inside that frame.

A cherry combination highlighting a 24.00 win shows the shape of a typical result: bottom-tier symbols, a modest multiple, and the lava still glowing underneath. The big moments come when a wild lands instead and the reel lights up.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

Playing Blazing Lake is a lot of short, quiet spins with the lava bubbling away underneath, punctuated by the odd moment where a wild lands and a whole reel catches fire at once. That’s the reason to choose it: the fire genuinely does arrive, and when it does it pays like nothing else on a grid this size.

Its strength is the wild itself. Because it substitutes, expands and tops the paytable all at once, one symbol carries the whole game and never feels split between jobs. Its weakness is everything underneath: when no wild lands, four of the five paytable tiers pay 4x and the spins blur into one another.

For anyone who likes a compact, legible three-reeler with a real top end and steady medium-volatility maths, this burns nicely. Anyone chasing free spins, bonus rounds or layered features will find the lake shallow. Warm, bright, and honest about being small.

Blazing Lake FAQs

• What is the RTP of Blazing Lake?

  The RTP is 96.16%, which sits comfortably above the typical benchmark for online slots.
• Is Blazing Lake high volatility?

  No. Blazing Lake is a medium volatility game, so wins should arrive at a steadier rhythm than in a high-variance slot, with a moderate ceiling on any single spin.
• How does the expanding wild in Blazing Lake work?

  A wild symbol substitutes for all other symbols. When one lands on a reel where it can form winning combinations, it expands vertically to fill that reel before the win is paid. Three wilds on a payline also pay 100x the total bet in their own right.
• Does Blazing Lake have free spins or a bonus round?

  No. The expanding wild is the only feature in the game; there is no scatter symbol, free spins round or second bonus mode.
• How often does Blazing Lake pay out?

  The hit frequency is 8.34%, which works out at roughly one winning spin in twelve.
• How many paylines does Blazing Lake have?

  Blazing Lake has 5 fixed paylines on its 3×3 grid. Wins run left to right from the first reel, and all wins are three of a kind.
• What happens if two winning combinations land on the same payline in Blazing Lake?

  Only the highest win is paid. The same applies per symbol combination, and your total payout for a spin is the sum of every separate payline win.
• What is the minimum and maximum bet on Blazing Lake?

  Bets run from 0.05 to 200.00 per spin, with the number of paylines fixed at five.
• When is Blazing Lake released?

  Blazing Lake’s release date is 25 September 2023.
• Who makes Blazing Lake?

  Blazing Lake is made by Wishbone, whose other titles include Kingfisher, Phoenix Reign and Thor Unleashed.