Fortune Fortune Thundershots Slot Review
Golden dragons coil up both edges of the screen and the red behind the reels runs so deep that the whole frame reads like lacquerwork. Fortune Fortune Thundershots is Playtech‘s wager that a celebration theme works best when the wins themselves do the celebrating: a 5×4, 30-line slot at 95.52% RTP, where matching blocks merge into giant symbols with multipliers up to x5 and everything funnels towards a wheel that only opens after seven cascades in a row. The studio has walked this ground before, in Buffalo Blitz and Plunder Ahoy Thundershots, but never with the two bonus systems stacked on top of each other the way they are here.
Giant Symbols, Cascades and the Base Game
Wins form on 30 fixed paylines, starting from the leftmost reel, and only the highest combination on each line pays. Simultaneous wins on different lines add together. The wild is a tree symbol that stands in for everything except the scatters, and it carries its own paytable row, so three or more of it can out-earn the regular symbols it’s substituting for.
A bet is placed as a single total across all lines, and every value in the paytable scales with whatever you’ve staked. There’s a turbo mode that trims the win animations and speeds the reels up, and autoplay can be set to run a fixed number of spins or to keep going until a feature triggers. Autoplay also stops on its own if funds run short, and you can always cut a spin short by hitting stop while the reels are still moving.
The paying symbols run from the frog at the top down through the fish, gold ingot and fan, with card royals filling the lower tiers. Values for three, four and five of a kind:
- Wild – 3.00 / 7.00 / 25.00
- Frog – 3.00 / 6.00 / 15.00
- Fish – 2.50 / 5.00 / 12.50
- Gold Ingot – 2.00 / 4.00 / 9.00
- Fan – 1.50 / 3.50 / 7.50
- A – 0.50 / 1.50 / 5.00
- Q – 0.50 / 1.00 / 3.50
Every winning combination sets off a cascade. The winning symbols explode after paying out, new symbols drop in, and each wave can build fresh combinations of its own. A single spin can therefore chain several payouts together, one wave feeding the next.
Seven cascades in a row is the goal, because that’s what unlocks the wheel at the heart of the game’s name.
How Giant Symbols Work
Whenever matching symbols form a block of 2×2, 3×3, 4×4 or 5×4 positions, they merge into a single giant version of that symbol. Giants come with multipliers tied to their size:
- 2×2 giant symbol – x2 multiplier
- 3×3 giant symbol – x3 multiplier
- 4×4 giant symbol – x4 multiplier
- 5×4 giant symbol – x5 multiplier
A full-grid 5×4 giant carries the biggest multiplier in the game, and giant wilds apply their multiplier to every winning line passing through them. Scatters are the exception: they don’t multiply, they trigger the free games instead.
Winnings do have an upper limit, and it’s the operator’s terms that hold the figure.
Free Games
The scatter is a coin symbol, and it pays no multiplier of its own. Instead, any giant scatter in view awards a round of free games, with the length of that round set by the total number of scatter symbols on the screen when it lands.
That makes the size of the block matter directly, and it rewards scatter symbols that land singly outside the block too:
- 5×4 giant scatter – 20 free games
- 4×4 giant scatter – 16 free games
- 3×3 giant scatter – 9 free games
- 2×2 giant scatter – 4 free games
- 2×2 giant scatter plus three single scatters elsewhere – 7 free games
Inside the round, every giant symbol turns wild. Since giants keep their size multipliers, a 4×4 wild block in the free games multiplies each line through it by x4 while substituting for anything. Cascades keep running the same way they do in the base game, so a lucky drop can clear the screen and drop a fresh giant into place.
Retriggers are on the table too. Free games can be retriggered during free games, and the Thundershots feature can be won again while they’re running, which stacks the two bonuses on top of each other rather than keeping them in separate rooms.
The Thundershots Wheel
Seven or more consecutive cascades in a row is the entry price for Thundershots, and it’s a steep one. When it hits, you get a wheel spin that dishes out cash wins, extra Thundershots spins, and free games. You can spin manually or hold the button down to let the wheel run itself.
Landing on a feature segment for the first time awards that feature, which plays out once the wheel finishes. Land on the same feature segment again and the multiplier you’ll play that feature with goes up by one, so repeated stops build value rather than wasting the spin.
That stacking is where the round’s real potential sits. A wheel visit that lands free games once and then finds the same segment twice sends you into the round with a boosted multiplier on top of the free games’ all-wild giants.
Empty segments pay nothing, so a wheel visit isn’t a guaranteed payday even after the climb to reach it. The route there runs through the cascade chain, which means every spin is a shot at a chain that either dies at two or three cascades or keeps climbing towards the wheel, the free games, or both at once when Thundershots fires during free games.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Playing this one is a long wait punctuated by moments where the screen fills with a single symbol and everything changes at once. That’s the reason to choose it: the free games turn every giant wild while the multipliers stay attached, so the round the dragons have been guarding is genuinely worth reaching.
The best thing here is how the scatter block sets its own reward, up to twenty games, with stray single coins adding to the count. It’s the reachable bonus, and it pays like one. The wheel is the opposite: seven straight cascades to arrive, and empty segments once you do.
This is a slot for players who like watching a board build towards one big formation and don’t mind quiet spells in between. If steady small bonuses are what you’re after, the dragons will keep you waiting longer than the gold suggests. For the patient, though, the temple opens.
Fortune Fortune Thundershots FAQs
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How do you trigger the Thundershots wheel in Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
The Thundershots feature is awarded by seven or more consecutive cascades in a row. Each winning combination explodes and triggers another cascade, and a chain of seven or more unlocks the wheel, which offers cash wins, extra Thundershots spins and free games. -
How many free games does a giant scatter award?
The size of the scatter block decides the count. A 5×4 giant scatter is worth 20 free games, 4×4 gives 16, 3×3 gives 9 and 2×2 gives 4, with any extra single scatters elsewhere on the reels adding to the total. -
What do giant symbols do in Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
Matching symbols that form a 2×2, 3×3, 4×4 or 5×4 block merge into a single giant symbol carrying a win multiplier equal to its size: 2×2 pays x2, 3×3 pays x3, 4×4 pays x4 and 5×4 pays x5. Giant wilds apply their multiplier to every winning line passing through them. -
Can free games be retriggered in Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
Yes, free games can be retriggered during free games. The Thundershots feature can also be won again while free games are running. -
What is the RTP of Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
The RTP is 95.52%. -
What is the grid size of Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
The game plays on a 5×4 grid with 30 fixed paylines. Winning combinations must start from the leftmost reel and appear on consecutive reels. -
How many paylines does Fortune Fortune Thundershots have?
It’s a 5-reel, 30-line game, with all 30 paylines active on every spin. Only the highest winning combination on each payline pays, while wins on different paylines are added together. -
Who makes Fortune Fortune Thundershots?
Fortune Fortune Thundershots is made by Playtech. Its release date is 13 December 2021.
