Lava Burst

Lava Burst Slot Review

Lava pours over a crater rim against a dusk-blue sky, glowing in a bright flow beneath the reels. Most slots would scatter that heat across a dozen features; Evoplay have poured all of it into a single collect round, and left the rest of the game to smoulder. Lava Burst runs on a 4×3 grid at 96.27% RTP with high volatility, and every symbol in it pays only when the bonus fires. Stripping a slot down to one round this completely is a gamble in itself, and it’s what makes this one interesting.

Players who know the studio’s coin-collecting work from 3 Flaming Clovers or Coinburst Sevens will recognise the shape; 3 Super Volcanoes covers similar ground with the same fondness for hot rock. The difference here is how little stands between the reels and the round that matters. Worth a closer look, or is the crater empty?

Base Game: Coins and the Central Line

Nothing pays line wins here. All symbols are paid only in the Bonus Game or Ultra Bonus Game, so the base game’s job is to load the reels with coins and wait for the trigger: a combination of any four symbols on the central line starts the round. That single payline mechanic keeps every spin readable, though it also means the reels between triggers are pure anticipation.

The Coins

Six types of Bonus symbol circulate, and the ordinary Bonus Coin is the workhorse. It can appear in the main game, Bonus Game and Ultra Bonus Game alike, carrying a random value on every landing:

• Bonus Coin – x1, x2, x3 or x4 times the bet
• Heavy Coin – x5, x6, x7, x8 or x9 times the bet

The Heavy Coin is the base game’s most interesting symbol. It appears in the main game and stays locked on the reels until a Bonus Game or Ultra Bonus Game begins, banking its value for the round ahead. There’s a catch worth knowing: changing the bet removes it from the reels entirely, so a stake adjustment costs you whatever the coin was holding.

Mystic and Black Hole Symbols

The Mystic symbol holds its shape until the end of a bonus round, then turns into any other symbol except the Heavy Coin. A Mystic carrying a jackpot is guaranteed to hold one of three: Mini, Minor or Major. It’s the round’s wildcard, and the reason a full board always carries a surprise.

The Black Hole carries no value of its own. In the main game it counts as one of the activators of the bonus; inside the round, it collects all values and jackpots of the Bonus symbols that landed before it. Timing is everything with this one – a Black Hole arriving early sweeps up almost nothing, while a late arrival can hoover a full board.

Bonus Game and Ultra Bonus Game

Four symbols on the central line trigger the Bonus Game or Ultra Bonus Game, and every symbol involved in the activation stays locked in its position until the round ends. Both rounds always start with three spins, and each time a new Bonus symbol lands, the spin count resets back to three. All Bonus symbols that hit stay on the reels until the finish.

The round continues until all spins run out or all twelve positions on the grid fill with Bonus symbols. When it’s complete, the value of every Bonus symbol is added and the game pays the total, at the same bet as the spin that triggered it. So a single round can keep resetting for a long time while coins keep landing.

The Ultra Bonus Game

The Ultra Bonus Game can be activated randomly on any round of the main game, and it’s a different animal from the standard trigger. Before it starts, one or more random symbols are set on cells, filling the central line – so the round opens with a head start already banked.

The Lava Burst modifier is always activated at the beginning of the Ultra Bonus Game, and it triggers more often throughout. That’s the practical case for preferring it: more multipliers from the first spin.

Lava Burst Multipliers

The modifier that names the game may be activated randomly during either bonus round. Fire comets strike between one and twelve random cells, each one picking up an x2 multiplier. Land a Lava Burst on a cell that already holds a multiplier and that cell’s multiplier increases by one, so repeated hits stack.

Cell multipliers remain until the end of the round, and winnings on a symbol are multiplied by the corresponding multiplier when the total is paid.

Jackpots

Four fixed jackpots can be won only during the bonus rounds, and the ladder steps down steeply from top to bottom:

• GRAND – 1000x the bet
• MAJOR – 100x the bet
• MINOR – 50x the bet
• MINI – 25x the bet

The Mini, Minor and Major Bonus symbols each give their corresponding jackpot directly. The GRAND works differently: collect all twelve Bonus symbols of any type and it’s yours, which makes a full grid the round’s explicit goal rather than a happy accident.

Bonus Buy

Two purchases are available from the Bonus Buy button in the main game, both buying direct access to the rounds described above:

• Bonus Game – 32x total bet
• Ultra Bonus Game – 100x total bet

After confirming a purchase, the reels spin and give out at least four Bonus symbols filling the central line, after which the round starts at the total bet of the purchase round. The feature may not be available in all markets, and it only works in the main game. The Ultra option’s premium buys the guaranteed opening Lava Burst and the more frequent triggers that come with it.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

This is a slot you sit on like the volcano it sits inside: long stretches of gathering, then one eruption that decides the session. The reason to choose it is that single collect round, because everything the game does feeds it and nothing competes with it.

The round earns that focus. Coins bank across the whole game, Black Holes reward patience by collecting what landed before them, and multipliers stack one point at a time, so a long round genuinely snowballs instead of just dragging. It’s the best-built part of the game by some distance.

The weakness is everything outside that round. Nothing pays in the base game at all, so the reel time between triggers earns you nothing but position, and a cold run can stretch a long way before it matters. For collectors and jackpot hunters this is an easy recommendation; anyone who wants the reels themselves to pay will find the crater quiet. For the rest, the heat is worth waiting for.

Lava Burst FAQs

• What is the RTP of Lava Burst?

  Lava Burst runs at 96.27% RTP.
• Is Lava Burst high volatility?

  Yes, Lava Burst is a high volatility slot.
• How do you trigger the Bonus Game in Lava Burst?

  A combination of any four symbols on the central line triggers the Bonus Game or Ultra Bonus Game. All symbols involved in the activation stay locked in place until the round ends.
• What do the Lava Burst multipliers do?

  The Lava Burst modifier shoots fire comets at up to twelve random cells, each one picking up an x2 multiplier. Hitting a cell that already has a multiplier raises it by one, and all multipliers apply when the round pays out.
• What jackpots does Lava Burst have?

  Four fixed jackpots, won only during the bonus rounds: GRAND at 1000x the bet, MAJOR at 100x, MINOR at 50x and MINI at 25x. Collecting all twelve Bonus symbols of any type awards the GRAND.
• Can you buy the bonus on Lava Burst?

  Yes. The Bonus Buy feature sells the Bonus Game for 32x total bet and the Ultra Bonus Game for 100x total bet. It can only be used in the main game and may not be available in all markets.
• What is the grid size of Lava Burst?

  Lava Burst is a four reel, three row video slot, giving twelve positions in total.
• Who makes Lava Burst?

  Lava Burst is made by Evoplay.