Lava Power: Hold the Spin

Lava Power: Hold the Spin Slot Review

Two volcano cones spit orange lava either side of the reels, a gold-rimmed wheel arcs over the ridge behind them, and a column of jackpot plaques runs down the left edge. That’s an awful lot of theatre for twelve positions, and it isn’t a mistake: Gamzix have built Lava Power: Hold the Spin small on purpose, because a grid you can actually fill turns the top prize from a rumour into a target.

The cost of that smallness is a base game with almost nothing in it, and the whole game sits on whether the bonus round pays for the wait. By the standards of the studio’s quieter 3 Fortune Pouches: Triple Wins and Only Diamonds, this one is all volume. It’s a bet that pays off more often than you’d expect.

Base Game & Features

The play area is a 3×4 grid: three columns, four rows, twelve visible positions. It’s a compact setup, and the reels sit small and central while the volcanoes do the talking around them.

The paying symbols are jackpot-style plaques rather than card royals, and the top of the ladder is short:

• Minor – 1.50 in credits at a 0.10 stake, or 15x the stake for three
• Mini – 1.00 in credits at a 0.10 stake, or 10x the stake for three

Two symbols and one pay tier each. Every other way this game pays runs through the bonus round or the mystery reveal, which is why the ladder down the left edge gets more screen space than the reels themselves.

Mystery Symbols

Mystery symbols appear both in the main game and in the bonus rounds. Each one reveals a jackpot value or a fixed prize, and the range is wider than anything else in the main game:

• 10x the total bet
• 15x the total bet
• 25x the total bet
• 50x the total bet
• One of the jackpot values

The jackpot ladder down the left edge of the screen keeps all of this in view while you play, which is a sensible touch – the prizes the mystery reveal can hit are never more than a glance away.

Bonus Triggers

There are three routes into the bonus games:

• Three Bonus symbols in a row on any line, into the Standard game
• The Heap of Coins feature in the main game, also into the Standard game
• The Super Heap of Coins feature, which goes straight to the Super game

Whichever route in, the Power Wheel spins first. That wheel is the fork in the road – it decides which version of the round you play and what it starts with. The Bonus symbols stacked over the volcano marked BONUS are the ordinary way in; the two Coin Heap features are the ones worth watching for.

Lava Power: Hold the Spin Bonus Game

The Power Wheel

Before either bonus game begins, the Power Wheel spins above the peaks. Its segments carry multipliers of x2, x3 and x5 alongside the Major, Jackpot and Grand prizes, so the wheel can hand you a flat upgrade or something considerably better. It awards additional symbols or upgrades to the symbols already on the reels, so the round you actually play can start in far better shape than the one you triggered.

Land an Upgrade prize on the wheel and the Standard Bonus Game becomes the Super Bonus Game instead. That’s the only way to reach the Super game other than the Super Heap of Coins, and it’s the single most valuable thing the wheel can do.

Standard vs Super Bonus Game

There are two versions of the bonus game, and the difference is which symbols are allowed to land. In the Standard game, the reels take:

• Coin symbols with random prizes of 0.5, 1, 2, 3 or 5 times the bet
• Jackpot symbols
• Mystery symbols
• The Mystery Jackpot symbol

The Super version upgrades everything on the reels before it starts, and from that point only Jackpot and Mystery Jackpot symbols can land. It’s a leaner, richer board – every spin either adds a jackpot or resets the counter.

The Upgrade Feature

Available only before the Standard game, the Upgrade feature sets the promotion rules. Bonus symbols paying 0.5 to 5 times the bet become Mini Jackpots, Mystery symbols become the Mystery Jackpot, and each jackpot steps up one level.

Two levels sit outside the system: the Mystery Jackpot and the Grand Jackpot don’t upgrade, because they’re already the top of the ladder.

Respins and the 5th Row

Each bonus game starts with three respins. Every qualifying symbol that lands sticks and resets the counter back to three. The round runs until three consecutive spins pass without one, at which point everything on the board is counted up and paid. With only twelve positions to fill, a complete grid is a realistic target rather than a fantasy.

A special fifth row sits above the reels in both versions, and only four things can appear in it:

• x1 multiplier
• x2 multiplier
• x3 multiplier
• x5 multiplier

The multipliers stack separately for each reel. When the round ends, each reel’s total applies to every symbol in that reel beneath it. A full column under a x5 can turn a modest board into something much bigger.

Jackpots and the Ultra

Jackpot symbols land at random during the bonus game and pay their corresponding value: Grand or Major. Fill all twelve positions and the Ultra Jackpot pays 1,000 times the bet, added to every symbol value already collected in that round.

That’s the round’s whole promise in one sentence. The grid is small enough that the Ultra isn’t out of reach.

Bonus Buy

There are three purchase options, each triggering one guaranteed main-game spin that launches the bonus:

• Standard Bonus Game – 40x the bet
• Random Bonus Game (Standard or Super) – 100x the bet
• Super Bonus Game – 160x the bet

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Most of your time here is spent watching a very pretty machine do very little. Two paying symbols, a mystery reveal, and a long wait for the trigger – the volcanoes are doing the entertaining, not the reels. The reason to choose it is that when the bonus finally arrives, it’s the rare hold-and-spin where a full grid feels genuinely gettable, and every round starts from a different place thanks to the wheel.

The Ultra is the strength: twelve positions is a board you can close, and 1,000x the bet for doing it is a prize worth chasing. The weakness is the empty stretch in front of it – the base game doesn’t just lack features, it lacks anything to do between mystery reveals, and the Super buy at 160x asks a lot for a round that trims the small coins out entirely.

This is one for hold-and-spin players who don’t mind earning their bonus, and it’ll leave anyone who wants a busy base game cold. For jackpot chasers with patience, the mountain rewards the climb.

Lava Power: Hold the Spin FAQs

• What is the RTP of Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  There isn’t a single figure. Returns are set by the operator, so the rate you get depends on where you play.
• What is the grid size of Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  Three columns by four rows, giving twelve visible positions.
• Can you buy the bonus on Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  Yes, three ways: the Standard game at 40x the bet, a Random game (Standard or Super) at 100x, and the Super game at 160x. Each buy plays one main-game spin that’s guaranteed to launch the round.
• Who makes Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  Gamzix. Their other titles reviewed on this site include 3 Fortune Pouches: Triple Wins and Only Diamonds.
• How many respins do you get in the Lava Power bonus game?

  Three to start with, and the counter resets back to three every time a qualifying symbol lands. Only Coin, Jackpot, Mystery and Mystery Jackpot symbols count in the Standard game; in the Super game it’s Jackpots and the Mystery Jackpot only.
• What is the Ultra Jackpot in Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  The 1,000x prize for filling all twelve grid positions during the bonus game, paid on top of every symbol value already collected in that round.
• What does the fifth row do in Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  It sits above the reels in both bonus games and carries x1, x2, x3 or x5 multipliers. These stack per reel, and at the end of the round each reel’s total multiplies every symbol beneath it.
• How does the Upgrade feature work in Lava Power: Hold the Spin?

  Before the Standard game, it promotes bonus symbols paying 0.5 to 5 times the bet into Mini Jackpots, turns Mystery symbols into the Mystery Jackpot, and lifts each jackpot one level. The Mystery and Grand Jackpots stay where they are.