Prize Ladder Slot Review
Under a rig of pink spotlights, in a magenta cabinet on a glossy tiled stage, Prize Ladder is a cascade slot that refuses to let go of your progress. Where most games of this kind pay you and wipe the board, this one keeps score: every winning symbol climbs its own prize track, and the fight is over whether anything holds that climb in place when the spin ends.
Northern Lights Gaming has built the whole thing around that single question, and the 80s showroom around the reels gives the wait some glamour. It runs on a 5×4 grid with 1024 ways, paying both directions, at 96.10% RTP and medium volatility, with stakes from 0.20 to 20. Stablemates like Bison Moon Megaways and Rock the Cash Bar chase bigger swings; this one climbs steadily and locks in occasionally.
Base Game & Features
Rolling Reels
Any ways win triggers Rolling Reels. Winning symbols are removed and new ones drop in, and the sequence repeats until no new winning combination forms. One spin can therefore pay several times over.
Scatters are the exception. They stay on the reels for the duration of the feature rather than clearing away, which matters when three of them are all that stands between you and the bonus.
The Prize Ladder
Every symbol except the Scatter and the Padlock has its own ladder, and each cascade rolls the matching symbol’s ladder up one level. Awards climb as far as 2x bet per symbol, and that cap is the ceiling on any single climb.
At the end of each spin, everything resets unless something holds it. That’s where the game’s tension lives, and nearly every feature in it exists to bend that reset rule.
Ladder progress is also saved per bet level, so changing stakes means changing ladders. A ladder built at one bet doesn’t follow you to another.
The Padlock
The Padlock arrives at the close of a winning cascade and freezes every symbol’s ladder until the following spin. It clears at the start of that spin, so the hold lasts exactly one round.
A Padlock can arrive on the same spin that triggers the bonus round. When it does, the locked ladder plays out after the bonus finishes, which can turn one good spin into two payouts.
Symbols and Pays
Ways run in both directions, and only the highest combination per symbol counts. The top pays, as multiples of stake:
- Cherry: 0.5x for three, 0.6x for four, 0.7x for five
- Second Cherry tier: 0.4x for three, 0.5x for four, 0.6x for five
- Multicoloured 7: 0.3x for three, 0.4x for four, 0.5x for five
Those are modest numbers on their own, and deliberately so. The paytable is the floor of this game, not the ceiling; the ladders stacked on top of each cascade are where the money moves.
The two cherry tiers pay the same as each other at four and five of a kind, with the gap only showing at three. Scatters appear on reels 2, 3 and 4 only and carry no payout of their own.
Enhanced Bets
Two Enhanced Bet options are available, each multiplying the current stake by 1.5x, and only one can be active at a time. They work in the base game only.
- Feature Boost increases the chance of triggering the bonus round, Super Spins and the Padlock bonus
- Double Roll makes boosted ladder awards climb two levels per cascade instead of one
Both run at 96.10% RTP, with Double Roll at 96.11%, so neither is a trap. Double Roll is the more interesting of the two on a game built entirely around ladder speed.
Prize Ladder Free Spins & Bonus Features
Super Spins
A full reel of the same symbol with star overprints on reel 1 or 5 triggers Super Spins, in the base game only. The triggering symbol and any Scatters are held, and every other position spins with the triggering symbol, blanks or Scatters.
Anything that lands is held too, and the sequence continues until nothing new lands. Stars appear with the same symbol on either reel 1 or reel 5, never both, and never inside a cascade.
Each Super Spin rolls the ladder up one level, so a long run builds serious prize height. Super Spins can also trigger the bonus round, which makes a full starred reel the most valuable single event outside the buys.
Free Spins
3 Scatters on reels 2, 3 and 4 award 8 Free Spins. The round plays out automatically at the triggering bet and cannot be re-triggered.
The hook is that ladder progress is held throughout the bonus rather than resetting each spin, so eight spins work as one continuous climb rather than eight separate ones. At the end, the ladder resets.
Any base game ladder locked by a Padlock plays out after the bonus. A single triggering spin can therefore hand over the bonus, the climb, and the locked ladder’s value in sequence.
Buy Feature
Four buy options are available from the base game, each purchased at the displayed price and played at the current bet:
- Buy Super Spins: triggers Super Spins with no bonus round or Rolling Reels, at 96.11% RTP
- Buy Free Spins: triggers the standard 8-spin round, at 96.10% RTP
- Buy Super Free Spins: the bonus round with ladder awards starting at level 4, at 96.10% RTP
- Buy Random Bonus: one of the three above at random, at 96.10% RTP
The buy RTPs sit within a hundredth of a percent of the base figure, so nothing here taxes the purchase. Buy Super Free Spins is the one that matters: starting the climb at level 4 is the closest this game gets to skipping the queue.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
Playing this is a slow accumulation under neon lights, and the reason to pick it is that the wins linger: nothing you build simply disappears, because the Padlock and the bonus both fight for your climb. That’s rarer than it sounds in a cascade game.
The best thing here is that a single spin can pay in stages, the locked ladder settling after the bonus like a second encore. The worst is the ceiling: no climb tops 2x bet per symbol, so even a perfect run pays politely. And most of the time, the reset wins anyway.
It’s a fit for anyone who enjoys nursing a build and watching it pay off in instalments, and the showroom looks good while you wait. Anyone after a genuinely big night should head for the bigger swings elsewhere; the rest can enjoy the spotlights.
Prize Ladder FAQs
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What is the RTP of Prize Ladder?
96.10%. The buys and Enhanced Bets sit between 96.10% and 96.11%, so nothing in the game asks you to trade return for access. -
Is Prize Ladder high volatility?
No, it’s a medium volatility game. Wins land roughly a third of the time, with a hit frequency of 33.33%. -
How do you trigger the bonus round in Prize Ladder?
The bonus needs Scatters on the middle three reels, which pays 8 Free Spins. Your ladder progress is held for the whole round instead of resetting, and it can’t be re-triggered. -
How many paylines does Prize Ladder have?
1024 ways, paying both left to right and right to left. Only the highest winning combination per symbol is awarded. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Prize Ladder?
Stakes run from 0.20 to 20 per spin, and Enhanced Bet options multiply the current stake by 1.5x. -
Can you buy the bonus on Prize Ladder?
Yes. Four buys are available: Super Spins, Free Spins, Super Free Spins with the ladders starting at level 4, and a Random Bonus that picks one of the three. -
What does the Padlock symbol do in Prize Ladder?
It freezes every symbol’s ladder until the next spin. If the bonus round triggers on the same spin, the locked ladder pays out after it finishes. -
What is the grid size of Prize Ladder?
5 reels by 4 rows, with 1024 ways to win paying in both directions. -
Who makes Prize Ladder?
Northern Lights Gaming, the studio behind Bison Moon Megaways and Rock the Cash Bar.
