Totally Headless Slot Review
A gallows of timber and iron chain hangs over a battlefield of broken spears and tattered red banners, a fortress burning orange against the sunset behind it. Behind all that theatre, Northern Lights Gaming has built something colder: a slot where the reels themselves barely matter, because every real decision in the game is made by a coloured orb flying at one of five guillotines. That’s a bold way to spend a 5×3 grid and 243 ways.
The substance is a 243-ways, 5×3 reel set at 96.07% RTP and high volatility, with respins, coin tiers and four jackpots doing the work behind the executioner’s blade. The studio has form with build-and-collect designs in Totally Reckless, Bison Moon: Thunder Charge and Max Spinwell: Time Chronicles. Stakes run from 0.20 to 40.00 per spin, and the reels hit a winning combination roughly a third of the time. Where the money actually comes from is the bonus ladder.
Base Game & Features
The base game runs on a 5×3 grid with 243 ways to win. A way is a run of matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left, and only the highest combination per way pays. Wins are multiplied by the bet multiplier.
That suits a high-volatility maths model: nothing lands for a while, then several ways pay at once. The character symbols carry the personality. The paytable, at the base stake:
- Pirate Captain: 1x for three, 2.5x for four, 5x for five
- Hooded Figure: 0.5x for three, 2x for four, 4x for five
- Queen: 0.2x for three, 1x for four, 2x for five
- Blue Knight / Green Jester: 0.2x for three, 0.5x for four, 1x for five
- A, K, J, 10: 0.1x for three, 0.3x for four, 0.5x for five
Those are modest numbers at the top end, and it’s no accident. Totally Headless is built so the base game funds patience while the Revolution Bonus pays the bills. Five Pirates at the maximum stake returns 200.00, which tells you everything about where the real prizes sit.
The wild substitutes for regular symbols only and appears in the base game alone, so it’s a line-builder rather than a feature piece. The scatter is the symbol to watch, and it behaves unusually enough to deserve its own explanation.
When a scatter lands on any reel, it doesn’t trigger anything directly. Instead the scatter orb turns a random colour and flies at the matching guillotine, and each strike carries a chance of launching the Revolution Bonus. Every scatter is a roll on the colour, then a second roll on whether the strike connects.
Scatter Strikes and the Guillotines
Five guillotines guard the bonus: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Whichever one the orb strikes sets the level the bonus starts on, and the level decides everything that follows, from the coins that land to which jackpots are unlocked.
There’s no skill to it. The orb’s flight is pure theatre, but it gives every scatter a moment of threat before the outcome is known.
Totally Headless: Revolution Bonus, Coins and Jackpots
The Revolution Bonus is a hold-and-respin round played on special reels carrying nothing but coins, blanks and special symbols. It starts with three respins, and any coin or special symbol that lands is held in place and resets the counter back to full. When the respins run out, every held coin pays its value, with multipliers applied at the end.
Coin Tiers
The starting level determines which coins can land, and the tiers step up steeply:
- Bronze Coins: up to 1x bet
- Silver Coins: 1x to 5x bet
- Gold Coins: 5x to 15x bet
- Platinum Coins: 15x to 30x bet
- Diamond Coins: 30x to 50x bet
Starting on Bronze means capped prizes and every jackpot locked, while a Diamond start brings the 30x to 50x coins into play. The gap between the tiers is the whole reason the Level Upgrade symbol matters.
Special Symbols
Four specials can land during the bonus. The Coin Multiplier adds x2, x3, x4 or x5 to one, two or three coins, and each coin can only take one multiplier. Collect three Level Upgrade symbols and the round climbs to the next tier, swapping Bronze coins for Silver and beyond mid-bonus.
The Extra Life raises the maximum respin count from three to four, a small change that quietly doubles the safety net on a reset-heavy round. The Mystery Symbol transforms into a random coin, an Extra Life or a Level Upgrade, which makes it a free roll on the round’s best outcomes.
Jackpot Gems
Four jackpots sit above the reels: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Blue gems fill the Silver banner, green gems the Gold, red gems the Platinum, and landing coins fill the Diamond banner outright. Fill a banner and its jackpot pays, but only one unlocked jackpot can be awarded per round, and locked jackpots stay locked.
The unlock structure follows the level ladder. Silver bonus play unlocks the Silver jackpot only; Gold play opens Silver and Gold; Platinum opens the top three; Diamond opens everything. A jackpot win needs both a high enough starting level and the gems to arrive, so the Diamond start is where the banner-chasing pays off.
Buy Feature
Two purchases are available from the base game, both at the price shown for your current bet:
- Revolution Bonus: starts at a random level, 96.03% RTP
- Super Revolution Bonus: starts at a random level with more coins and special symbols, 96.04% RTP
The buy RTPs sit a fraction below the base game’s 96.07%, so neither purchase changes the maths meaningfully. What the Super version buys is density: more coins landing means more resets, and more special symbols means more upgrades and multipliers in a single round.
Both purchases play at the bet that was live when you pressed buy, and some options may not be offered above certain bet thresholds. The base game also carries autoplay with a set spin count, resolvable faster through quickspin if the wait between scatters starts to drag.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
Playing this is a long siege punctuated by one dramatic beheading. You spend whole stretches watching handsome reels pay pocket change, waiting for the orb to fly, and the reason to sit through that is the rare round that climbs while you’re inside it: a Bronze start that upgrades twice, coins thickening as it goes. Few bonus rounds reward staying power like that.
The weakness is harder to forgive. The level that decides everything is chosen by a random colour flip before the round begins, so two identical sessions can be worth wildly different amounts and you had no say in either.
For hold-and-collect players who enjoy a slow build with a ladder to climb, this is a strong entry, and the Super buy is the honest way in if the scatters won’t cooperate. Anyone who wants the base game to pay its own way won’t find it here. The fortress looks good burning either way.
Totally Headless FAQs
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What is the RTP of Totally Headless?
The RTP is 96.07%. If you buy the Revolution Bonus it runs at 96.03%, and the Super Revolution Bonus runs at 96.04%, so neither purchase costs you meaningfully in return. -
How do you trigger the Revolution Bonus in Totally Headless?
Land a scatter on any reel. The scatter orb turns a random guillotine colour and strikes the matching guillotine, and every strike carries a chance to trigger the bonus at that guillotine’s level. -
How does the Revolution Bonus work?
The bonus swaps the reels for special ones holding only coins, blanks and special symbols. Landing coins are held in place, and each one resets your respin allowance of three back to full. Once the respins are spent, every coin on the board pays out with its multiplier included. -
What do the coin tiers pay in Totally Headless?
Bronze coins pay up to 1x your bet, Silver coins 1x to 5x, Gold coins 5x to 15x, Platinum coins 15x to 30x, and Diamond coins 30x to 50x. The level you start on decides which coins can land. -
How do the jackpots work in Totally Headless?
There are four jackpots: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Blue, green and red gems fill the Silver, Gold and Platinum banners, while landing coins fill the Diamond banner. Fill a banner to win that jackpot, but only one unlocked jackpot pays per round, and higher starting levels unlock more jackpots. -
Can you buy the bonus on Totally Headless?
Yes. You can buy the Revolution Bonus or the Super Revolution Bonus, both starting at a random level, with the Super version adding more coins and special symbols to the round. -
Is Totally Headless high volatility?
Yes, it’s a high volatility game with a 36.67% hit frequency, so wins land on roughly a third of spins but the bigger returns are concentrated in the Revolution Bonus. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Totally Headless?
Stakes run from 0.20 to 40.00 per spin across 243 ways on a 5×3 grid.
