Casino Bonuses
Provider | Thunderkick |
Reels | 5 |
Rows | 3 |
Paylines | 243 |
Bonus Rounds | 1 |
Bet Range | 0.10 - 100 |
Volatility | High |
Max Win | 5,280x |
Bonus Buy | No |
RTP | 96.10% |
Our Rating | 7.5 |
Latest Slots
Game Overview
There was a phase of around six months where almost every online casino decided to switch their new player free spin offer over to Flame Busters instead of Starburst. I remember thinking how pleased I was about this, to begin with… not that it did me any good. Sure, Flame Busters is a far superior game to Starburst – there is certainly no question about that. But, the depressing reality is that ten free spins at €0.10 on any game aren’t especially valuable unless you hit a bonus round. In terms of the vitals, we have a 243-way slot with a 96.10% RTP and a maximum win of 5,280x your stake.
Feature-wise, we have a flame symbol modifier that can activate in the base game, turning many different symbols into matching ones, as well as an infuriating “fire drill” feature that sometimes looks like it is about to kick in and then… nothing. Wow, those features drive me crazy. The main free spin-based bonus round can be tremendous and worth looking forward to, especially if you are lucky enough to hit five scatter symbols to win the maximum of 20 free spins!
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Flame Busters Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
I was shocked to discover that there are quite a few firefighting-related online slot machines. However, in fairness, many of them are ancient and were created by unknown developers that probably aren’t around anymore. There are undoubtedly many fire-related games that have made a huge splash on the scene, such as Fire Joker by Play’n Go; however, none as much as the 80s video game-inspired aesthetic of Flame Busters. I thought long and hard, but the only other online slot I can think of that has the same feel as this game is the recent Banana Town by Relax Gaming.
As a 243-way game, you can expect middle-of-the-road numbers on the paytable, especially in a game such as this, where the symbols are stacked on the reels. At the top of the tree is the yellow firefighter who will pay you 10x your stake for five-of-a-kind, followed by the wizard-looking dude in purple who will pay you 5x your bet for all five. Next, there is a pinkish guy with an eye patch, paying 4.5x for five-of-a-kind, and a green robot at 3.5x for all five. The last of the “high-paying” symbols is a blue animal character smoking a cigarette – I bet he set the bloody fire! – and he pays 3x your stake for five-of-a-kind. The remainder of the paytable is made up of coin symbols, some of which will transform into flame symbols during the bonus round or the fire drill bonus.
Thunderkicks method of choosing your stake is one of my favourites – click on the coin symbol next to the spin button, and all possible bets will be shown on screen at once. The minimum bet here is €0.10 per spin, whilst the maximum is a huge €100.00 per spin, but there aren’t many steps at either the low or high end of this range. You can’t bet €0.40, for example, and as you get towards the top of the betting range, it goes straight from €50.00 to €75.00 to €100.00. A little more granularity wouldn’t hurt, Thunderkick!
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game of Flame Busters online slot is much like any other online slot in many ways – you have a 5×3 playfield with 243 ways to win, meaning that any combination of matching symbols from left to right will trigger a win in this game. The bell icon is your friend here. That is the key to entering the bonus round, which is your only way of making any serious money whilst playing this game – unless you are fortunate with the base game modifiers. Let’s talk about those a little:
Fire Symbol Modifier
The fire symbol is anything but a regular symbol in the Flame Busters slot game. Whenever a large number of these appear on screen at once, they will all transform into a matching high-value symbol, potentially offering a way to score a big win during the base game. It doesn’t often happen, though, so don’t get your hopes up.
Fire Drill Feature
This one bugs the hell out of me… at the beginning of any spin, the “fire drill” sign may begin to flash randomly… you think you are about to get yourself a feature, and then… nothing. If you are lucky, the Fire Drill will finally kick in, and between one to five of the coin symbols will all be transformed into fire symbols.
If it wasn’t bad enough that this feature likes to give you plenty of teases, sometimes the Fire Drill will activate, and only one coin will be selected to transform – you are going to need at least three to have a chance of a big win. Even all five doesn’t guarantee you anything special. No, the truth is, only the bonus round offers any realistic probability of a massive win in Flame Busters.
Flame Busters Slot Free Spins Feature
So, this is it – you’ll need three or more alarm bell scatter symbols to trigger the main bonus game, with three scatters giving ten free spins, four awarding fifteen, and five giving you the maximum of twenty free spins. You’ll need as many free spins as you can get, too, if you want to make it to the later levels of this bonus round. Here’s how it works.
Oh no, the house is on fire! But don’t worry, the Flame Busters are on hand to deal with the situation, and provided you collect enough scatter symbols during your free spins, they’ll be sure to… make the fire bigger?
Yes, it sure is a strange situation in the 8-bit world of the Flame Busters! You start at the bottom floor of the building, moving up one floor for every three alarm bell scatters you collect during the bonus round. Each time you move up a floor, you will receive two extra free spins, and a coin symbol will be removed from the reels and replaced by flame symbols.
Make it up to the top floor of the building, and there will be no more coin symbols left on the reels – just flame symbols that will all transform into high-paying symbols once the reels stop turning. Make it to this stage with a decent number of spins remaining, and you’ll be in luck – every free spin you have left will win you something at least semi-decent.
The trouble is, it is tough to make it to the fifth floor at all – never mind, with a bunch of free spins still outstanding! And just where does that maximum win figure of 5,280x your bet come from? I read through all of the promotional material surrounding the game but found no clues, so I suspect it is probably the highest score achieved in a billion-round simulation. I’d say a much more likely maximum win in this game is somewhere around the 1,000x mark.
Flame Busters Slot Review Final Thoughts
I think I already summed things up in the previous paragraph. To be honest, Flame Busters is a fun game, just like most of Thunderkick’s other titles, but there isn’t enough big win potential here to make it a game that I would choose to play with my own money. You may feel differently, though, so by all means, give it a try – I guarantee that Fire Drill will make you angry, though. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
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