Ultra Hot Deluxe Demo (Novomatic) Slot Demo & Review

Game Overview

Casino game provider Novomatic has been in the business of making slot machines – whether physical or virtual (online) for decades now, and they’ve had their fair share of hits over the years. There can’t be many experienced slot players who are unfamiliar with the Book of Ra series, for example, or Lucky Lady’s Charm Deluxe and its countless sequels. Whichever way you slice it, Novomatic is undoubtedly one of the longest-running providers of quality slot machines. Great introduction – but, of course, the big question is – how does the Ultra Hot Deluxe video slot compare to this legacy? It’s an old-school three-reel slot with just five pay lines, an RTP of 95.20%, and a maximum win of 1,500x.

So, there is nothing to write home about with the vital statistics. The RTP is on the low side for an online slot, but thankfully, even 95.2% is many percentage points higher than the land-based versions of this machine. I should mention that this is an old game, having first been released all the way back in 2008. The interface was given a slight overhaul when the game was upgraded to HTML5 a few years ago, but nothing else was changed. This means there are no mods and no bonus rounds.

If you are unfamiliar with three-reel slots, we recommend trying our Ultra Hot Deluxe demo right here before playing for real money. It’s free to play and comes with an unlimited bankroll.

Novomatic has a very similar retro-themed slot to this named Sizzling Hot Deluxe, which is a five-reel game with a higher maximum payout. I can’t help but wonder if Ultra Hot Deluxe was the predecessor to that game – the symbols look almost identical, the fruit machine-style gameplay is very much the same, and there is no music or bonus rounds either. As we mentioned in our review of the Sizzling Hot Deluxe online slot, there are a tonne of newer games by other providers which use this same fruit machine-style theme. Games such as Hot Chilli from Pragmatic Play, Imperial Fruits by Playson, or Inferno Star by Play’N’Go all have much more in the way of features, and, to be honest, excitement. The graphics look nice and have aged well in fairness to Novomatic, but the sound will soon drive you nuts and have you reaching for the mute button.

So, how about the all-important paytable? Things look good at first – the top symbol, which is a pair of lucky 7s, returns 150x your stake. The next symbol down, a pair of lucky stars, returns 40x your stake. After that, things drop off quickly – only 8x your stake for most fruit symbols and 1x for the cherries. The paytable also points out that a full screen of each of these fruit symbols will be boosted by a 2x multiplier. And the stated maximum win of 1,500x would suggest that this 2x multiplier is applied to any full screen of matching symbols. Where things get a little bit weird, though, is that the paytable mentions it is actually a symbol that activates this multiplier – I assume there should be a picture of this symbol, yet it doesn’t appear on any device I have tried the game on. It also is not visible in the pictures with the 2x splashed across them in a large font. Quite the mystery!

Bets are placed using a combination of lines and coins in the Ultra Hot Deluxe slot game. You can choose to bet on just one line if you wish, or you can bet on all five. It’s nice to have the option for a change, as many providers removed these options when they upgraded their games from Adobe Flash to HTML5. After setting your desired number of pay lines, you then choose how many coins you wish to be on each line. This begins at two cents; you cannot bet pennies in this game. The maximum bet is €0.20 per line, giving an effective max bet of €10.00 per spin.

Base gameplay revolves around just hitting that spin button – the autoplay button may or may not be available, depending on your jurisdiction. Winning combinations will be set on fire, and the amount you have won on each payline will be shown in sequence. The paytable suggests that a full screen of any identical symbols will result in a 2x multiplier being applied to your win. This means that if you want to win the jackpot of 1,500x your stake, you will need a full screen of the Lucky 7’s. The paytable does indicate that a symbol is needed for this to happen, but the picture of said symbol is missing and I wasn’t able to spot anything on the reels which I thought could be this mystery symbol. This truly is a mystery!

Gamble Feature

The only real feature in the Ultra Hot Deluxe online slot is the gamble feature, which allows you to double the size of your entire win repeatedly until you either lose all your money – or feel like you have won enough.

I really hate this type of gamble where you cannot bank any portion of your winnings – it’s a 50/50 chance whether you will double up or lose your money, but it is important to remember that probabilities are multiplied together, not added. Therefore, the more times you take this chance, the lower the overall chance is that you will finish up with any money whatsoever. My advice is to ignore this feature completely.

As Ultra Hot Deluxe is very much a low-tech online slot, there is of course no bonus feature included within it. The thrill with these style of games comes from landing a full screen of any symbols, and in the case of this slot it then having a x2 multiplier applied to it.