Reel Rush 2

Get ready for another sweet candy reel invasion on the slot from NetEnt. Reel Rush 2 is building on the heritage of the classic slot Reel Rush that was released in 2013. Six years is a long time in our fast-moving world and even more so in the rapidly expanding online gaming market. It comes then as no surprise that Netent thought it was time to give us a second sugar rush unleashing a feature frenzy with no less than eight reel modifiers, free spin and super free spins as well as a gamble option to upgrade to the latter. All come together on the same reel set but with an increased win potential of up to 6,250 times your bet.

Slot Details

Reel Rush 2 is a video slot with five reels in a 1-3-5-3-1 format with 45 ways to win in default mode. This can increase up to a 5×5 format with 3,125 by scoring successive winning spins and respins. You can get your sugar rush on desktop or mobile from 0.20 to 100 credits per spin.

The game has medium to high volatility with an RTP of 95.53% to 96.58%. The difference is based on what strategy you are using when it comes to the free spins. Purchasing an upgrade to Super Free Spins results in the slightly higher RTP while gambling the free spins to attempt to win an upgrade or playing the standard free spins leads to the RTP at the lower end.

NetEnt has kept the world where everything seems to be geometrically squared but gave it an updated appearance. It is also livelier due to the carts passing on the track at the bottom of the game window, carrying the triggers for the various random features. A display is positioned on both sides, on the left showing the collection for the Super Tokens and on the right the progress towards triggering the free spins. The audio is in essence the same as on the original but has been given a funkier beat that now includes the soundbites for the extra features.

The pay symbols can all appear stacked up to two symbols high in the base game and free spins. They start at the low end with round or oval-shaped candy in purple, green, yellow, orange and red colours. A single five of a kind will pay 0.5x to 0.6x your bet. They are followed by six geometrically-formed fruits – plums, grapes, melons, oranges, pineapples and strawberries. Hit five across the reels to win 1x to 10x your stake.

A rectangular golden icon marked with the word itself is the wild symbol, appearing on all reels except on reel one. There are no scatter symbols on this slot as the free spins are triggered by consecutive winning respins.

Reel Rush 2 Slot Features

Central to the action on the reels is the Respin feature with the reel expansion mechanic. It activates when you hit a win on any spin in the base game. The grid will start opening up blocked positions and gradually increase as the reels respin at no extra cost. The default is a 1-3-5-3-1 format with 45 ways to win. The expansion will start after the first win and continue until you either trigger the free spins or no new win lands on a respin. In the latter case, the game window will be reset to the default and the total win is paid.

• After initial win: Expanding from 1-3-5-3-1 and 45 ways to 3-3-5-3-1 and 135 ways
• After first winning respin: Expanding to 3-3-5-3-3 with 405 ways to win
• After second winning respin: Expanding to 3-5-5-5-3 with 675 ways to win
• After third winning respin: Expanding to 5-5-5-5-3 with 1,875 ways to win
• After fourth winning respin: Expanding to 5-5-5-5-5 with 3,125 ways to win and triggering free spins with the fully expanded game window (no retriggers)

While you are happily spinning away, you will see in every round or respin a train with three carts emerging from the tunnel on the right. It can carry up to three icons, each representing a random feature. They don’t always trigger when they appear and can just disappear with the carts. Up to three features can be awarded in a single spin, respin or free spin. They will be activated before the win evaluation is made.

• Second Chance – Red Heart: Can award a respin on a losing spin. The reels will not expand but will spin one more time in the current configuration to potentially land a win. Available in the base game only.
• Block Breaker – Cannon Turret: Unlocks two or four blocks to expand the game window. If it is unlocking the final blocks, it will trigger the free spins even on a losing spin. Available in the base game only.
• Random Wilds – Wild Icon: One to three wilds are placed on random opened reel positions except on reel one.
• Symbol Multiplier – Multiplier Icon: Awards a win multiplier of x5, x10, x15 or x20 for a random symbol in view. Might not be the winning symbol. Available in the base game and free spins.
• Symbol Upgrade – Random Symbol Icon: The symbol on the cart will upgrade all matching symbols in view to the next higher-value symbol on the paytable. Available in the base game and free spins.
• Extra Super Tokens – Gold Coin marked with R: Adds 3 to 15 Super Tokens to the meter on the left.
• Extra Free Spins – Golden Heart: Awards +1 free spin, no limits. Available in the free spins only.
• Multiplier Boost – Red Icon with Up Arrows: Increases the progressive multiplier in the Super Free Spins by x1, no limits.

By now you might have wondered what the meter on the left and Super Tokens (ST) stand for. The game has two types of free spins. The default is 8 free spins played on the full 5×5 game grid with potential random feature triggers. The second option are the Super Free Spins which are basically the same as the default round but come with a progressive win multiplier. After each win, it will increase by x1, no limits.

The Super Free Spins are available on the next bonus trigger if you have collected minimum 2,000 Super Tokens. There are three ways to get past the threshold.

• Unlocking blocks: Every time the grid expands in the base game and a block is removed, the game will award 1 to 5 Super Tokens which are added to the meter.
• Random Extra Super Tokens: A gold coin marked with R appearing on the carts at the bottom will award 3 to 15 ST
• Super Free Spins Upgrade: Once you have triggered the standard free spins you will be able to buy more Super Free Spins tokens (more to that in a moment) and then upgrade the default round to the Super Free Spins.

While you can score sizeable wins in the base game, the main event is the Free Spins feature, just like on the original Reel Rush slot. To trigger the feature, you will need to score consecutive winning spins and respins until the entire window has opened up to the full 5×5 size with 3,125 way. The display on the right will indicate the progress. It will reset should you fail to light up all stars and start illuminating again on the next win.

Once triggered, you will get as default 8 Free Spins which cannot be retriggered as such but a golden heart appearing on the carts during the feature will award +1 free spins for each instance. Before the round starts, you will be led to a second screen displaying the available options.

• You collected less than 2,000 Super Tokens: You can choose to play the standard 8 Free Spins or use the other two options to upgrade
• Upgrade Option 1: You can use your available Super Tokens to gamble for the upgrade to the Super Free Spins. A pie chart in the centre of the screen shows your chance to succeed based on the current Super Token balance. The amount will be deducted once you press “Gamble”. The upgrade is won when the wheel stops in the yellow area.
• Upgrade Option 2: You can buy extra Super Tokens (ST) to increase your balance. 400 ST will cost you 6x, 1,000 ST are 15x and 2,000 ST are 29.5x your default bet.
• You collected 2,000+ Super Tokens: The game will automatically upgrade the feature to 8 Super Free Spins

Any amount over 2,000 Super Tokens will be kept and carried over. The game starts the selected free spins which are played on the full 5×5 size with 3,125. The difference between the standard and Super Free Spins is the progressive multiplier. It is active in the latter only and will increase by x1 after each win or when the Multiplier Boost icon appears on the carts. The win multiplier is applied to all wins and is not limited.

Final Verdict

Well, this has been quite the makeover. While the original Reel Rush had just a simple free spins round, the sequel comes packed to the brim with random features and other extras that all contribute to a much more entertaining gaming session. I thoroughly enjoyed my first hours in demo mode on the game and will surely be playing it for real money once it is released on 7th November 2019.

Kudos have to go to the creative team and game designers at Netent as the slot is now much more appealing, especially since they lowered the minimum bet from 0.50 to just 0.20 credits per spin. As a last note, hitting the maximum win of 6,250x your bet is expected to happen once in 61 Million spins, which is on the low side compared to other games where the chances go well into the billions.

First spins in Demo Mode on the new Reel Rush 2 slot by NetEnt

Bonuses

Winners

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