Cluster Tumble

Cluster Tumble Overview

Created by the experts at Relax Gaming, Cluster Tumble is a cluster pay dynamic slot with an exotic oriental theme and an exciting protagonist. From the looks of some of the locations that this character enters and from her trademark ponytail and handgun, this feels like a Lara Croft-inspired game.

Like Lara, the main character here is very interested in hidden ancient treasures and has all the charisma and flair of a tomb raider, just in an animated format. Mechanically, this game is played on an 8x8 grid with plenty of features and has an +impressive top payout of 20,000x your stake.

The features for Cluster Tumble include, as is usually the case with cluster pay slots, a cascade feature. This bonus is triggered every time players score a win and helps unlock frozen positions on the board. This bonus will continue until a new set of symbols does not form a win. Joining this bonus are the stone block features – the lightning wins feature and fire transform feature. You will learn more about these later on in the game. Finally, there is also a free spins game and a bonus buy feature, although the bonus buy is not available to play in the UK.

Theme and Symbols

The narrative for this slot is explained when the game is loading. The situation is that the male partner of the protagonist has been captured and imprisoned in a dungeon under a citadel. The Lara Croft-like character's mission is to save him and recover any stolen artefacts she may find along the way. So even from the outset, there is a feeling of adventure and peril that is integral to this genre's films and games. Seeing as though the male counterpart was kidnapped in Asia (perhaps southern China), the board is full of cool Asian buildings, statues and symbols.

The background for this slot in the base game is one of the spaces between the perimeter walls of the fortress that the prisoner is being held. It is the kind of setting you can easily imagine Croft repelling down into in the dead of night to rescue her partner. However, when players enter the free spins round, the setting changes, taking players to the subterranean dungeon. Here the floor is littered with gold and treasure, and hanging from the ceiling is the partner in a birdcage, underneath which are menacing-looking spikes.

The playing window is a large stone wall flanked by two enormous totem poles with intimidating demonic faces hewn out of gold.
The symbols for this game are split into low-value, high value and special symbols. The low-value symbols are the blue, green and pink gemstones. These pay up to 50x the stake. However, the more valuable symbols are the blue chieftain, the green scarab, and the pink dragon.

The pink dragon is the most valuable symbol on the board, paying up to 2,000x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the specials are the W wild, the lightning icon, the fire icon, and the scatter. Each of these special symbols has relevance to a bonus feature.

Game Play

Cluster Tumble is played on an 8x8 cluster pays board. To win combinations, players must land four or more matching icons together in an adjacent cluster.

The betting range for Cluster Tumble is 10p to £50 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.

Volatility for this slot is rated in the very high range. The return to player percentage for Cluster Tumble is 96.4%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 20,000x your stake.

Features

The first feature included in this game is the cascading wins bonus. This feature is triggered every time that a player scores a win. When this happens, the adjacent positions on the playing window to your win are unlocked, and a new set of symbols fall into their vacant positions. These cascades will continue until the new set of icons does not score a win. You will automatically trigger the free spins feature if you unlock all 64 positions on the playing window.

The next features are the special stone blocks bonuses. These occur when there is a winning combo next to the symbol that represents each feature.

These are explained below:
The Lightning Win feature is triggered when a combination is triggered next to a lightning symbol. When this happens, this icon will change into a target symbol. This new target symbol can be any standard icon. The following cascade will combine all those symbols to form one cluster – they don't even need to be lined up.

On the other hand, the Fire Transform feature is triggered when players land a winning combination next to a fire icon. This fire icon again turns into any regular icon. In the following cascade, one or two types of icons will transform so they match the target fire symbol. New payouts then follow the transformation.

The free spins feature is the next bonus on the list. It is activated either by landing three or more of the scatter symbols on the reels simultaneously or by unlocking every position on the playing window. You are then rewarded with five free spins. Every time that a scatter lands during this feature, one extra spin is added to your running total.

Unlocking all the positions on the grid also rewards you with a multiplier. The multiplier grows every time you go through the process of unlocking every position. Doing this will award you with another three spins. In the free spins game, the multiplier does not reset between spins.

The bonus buy feature finally allows players to buy their way into features. However, this option is not available in the UK.

Conclusion

With a satisfying rock crumbling playing dynamic, some fun features and high-quality graphics, Cluster Tumble has everything you want from a cluster game. The 20,000x the stake top win isn't too shabby either. Just look out for the very high volatility, as big wins will probably be few and far between.