Folsom Prison

Folsom Prison Overview

As is always the case with the Nolimit City studio, it has themed its latest game around an edgy/controversial topic. This most recent game is inspired by the notorious Folsom Prison, a penitentiary in California with a history of famous inmates and shocking events. Like many of this provider's products, this slot's playing dynamics are quite complex. The reels, for example, start in a 2x2x2x2 format but are liable to change thanks to the intervention of features. This game at its peak has an incredible 46,664 ways to win and a huge top win of 75,000x the stake.

There are six bonus features in total for this game, starting with the xWays feature, a regular in Nolimit City games. This bonus concerns the xWays symbols that can appear on any reel. When they land, they transform into a standard icon and reveal two to four other symbols of the same type. This increases the number of icons on the board and the win ways available. This is followed by the xSplit feature. These xSplit symbols only appear on the middle two reels. When they land, they split the entire row they land on, which doubles the pay lines for that row. There are many other features that we will also explain later in the review.

Theme and Symbols

Folsom State prison (the second oldest prison in California) is famous for several reasons. One of the most notable is that Johnny Cash performed twice inside the prison and recorded part of an album at the prison called 'At Folsom Prison'. This is why you will see Johnny Cash symbols tumbling through the reels throughout the game. Other reasons for the prison's fame are the various notable prisons that were sent there, including Charles Manson, the head of the Manson family cult, which between them committed multiple murders. It is very on brand for Nolimit City to publish a slot devoted to extreme and controversial topics such as this one.

The background for this game is a depiction of Folsom Prison's exterior walls and towers. The prison has a very iconic tower and arch entrance that is unique to this prison, making it instantly recognisable. In this game, they have repeated the tower and gate on either side of the playing board. The art style is a drawn sketch that is coloured in a melancholic, almost sickly green/grey that makes everything from the sky to the bricks of the walls look unhealthy and sad.
The playing board has been styled to look like a cell block with bars and locks on many symbols.

The symbols for this game are split into low-value, high-value and special symbols. The low-value symbols are the 10, J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The most valuable of these is the A, worth 0.9x the stake for the top combination. The more valuable symbols, on the other hand, are the various prisoners. These comprise the following: Fresh Meat, Backstabber, The Fixer, Shivy Impala and Shankman (Johnny Cash). Cash is the most valuable of these, worth 2.5x the stake for the top combination. The specials are the rose wild, the cockroach nest wild, the scatter, and the xWays and xSplit symbols.

Game Play

Folsom Prison is played on a 5-reel, 2x2x2x2 format board that expands with the influence of features. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The betting range for Folsom Prison is 20p to £100 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 Folsom Prison is 96.07%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 75,000x your stake.

Features

The first feature available in this game is the xWays bonus. It is triggered any time an xWays icon falls onto the reels. It transforms into a normal paying symbol and reveals two to four symbols of the same type. This process increases the number of pay lines.

The next feature is the xSplit bonus. These symbols fall only on the middle two reels. When they land, they split the entire row on which they fall, doubling the number of symbols in that reel. The xSplit symbol itself will transform into a wild to help score more wins. These symbols can also split scatters, helping players trigger the free spins round.

The third feature included in this game is the Cockroach feature. You'll notice that cockroaches can open prisoners' cells, unlocking more options in terms of combinations. Walking across the reels, it also deposits multiplier values on any icons its passes. After finishing their journey, they then turn into a wild. They can also upgrade other cockroaches and clone themselves if they are holding two eggs.

The Walk the Line feature (inspired by Johnny Cash) is triggered when players simultaneously land three or more of the scatter symbols on the reels. You will subsequently be awarded eight free spins. You can get extra spins if scatters are affected by xSplit symbols or by landing additional scatters during the feature. All previous features are also in play in this special round.

The Chair feature (electric chair) is activated when players land four Folsom Prison State scatters on a base spin. Eight free spins are awarded an extra one for any scatters landed beyond the threshold of four. In this more valuable version of the free spins round, the format for the board is 4x4x4x4x4, meaning more pay lines from the start. A minimum of three cockroaches is also guaranteed to land on every free spin. With the influence of xWays and xSplit icons, players can unlock the maximum number of pay lines here - 46,664.

Finally, this game also has the Nolimit City bonus feature, which is essentially a bonus buy option. This, however, is not open to players in the UK.

Conclusion

With typical Nolimit City edginess and dicey subject matter, Folsom Prison is a fun, if a little left-field game with plenty of feature content and loads of stimulating gameplay. Again in classic Nolimit City style, the risk is very high, yet so are the rewards. You are not likely to get many little wins, but if you get stuck into a feature, the payouts could be amazing. Players who enjoy fast-paced, multifaceted slots with tons going on will love this game.