Thunder Storm Slots
When it comes to low-variance slots that consistently boost your bankroll, you can’t do much better than Thunder Storm, a 5-reel, 20-payline title from Merkur Gaming that nearly always awards prizes.
Unlike a lot of slots in the Merkur Gaming catalogue, when playing Thunder Storm players needn’t worry about matching three-of-a-kind because payouts are awarded for any two – and in some cases, even one – matching symbols, meaning you’ll usually make a profit on your base game spins.
Featuring a bonus round and random scatter prizes, there are plenty of ways to make money on Thunder Storm – and the best news of all is the game can be played from as little as ￡0.01 per turn.
A storm brewing
Like a lot of titles in the Merkur Gaming range, Thunder Storm is a semi-adjustable slot in that although players can select the number of paylines they wish to enable, their options are somewhat limited. In this case, the game can be played with 1, 5, 10, 15 or 20 active paylines and coin sizes ranging from $0.01 to $2.00, meaning the largest total bet players can place is a pretty hefty ￡40.00.
As alluded to above, the payouts come thick and fast in Thunder Storm and you’ll want to play with the maximum number of paylines enabled to ensure you get your hands on the greatest number of winning combinations possible. Standard playing card symbols payout for any three-of-a-kind combination, but players can also profit from any two matching medium value symbols in a row too.
A special rainbow icon awards a payout for every active payline that it features in and can also trigger the slot’s maximum regular jackpot of 10,000x your line bet when it appears on all five reels, while hurricane symbols trigger a pick-and-click feature and scatter symbols award random prizes.
Thunderbolts and lightning
In terms of visuals, Thunder Storm is a very simple slot to look at. The background is a plain crimson screen that does nothing to reinforce the game’s weather-based theme, but the unique symbols include clouds, dandelions, wind-socks and apple trees to give the slot an all-round natural feel.
A rainbow represents the highest value symbol in the game and awards a prize whenever it features on the reels, while a hurricane icon triggers Thunder Storm’s bonus feature when three or more feature on an active payline. On top of that, there’s also a red-headed girl who acts as the slot’s scatter symbol, with players receiving a random prize of up to 200x their total bet when she appears.
Beyond that, there are not a lot of graphical flourishes present in the game as the roster of symbols also includes the derivative Ace-through-Jack playing card symbols. All unique icons do include a special animation when they feature in a winning combination, but the bonus round is visually uninspiring and the sound effects used are merely the standard noises from a classic slot machine.
Gale force
Where Thunder Storm differs from a lot of Merkur Gaming slots is in the fact that a bonus round is included. Activated whenever three or more hurricane symbols appear on an active payline during the base game, players are transported to a new screen where they have to click to unveil a prize.
There are five hurricanes displayed on this screen and players will get to pick between 2 and 5 depending on how many symbols they matched to trigger the bonus feature. This factor also affects how much each hurricane is worth, as a starting prize of $0.20 is awarded at the lowest level, but this rises to $0.50 when you match five-of-a-kind. After choosing their hurricanes and receiving their prize, players will then be given additional bonuses from their selected icons to boost their winnings.
As with the vast majority of Merkur Gaming titles, players can gamble either their base game or bonus round winnings in a special double-up feature, but should they risk it and prove unsuccessful, they will forfeit their entire prize for that spin and have to start again from scratch on the next go.
Blowing hot and cold
While we like the fact that Thunder Storm is a low-variance title that consistently awards prizes, players should be aware that they are also consistently small and it isn’t really the game to make your fortune on. In addition, the graphics are fairly ropey and the bonus round is one of the more basic-looking features we’ve seen on a video slot, meaning Thunder Storm is mostly blowing hot air.
