Thunderbirds Slot Machine
Join the ride as we review the Thunderbirds slot which has no less than three bonus games, a Superspins round, five randomly triggered missions that include the five Thunderbirds, and an expanding wild.
The immensely popular sci-fi series Thunderbirds debuted in 1965 and has since been broadcast in over 60 countries. Set in the mid-2060s, the storyline revolves around former astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five adult sons who form a secret organization called International Rescue, dedicated to saving human life with the help of five futuristic vehicles, the Thunderbirds.
Storm Gaming Technology has taken on the challenge to create a video slot that does justice to the epic TV series.
The Sci-Fi Reels
The slot reels are set in a Thunderbird spaceship in front of a window looking out into the blue sky. The game buttons mimic spaceship controls, with the spin button being the ship’s radar. The premium symbols are the characters and props from the sci-fi series. The original soundtrack has been incorporated into the game and is accompanied by the usual reel and win count noises.
The low-value symbols are more mundane of nature, with the card royals 10 to A paying up to 4x your stake for a five of a kind. They continue with Penelopes’ limousine, the mother spaceship, Jeff Tracy himself, and a tile depicting his five sons - Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, and Alan.
Wins for the premium symbols range from 6x to 25x your stake when five line up on a pay line. The wild symbol is Aloysius Parker, the chauffeur and butler of Penelope, who is the organization’s agent based in London.
The three bonus games are triggered by two F.A.B Supermarionation symbols and one of three bonus symbols on reel five – The Hood, Vault of Cash, and Thunderwilds. Scatters are the globe with the word Superspins across it.
Read the Numbers and Stats
Thunderbirds is a video slot with five reels, three rows, and 20 fixed pay lines. Bet sizes start at 0.20 coins and peak at 100 coins. The RTP of this medium variance game is set at a low 94.31% with the maximum win potential per round limited by the provider at 250,000 coins.
However, as our review team has calculated, the actual win potential of the Thunderbirds slot peaks at 500x your bet on a single spin. Play the game on desktop and mobile devices. The Autoplay function will let you set 5 to 100 consecutive spins with a mandatory loss limit setting.
The Thunderbirds to Your Rescue
Brace for a flurry of random features, which involve the five Thunderbird vehicles from the series and can happen in the base game and free spins, as our review team found out on their test runs on the Thunderbirds slot. Each will apply a reel modifier that can help to create more or bigger win combinations.
Thunderbird 1 will fly past the game window and drop a random number of common symbols onto the reels. They can repeat the mission if no win was created on the first drop. Thunderbird 2 will fly across and drop one multiplier onto a random position. In turn, Thunderbird 3 will take off from the bottom and transform one random reel into a stacked wild.
Thunderbird 4 will appear after a win and remove the winning symbols to drop new ones into place. This continues until no new winning combo occurs after a fresh drop. Thunderbird 5 will award five spins, where on each spin it passes the reels to drop a number of random wilds.
Enjoy More Action and Big Wins From Three Bonus Games
Hitting a F.A.B Supermarionation Bonus symbol on reel one and three, as well as either the Vault of Cash, The Hood, or Thunderwilds symbol on reel five, will trigger the respective bonus game.
The Hood will lead to the Temple of Treasure game where players select first the level of difficulty, which is directly linked to the win potential. The higher the difficulty, the higher the coin wins, but also the more Hood symbols are added to the game grid.
In the second phase, players work their way through a field with 15 positions one pick at a time to collect coin wins. Unveiling The Hood will end the round.
Vault of Cash is a two-wheel feature where the inner wheel has coin wins and the outer either ‘spin’ or ‘stop’ segments. Players turn the wheel and collect coin wins until the outer wheel halts on ‘stop’. The vault can randomly open at the end of the round to unveil a multiplier of up to x100, which will be applied to the total winnings from the bonus game.
Thunderwilds will add a random number of wilds on reels one to four, while the triggering wild on reel five expands to cover the entire reel. The game will respin and the wilds will move by one step to the left until disappearing from view. Wins are accumulated throughout the respins and paid once the feature ends.
Superspins for Your Super Mega Wins
Thinking that the above would be all, our review team discovered that the Thunderbirds online slot also has a free spins round which is triggered by minimum three scatters symbols landing on a spin.
The game will award a random number of free spins where all random Thunderbird features and the Vault of Cash bonus game will trigger more often. Occasionally, the game will trigger enhanced Superspins with expanding Thunderwilds that can appear on all reels. The feature cannot be retriggered.
Try Other Intergalactic Slot Reels
There are some awesome slots with a sci-fi or space theme. Our review team for the Thunderbird slot recommends you try Mars Attacks! from Blueprint Gaming or Reptoids from Yggdrasil Gaming.
A Mundane Verdict
The sci-fi Thunderbirds slot we just reviewed is a superb adaptation of the original series from the 1960s. Storm Gaming went to great length to create an authentic feeling that stretches from the game design to the pay symbols and soundtrack.
The win potential is somewhat unclear, but should be around the 1,500x bet mark in the Superspins round. However, with the sheer amount of random and bonus features, the gameplay is more focused on medium sized wins ranging from 50x to 200x the bet, which is not a bad thing as they trigger often enough. Ready for your space adventure?