It takes guts to break new ground in any field, and Push Gaming is one studio that has shown the kind of nerve needed to shake up the gaming business. When browsing their past catalog, you’ll find some online slots that revolutionized the gambling industry. The same creative energy has gone into Space Stacks, another of the studio’s offerings that features a gaming experience unlike any seen on the reels. It does this using an implementation of Reelbets. Players are able to place wagers on individual reels, each of which has the potential to award a unique set of features or payouts. Let’s take a vacation to a place where gamblers are highly unlikely to have ever gone.
There are still many mysteries in the cosmos that have not been explained by science, making it an ideal setting for a futuristic video game. Here’s an example. If the Big Bang really did occur, then even the brightest minds in science are at a loss to explain it. It makes you think whether maybe we’re better off in the dark. Consider the possibility that our three-dimensional world is the result of a cosmic blunder, such as if a superior being spilled a beaker of experimental goo on the floor and, to avoid being reprimanded, pricked a hole in the fabric of reality and squidged the goo through with their toe.
And now, the rules of Space Stacks. To begin, there are a total of 10 reels in the main game, 7 of which offer Instant Prizes and the remaining 3 leading to bonus games. Like in roulette, participants decide how much to wager by clicking the appropriate number of “chips,” and then they click the appropriate reels. The initial bet multipliers on the first six Instant Prize Block reels are 2, 2, 3, 5, 10, and 50, while those on the three Bonus Block reels—the Astro, Flip, and Apex—are respectively 2, 2, 3, 10, and 50. The Max Block is a 5,000x Instant Win Game. Players can place wagers on whatever number of reels they desire, with a minimum stake of 0.01 credits and a maximum of 10 or 100 credits, respectively.
After placing bets, a round of play begins when the spin button is pressed. To begin, the Enhancement component may boost the value of the first six Instant Prizes won. This can cause multipliers of x2 to x100 to be activated, or it can add values from +2 to +1,000. Then, a succession of tiles, both symbols and blockers, fall into the reels. While the blocking tiles are taken out, the symbols slide to the bottom of the reels. As long as there is at least one reel with 10 active symbols, more symbols/blockers will be placed onto the grid to fill it. Players that wager on the winning reel(s) will get the corresponding reward.
Stacked Slots in Outer Space
The Astro, Flip, or Apex bonus game is activated when a player places a wager on those reels and subsequently wins.
Astro activates a 32-segment Instant Win wheel. Instant Prizes from +2 to +1,000, multipliers from x2 to x100, and a Collect section make up the segments of the wheel. Until the player’s multiplier or Instant Prize portion of the wheel is revealed, they cannot collect either.
Flip: A 6×6 grid is shown on the screen, and players select three face-down tiles to flip over. Instant Prizes ranging from 1x to 1,000x or a Rocket Symbol are revealed for each selected tile. Once the initial Rocket Symbol appears, a multiplier of x2 is applied to all subsequent wins, and so on. Multipliers of 2, 5, 10, and 100 are available for wins. The selection of a Rocket has no effect on the draft order.
Apex is an advanced version of the original game with several new twists. This time, there are a total of six Instant Prize reels, and their initial values range from $2 to $20. The Enhancement function can be activated with a scaling increase from 2x to 20x. When a given column is completely filled, the reward for that column is claimed. When a second column is completed, the prize awarded increases by a factor of two. The amount gained increases by one for each Instant Prize won. When you fill up two columns, you get three more lives. If you manage to land any of the symbols, you’ll be given three more lives. The feature stops after all lives have been taken away or when no symbols have landed. When all columns are full, the function will also finish. During the feature, the total win is doubled by the wager placed on the Feature Block.
Judgment on Space Stacks: Slots
With Space Stacks, Push Gaming was going for something new, and they succeeded admirably. Whether it’s Space Stacks, Pragmatic Play’s Spaceman, or anything from Crazy Tooth Studio, people aren’t going to love it just because it’s different. It may take a few plays of Space Stacks before you understand the game’s goals and choose whether or not you enjoy what it has to offer. The gameplay is similar to that of some Dream Drop Jackpot rounds, however the maximum payout is much smaller and the gaming complexity is much higher. The maximum win in this case is 5,000 times the wager.
Betting strategy requires more consideration than normal. It’s not as simple as selecting a wager and clicking “play.” Whether you play for the smaller Instant Prizes, the Max for laughs with a one-cent bet, the two feature reels only, or something else entirely is up to you. You get to make the call, and Push Gaming has provided a plethora of information to help you do so. The paytable details the average payout, as well as the return values for each of the 10 columns, with a total RTP of 96.23% with volatility falling somewhere in the middle. Handy. Hit frequency would have been helpful as well, but maybe that’s asking too much. As it stands, there is a plethora of data for those who choose to go deeper and make more calculated judgments.
If you’re tired of matching fruits, reeling in money symbols, and visiting far-flung places on Earth, Space Stacks from Push Gaming might be the perfect diversion. Perhaps not, but it’s good to have a choice. Space Stacks is quite out there, so it’s definitely worth a try, despite the fact that some of the additional games are a touch common at a basic level.