The Stash

The Stash: Slot Overview

Welcome to The Stash from Blueprint Gaming, a world of big guns, big attitudes, and, hopefully, big payouts. Welcome to the streets, in other words, the mean streets, where the ends justify the means, or so the saying goes. At least, it's fun to play make-believe cops and robbers; not so cool in real life. Lucky then, that this is online gambling, where players can indulge their inner gangster fantasies from the comfort of their living room in games like The Stash, which not only looks the biz but lays out in thick in terms of entertaining gaming.

On the subject of looks, The Stash has a part cartoon, part realistic, part Art Deco mish-mash going on that creates a modern graphic novel sort of feel. Its base game takes place somewhere urban, a place of opportunity for those with the gumption to take advantage and seize opportunities. Sorry, we might slip in and out of character as the review progresses. Actually, part of the game's logo is a silhouette of iconic landmarks from the London skyline, so it appears as if the UK is the location. Players move ever deeper into the heart of the action, getting the chance to possibly lay their hands on a bit of stash when The Stash shifts to either or both of its bonus rounds, as will soon be made clear.

The Stash is played on a 5-reel game grid, each reel holding 3-4-4-4-3 symbols. If the set-up just so happens to remind you of Nolimit City's Western extravaganza Deadwood, just wait until you see some of the features. To get the ball or the heist or whatever rolling, users pick a stake of 20 p/c to $/€10 per spin, doable on any device. One thing to also consider is the Stash Bet which bumps the stake up by 25% whilst doubling the chance of hitting a bonus game. Mathematically medium-high volatile, The Stash produces a theoretical return figure of 96%, though a lower 94% version is available, as well, so it is something to look out for.

Landing identical symbols on at least three adjacent reels from the left creates a winning way. The low symbols are Q, K, A, a pistol, and some cards, while the high pays are a suitcase and four gangster-looking character symbols. When landing a five-of-a-kind winning way, the reward is 0.5 to 1 times the bet for the lows or 1.5 to 3 times the bet for the premiums. Wilds are able to replace any of the aforementioned regular symbols. They may possess multipliers and can also be nudged to fill a whole reel.

The Stash: Slot Features

The Stash is equipped with two bonus rounds, which can be triggered separately or simultaneously, though they will be played one at a time, of course. The symbols associated with the bonus rounds are the scatter, landing on reels 1 and 5, plus the Shoot & Spin, present on reels 2, 3, and 4.

Lock & Spin Heist

Landing 3 Shoot & Spins symbols on the middle three reels triggers this feature. It's a hold 'n win style round, where players are awarded 3 respins, which reset when new symbols land on the grid. These can be cash symbols, but also character symbols to modify the round by doing things like expanding the playing area, or adding values, for example.

Free Spins

Hitting the scatter on reels 1 and 5 awards 8 free spins. When wilds land in this one, they nudge to cover the whole reel. Each step in the nudge increases a win multiplier, which persists until the round comes to an end.

Ultimate Heist Free Spins

Landing scatters on reels 1 and 5, plus Shoot & Spins on the three middle reels, awards both of the previously mentioned bonus rounds. Free spins are played first, where the accrued multiplier is brought over to the Lock & Spin Heist round.

Bonus Buys

Those in relevant jurisdictions may have access to The Stash's bonus buy menu. There are three choices here - free spins, Shoot & Spin, or The Ultimate Heist.

The Stash: Slot Verdict

Has Blueprint Gaming turned over a new leaf recently? It used to feel like it was all remakes of remakes, endless DOND slots, Fishin' Frenzy spin-offs, bison stuff and so on and so forth. Nothing wrong with that as such, and there were loads of others sprinkled in there, too, of course; we are generalising, after all. Then along came Ballin', and now The Stash, which reveal a rawer side to the studio, a side that doesn't take any crap, flaunting a more confrontational attitude which was absent from a lot of previous games, plus a sort of loose kind of fun factor to boot.

You can see where the studio might, just might, have found one or two things to inspire them or get their creative juices flowing when designing The Stash. The reel set-up, combined with nudging wilds, and the dual scatter/Shoot & Spins use are straight from the Deadwood playbook. Still, if you're going to be inspired by (or copy) someone else's work, it might as well be a darn good one. What's also good in this case is that Blueprint hasn't just done an imitation job but used previous ideas to springboard into something new. One of the most exciting prospects around here is surely triggering Ultimate Heist Free Spins, thereby shifting from one bonus round to another. Naturally, it might be best not to take it as a given that something phenomenal will occur. It wasn't unheard of to play through free spins and score no multiplier to carry on over to the Lock & Spin Heist section. Get it right, though, like really right, and wins of up to 25,000x the bet are technically possible.

That would be quite a heist indeed, and when factoring in The Heist's excellent Guy Ritchie vibe (or is it more Fast & Furious?), we've got a finely-designed slot on our hands, packing bags of attitude, energy, and straight up joie de vivre.