Bangkok Hilton

Bangkok Hilton: Slot Overview

No one dreams of doing time, but there are places around the world you really don't want to get banged up in, and one of the best ways to avoid this happening is, don't do the crime. That's not an option this time, because players are getting locked up in Nolimit City's Bangkok Hilton, 'the most densely populated and unsanitary prison in the world.' That doesn't sound very nice, but like cockroaches, humans have a knack for surviving in hostile environments, and in this lock-up, that means thriving in an Enhancer Cell-enriched environment, with two bonus games to negotiate in order to make it out alive.

When the gates slide open, and entrance is admitted to Bangkok Hilton, it's kind of like a mix of Folsom Prison meets Mental. In other words, this is not an institution you'd want to find yourself in in real life. Blood-spattered walls are dotted by bullet holes down in Execution Spins, barbed wire lines fences in the base game, and an overall dreary colour scheme makes it clear that a strong, desperate, ruthless mindset could be an advantage for one day, maybe, getting out of here. Forget lawyers. If you aren't willing to abide by the laws of the prison or eat crushed bugs for protein, you ain't gonna survive long in this place. Anyway, that's the vibe Bangkok Hilton gives off, another Nolimit City slot which lets players sample an unsavoury side of life from the comfort of their device.

Of note is Bangkok Hilton's gaming grid, which has 6 reels dropping symbols in a 2-3-4-4-4-4 pattern, with 4 locked Enhancer Cells located above the last 4 reels. Arranged like this, there are 152 connected ways to win, but this number can be increased by special symbols, such as the xSplit. Regular symbols land in the main area, while special symbols only appear in locked positions. When choosing a bet, the options are $/€0.20 to $/€100, with boosters and buys available. Bangkok Hilton is highly volatile and has four RTP options, with 96.1% the highest.

Its pay symbols are 10-A, oddly shaped metallic instruments, and 5 Inmate character symbol high pays. Winning combinations of 6 symbols in length award 0.4x to 1.2x when made up of royals, or 1.6x to 3.2x when made of Inmates. Wilds can land on any reel except the leftmost to substitute regular paying symbols.

Bangkok Hilton: Slot Features

Features lining Bangkok Hilton are Enhancer Cells with various modifiers, Isolation Spins, Execution Spins, Nolimit Boosters, and feature buys.

Scatter Symbol

Scatters can land on reels 3 to 6. When a scatter lands, it transforms into a wild. Landing 2 scatters in the base game, xBoost 1 or 2, awards a respin with opened Enhancer Cells where scatters previously landed. Any additional scatter landing on a respin awards an extra spin. Free spins cannot be triggered during a respin.

Enhancer Cells

When a scatter lands, it opens the locked Enhancer Cell on its reel, which may reveal:

• xSplit Reel - splits all symbols on its reel, doubling their symbol size.
• xSplit Row - lands on a random position on its reel and splits all symbols on the same row, doubling their size.
• xWays - randomly lands on its reel and reveals 2-4 regular pay symbols of the same kind, increasing the number of win ways. If more than one xWays lands on the reels, then all of them reveal the same symbol. xWays appear only during Isolation, Execution Spins, or Unbarred Spins, and are always sticky.
• Doubled Inmate - appears as a random Inmate pay symbol and doubles the symbol size of all its instances on the main reel area.
• Sticky Wild - randomly transforms a symbol from reels 2-6 into a wild. If respins, Isolation, or Execution Spins are triggered, the wild remains in its position.
• Wild Reel - transforms all symbols on its reel into wild symbols.

Isolation Spins

Landing 3 scatters in the base game triggers 7 Isolation Spins. When Isolation or Execution Spins trigger, scatters do not transform into wilds. However, the Enhancer Cells are unlocked on reels where scatter symbols landed, and 1-3 xWays symbols are randomly awarded on those reels. These xWays symbols are sticky throughout the bonus. Moreover, a locked Enhancer Cell is unlocked when a scatter lands on its reel, upgrading the bonus mode to Execution Spins and awarding +3 spins. In both bonus games, landing a scatter symbol on an open reel awards +1 spins.

Execution Spins

Landing 4 scatters in the base game triggers 10 Execution Spins. All Enhancer Cells are unlocked, and 1-4 sticky xWays symbols are randomly awarded.

Nolimit Boosters & Bonus Buys

Three boosters may be activated to potentially enhance play. They are:

• xBoost 1 - At 2.5x the bet, a scatter symbol is guaranteed on reel 3 or 4, making it 3 times more likely to trigger Isolation or Execution Spins.
• xBoost 2 - At 20x the bet, 2 scatter symbols are guaranteed on either reel (3 or 4) and reel (5 or 6), guaranteeing a respin. This one is 27 times more likely to trigger Isolation or Execution Spins.
• Unbarred Spin - At 30x the bet, one spin is awarded with all Enhancer Cells open. Landing a scatter awards +1 spin.

Buying into Isolation Spins can be done for 80x, or Execution Spins for 300x, or a lucky draw costs 190x the bet.

Bangkok Hilton: Slot Verdict

Nolimit City might like a good Western, but the studio has a definite interest in incarceration, as well. After making monsters like San Quentin 2, with its mountain of potential, intimidating inmates, and thrilling features, it knows how to make a good one, too. Bangkok Hilton might not be as intimidating as San Quentin 2 - they can't all be freaks of nature, but it's also no overnight stay in a low security Norwegian prison with an ensuite bathroom and flat screen TV. It's a highly volatile, Nolimit City slot, and they're not exactly known for their leniency. They are known for features, of which Bangkok Hilton has a few, maybe not as many as the studio's more bloated releases, but there is plenty here for fans to get to grips with.

What will help with this task is that a lot of the features have been seen before. Enhancer Cells are one of Nolimit City's staple devices - both San Quentin slots had them, as did games like Ugliest Catch and Highway to Hell. That means NLC followers will be able to start the game on solid ground. From there, it's all about slicing the reels up with the help of things like xSplit, plastering wilds to reels, adding more ways to win via xWays, and hoping they connect into something big. It is quite exciting when there's a win on the reels getting chopped by Enhancer Cell features one at a time, though equally sad when a bunch of features go to waste with no connected win to be applied to. A nicely rounded figure of 44,444x the bet can theoretically be won in this prison, evidencing Bangkok Hilton's ability to go pop when it cuts loose.

Nolimit City excels at designing gameplay which can chop a game board up from nothing to something hair-raising in moments, and Bangkok Hilton is capable of that. However, it is hard to rank Bangkok Hilton as one of Nolimit City's white hot innovators - don't be expecting a San Quentin 3, and it doesn't have a ton of stuff that hasn't been seen before in one form or another. Rather, it's like a collection of xMechanics and more, rolled into one depressing-looking dive. Yet while Bangkok Hilton might not crack the studio's best of list, there is some classic Nolimit City style action here to experience.