Brawl at the Redcap Inn

Brawl at the Red Cap Inn: Slot Overview

Dual reel sets in a slot aren't a hugely common occurrence, yet one studio that dabbles is Yggdrasil partner Dreamtech Gaming. The developer has a soft spot for the twin grid arrangement, which is what they have used to power their fantasy-themed slot Brawl at the Red Cap Inn. Following this line of thought, the studio also has a major interest in anything fantasy related. So with two favoured elements rolled into one, we entered the Red Cap Inn with a level of expectation to witness the brawl.

First impressions were tepid to start with. Because each grid is made up of 5 reels and 5 rows, plus there are two of them, there isn't much room left over for the Red Cap Inn. Mainly it's represented by wooden floors, wooden tables, and a few glowing candles. The soundtrack is quite lively, though, so you can imagine a bunch of rowdy minstrels parked in the corner minstrelling away while patrons throw punches and bar stools at each other. The problem is you have to use quite a lot of imagination to fill in the gaps because Dreamtech hasn't done much graphically to create any sort of brawl, relying mainly on the symbols to provide a fantasy feel.

As you would expect a brawl to be, Brawl at the Red Cap Inn is highly volatile while producing an RTP of 96.04%. The hit rate is quite high at 36.38%, and since this is a double panel game, perhaps Dreamtech jigged the math model, so it doesn't seem like having a second grid is redundant. Default bets range from 20 p/c to $/€40 per spin, and the fisticuffs are available on mobile, tablet, or desktop devices.

Each grid is lined with 50 fixed pay lines, giving players a total of 100 different ways to win. This happens when at least three identical pay symbols hit from the left-hand side of the grid on one of the bet lines. Low pay symbols are pretty neat. Dreamtech has designed them to look like a hand of cards, appropriately displaying card symbols 10-A. Brawlers are up next, where we find a selection of five goblins, orcs, trolls, and human adventurer types as the premium symbols. Values are nothing special where five premiums on a line are worth a payout of 2 to 4 times the bet.

Wilds are the cornerstone to most of the features in Brawl at the Red Cap Inn, showing up in the base game or free spins to help improve the win rate. Wild symbols depict two combatants going head to head and is worth up to 5x the bet for a line of five. They also replace any other pay symbols to complete a bet line win.

Brawl at the Red Cap Inn: Slot Features

The Wild Swap feature means whenever a wild appears on one reel set, it is cloned to the same position on the other reel set. If wilds land in the same position on both reel sets at the same time, they become x5 multiplier wilds. Any scatter symbols that would be transformed into wilds as part of this feature still count as scatters for the purpose of triggering or retriggering free games.

Frothy beer mug tiles are scatters, and when 5 or more land across both game panels, the Held Wild Free Games feature is activated. 10 free games are awarded where any wilds or x5 multiplier wilds that appear are held in their position for the remainder of the bonus. The feature can be retriggered the same way, where 5 or more scatters appearing on the two grids add an additional +10 free spins to the remaining tally.

Brawl at the Red Cap Inn: Slot Verdict

Overall, Brawl at the Red Cap Inn invoked a similar response as the previous dual reel game we reviewed from Dreamtech, titled Fire and Ice. Kudos for doing something outside the norm, but perhaps there is a reason why these sorts of slots are uncommon. Usually doubling something doubles the enjoyment. Two scoops of ice cream on a sticky summer day is at least twice as good as one, for example. Doubling a grid, on the other hand, doesn't instantly end up being twice as fun to play as a single one. The twin setup remains an experimental peculiarity rather than a trendsetter for others to follow.

So it is with Brawl at the Red Cap Inn, which is kind of interesting as you work out how the dynamics work. The Wild Swap feature is a nice touch, also showing up in Ice and Fire as well, so Dreamtech obviously enjoys the idea. They've altered it, however, so landing one wild on another one now boosts them both to x5 Wild Multipliers. That didn't happen in the previous, and it probably won't happen much in Brawl at the Red Cap Inn either unless your luck is running hot.

Dreamtech got rid of cascades and progressive win multipliers from Ice and Fire, which is too bad. Perhaps these features wrecked all sorts of havoc with the mathematics of using sticky wilds in free spins. One result being Brawl at the Red Cap Inn offers less, but by no means unattractive, potential of 9,224x the stake. This figure was hit twice in a billion simulated game rounds for those who like to know the odds.

All up, Brawl at the Red Cap Inn turned out to be surprisingly low energy for an interspecies bar room punch up while also lacking the passion or fireworks of Ice and Fire. Still, the game can technically perform quite well, so players looking to broaden their horizons with a slightly unusual grid layout in a fantasy setting might find a level of satisfaction in Brawl at the Red Cap Inn.