Space Stacks

Space Stacks: Slot Overview

To push boundaries in any walk of life, it pays to be bold, and one studio which has displayed the sort of chutzpah needed to shake the gambling industry up is Push Gaming. Taking a trip through their back catalogue turns up a number of online slots that redefined the gambling sphere. This innovative spirit has been poured into another one of the studio's releases cleverly titled Space Stacks which provides a gambling experience unlike any other found on the reels. It does so by using a system known as Reelbets. It lets players bet on individual reels for the chance to win different prizes or features depending on the reel. If you are ready to go where gamblers are unlikely to have been before, let's take a trip.

If you are going to design a far-out game, what better place to locate it than far out in the universe where there are still plenty of mysteries that science is yet to solve. Here's one. Assuming the Big Bang actually happened, our greatest scientific minds can't explain why it happened. Makes you wonder, is it better we don't know? Imagine it was a cosmic booboo like some advanced being accidentally dropped a beaker of experimental goo on the floor, and to avoid getting told off for making a mess, pricked a hole in the fabric of reality, squidged the goo through with their toe, which then festered into the three-dimensional realm we find ourselves in.

And so, how to play Space Stacks. Firstly, the base game has 10 reels out of which 7 award Instant Prizes; the other 3 lead to bonus games. A bit like playing roulette, players pick the size of the bet they would like to make by selecting chips and then clicking the reels they would like to bet on. The first six Instant Prize Block reels start with bet multiplier values of 2, 2, 3, 5, 10, and 50, whereas the three Bonus Block reels are the Astro, Flip, and Apex. The Max Block is an Instant Prize of 5,000x. Players are free to bet on as many reels as they would like, and the minimum stake for all choices is 0.01 credits – max bets range from 10 to 100 credits depending on the reel.

Once the bets are set, hitting the spin button starts a game round. First, there is a chance that the first six Instant Prize values are increased by the Enhancement feature. This can add values of +2 to +1,000 or activate multipliers of x2 to x100. Then, a number of symbols and blocker tiles start dropping onto the reels. Symbols fall to the bottom of the reels while blocker tiles are removed. Symbols/blockers continue to be dropped onto the grid until one or more of the reels are filled with 10 active symbols. If players bet on the successful reel/reels, they win the respective prize.

Space Stacks: Slot Features

When players bet on the Astro, Flip, or Apex reels and win, the corresponding bonus game is triggered.

• Astro - Astro triggers an Instant Prize wheel with 32 segments. The segments on the wheel contain Instant Prizes of +2 to +1,000, multipliers of x2 to x100, and a Collect segment. Players collect Instant Prizes and multipliers until the wheel lands on the collect segment.
• Flip -  A 6x6-sized board is displayed on the screen, and players pick 3 of the down-turned tiles. Each picked tile reveals an Instant Prize of 1x to 1,000x or a Rocket Symbol. The first Rocket Symbol activates an x2 multiplier, then each Rocket after that increases the value of the total win multiplier. The win multipliers possible are x2, x5, x10, or x100. When a Rocket is picked, it does not reduce the number of remaining picks.
• Apex - Apex is similar to the base game, but with a few different rules. This time it has six Instant Prize reels with starting values of 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 20. The Enhancement feature runs with possible enhancements of x2 to x20. When a column has been filled, its respective prize is collected. When a second column is filled, its prize multiplies the already collected prize. Each Instant Prize won multiplies the already collected prize. When 2 columns have been filled, the game activates three lives. Landing one or more symbols resets the life count back to 3. When no symbols land, one life is removed, and when all lives are gone, the feature ends. Alternatively, the feature will end when all columns are filled. The total win is multiplied by the bet on the Feature Block, which is displayed on the screen during the feature.

Space Stacks: Slot Verdict

Push Gaming set out to do something different with Space Stacks, and they've certainly accomplished that objective. When anyone deviates from the norm to this degree, be it Space Stacks, Pragmatic Play's Spaceman, or much of what Crazy Tooth Studio has done, it won't be everyone's cup of tea. It might well take a good few spins, or game rounds, to get to grips with what Space Stacks is trying to achieve and see if you actually like what it offers. It's a bit like certain Dream Drop Jackpot rounds, just with a lot more intricate gaming and a lower possible max win. Here, the top payout is 5,000x the bet.

One thing that takes more thought than usual is how to place bets. It's not a case of picking a stake and smashing the play button. Will you stick to the lower Instant Prizes, maybe chuck a sly one-cent wager on the Max for lols, perhaps stick to one or two of the feature reels, or something completely different? The choice is yours, and Push Gaming has included a wealth of information to assist players in making their choice. Whilst the overall RTP is 96.23%, and volatility sits in the medium range, the paytable lists return values for each of the ten columns, as well as the average payout. Handy. It might have been handy to have the hit frequency as well, but maybe that would be asking a bit too much. As it is, there is plenty of info for people who like to dive deep and weigh up the numbers.

So, for players looking for a break from lining up fruit, reelin' in money symbols, or trekking through exotic terrestrial destinations, Push Gaming's Space Stacks might be just the thing they're looking for. Or not, but it's nice to have options. Some of the bonus games are a little standard at a core level, yet on the whole, Space Stacks is pretty out-there, so definitely worth a look.