Tanked

Tanked: Slot Overview

Déjà vu, that feeling that you've experienced the present moment before, maybe in a dream, a thought, or even a past life? There are all sorts of explanations for the phenomenon, but in the online gambling biz, déjà vu may been triggered by the tendency of slot designers to 'borrow' concepts, find 'inspiration' from one another, or just straight out plunder ideas from their competitors. Déjà vu might be one reaction players experience when taking developer Nolimit City's slot Tanked for a spin. The game bears a striking resemblance to ELK Studios' popular Pirots range, though, in NLC fashion, the team has stuffed their version with all manner of explosive armaments in order to stamp their personality on it.

The word 'Tanked' in this instance does not refer to the consumption of one too many inebriating beverages, but it's rather a showdown between four Warlords who travel the reels, blowing each other up in actual tanks. Little ones. Furthermore, blowing up character symbols is one of the game's main objectives, as doing so can lead to a number of strategically desirable outcomes. Tanked arguably isn't as visually arresting as the Pirots slots, but its war-torn (and later heavenly?) environs get the job done, helped by conspiratorially moody music.

Tanked's gaming grid can expand, but at its initial default size, it has 6 reels with 4-6-6-6-6-4 positions on them. It does not have ways or lines, nor does it use clustering or scattering to create winning combinations. Instead, each of the characters on the screen is able to collect the same coloured symbols as part of the xLoot feature mentioned below. Stats-wise, players get a 10 out of 10 rated highly volatile math model and of the three RTPs, 96.04% being the highest. Stake selection varies from 20 c to $/€100 per spin, and numerous bonus buys or ante bets may be activated.

There are but four pay symbols in Tanked, presented in colours of red, green, light blue, and darker blue. Each pay symbol type is linked to one of the characters who may collect them. Payout values range from 0.05x to 0.15x per symbol at their lowest individual level.

Tanked: Slot Features

Features are aplenty in Tanked, which includes xLoot, multipliers, Tank Boosters, xBombs, Barrel Bombs, Booms, Kill Counts, xNudge Wilds, xSplits, grid expansions, Carnage Spins, Carnage Royale Spins, Mayhem Spins, Nolimit Boosters, and Nolimit Bonus Buys.

xLoot & Multipliers

Payouts are made when the active moving character picks up symbols that are the same colour as it is. All characters may collect wild symbols. After all possible collections have occurred, symbols drop down to refill the reels. Moreover, any character in the game can pick up multiplier symbols, which apply to all wins. Multipliers are additive.

Tank Boosters

Tanked has four types of Tank Boosters, which the characters may pick up. The character carries the Tank Booster till there is no more movement on the screen, then uses it. These are:

• Rocket - the character shoots the wall near any random enemy character. This removes all enemy characters and pay symbols in an explosion pattern, increasing the size of the grid by 1 step.
• Grenade - the character throws the grenade at any random enemy character. The explosion removes all pay symbols in an explosion pattern.
• Power Drill - a character with a Power Drill drives to the largest matching symbol colour cluster. It removes all enemy characters, pay symbols, and wilds in its path while picking up any Tank Boosters, multipliers, and scatter symbols. It does not impact the xBomb, Barrel Bomb, or MAXWIN symbols. If the character with the Power Drill can't move, the character explodes, removing pay symbols in the explosion pattern.
• Airstrike - the character hits up to 3 enemy characters, creating an explosion pattern.

If a Tank Booster removes any character, it loses a life and reappears on the reels when new symbols fall in. If the impacted character had collected a Tank Booster before the explosion, it holds on to it on the next drop. Explosions do not affect scatters, xSplit, xNudge, or wild symbols.

xBomb, Barrel Bomb & Booms

xBombs and Barrel Bombs explode only if there is no character movement and no available Tank Boosters. The xBomb removes all pay symbols in an explosion pattern and increases the overall multiplier by +1. The Barrel Bomb removes all pay symbols in an explosion pattern and expands the grid vertically or horizontally by +1 step.

When 3 characters are next to each other, and no character can move, they cause a Small Boom explosion, removing all pay symbols and character symbols in the explosion pattern. When 4 characters are next to each other, and no character can move, they cause a Big Boom explosion, removing all pay symbols and character symbols in the explosion pattern and increasing the grid size by +1 step.

Kill Count

A character loses a life when it is in the explosion pattern of a Tank Booster, xBomb, Barrel Bomb, or a Boom. When 3 lives have been lost, the character is killed, meaning it gets removed from the reels, along with all corresponding pay symbols. The character returns after the next evaluation.

xNudge Wild & xSplit

The xNudge Wild symbol nudges down to the bottom of the reels or until it hits a non-paying symbol. If there is no multiplier when the xNudge hits, it sets the multiplier to 2. It then increases the multiplier by +1 for each step it nudges. If additional xNudge Wild lands, a +1 multiplier is added. The xSplit symbol splits all pay symbols horizontally or vertically, doubling their size, then transforms itself into a wild. It also doubles the value of any multiplier that it hits.

Grid Expansion

The grid expands by +1 step if a Rocket hits a wall, a Barrel Bomb triggers, or a Big Boom occurs. Expansion from 6x6 to 9x9 can go in these four steps: Step 1 - from 6x6 to 8x6 or 6x8 if there is a horizontal or vertical expansion, respectively, Step 2 - from 6x8 or 8x6 to 8x8 if there is a horizontal or vertical expansion, respectively, Step 3 - from 8x8 to 9x8 or 8x9 if there is a horizontal or vertical expansion, respectively, and Step 4 - from 8x9 or 9x8 to 9x9 if there is a horizontal or vertical expansion, respectively. The grid goes straight to 9x9 if an xBomb or Barrel Bomb are in the explosion pattern of a Tank Booster.

Carnage Spins & Carnage Royale

Landing 3 scatter symbols triggers 5 Carnage Spins. In this feature, Multipliers, Kill Count, and grid size is carried over from the base game. Should 4 scatters land, 7 Carnage Royale free spins are awarded. In this feature, the Kill Count is carried over from the base game. Also, the grid is set to 9x9, and +5 is added to the current multiplier, which is carried over from the base game. If all characters die in the same explosion on a free spin, the round is upgraded to Mayhem Spins, and the remaining number of free spins are played in the upgraded mode.

Mayhem Spins

Mayhem Spins are activated when all characters lose their 3 lives and die in the same explosion. The grid is set to 9x9, and +10 is added to the current multiplier, which is carried over. In Mayhem Spins, all characters' lives are set to 1. If all characters die in the same explosion, +1 free spin is awarded, and +10 is added to the multiplier.

Nolimit Boosters & Bonus Buy

At a cost of 3x the bet, the xBet makes it more than 4 times likely to trigger a bonus. At a cost of 40x the bet, 4 random Tank Boosters are distributed at random to characters. Clicking on the bolt icon displays the Nolimit bonus buy options: Carnage Spins - 100x the bet, Carnage Royale - 300x the bet, Mayhem Spins - 500x the bet, Lucky Draw 40/40/20 - 260x the bet, and God Mode - 5,000x the bet for the chance of chasing the MAXWIN symbol.

Tanked: Slot Verdict

Well, if Tanked doesn't raise the hackles of the morality squad, nothing will, and it's hard not to judge Nolimit City for being a bit naughty with this one. Tanked is, quite obviously, a copy of Pirots' roaming the board collecting the same coloured symbol action that ELK Studios quite cleverly deployed, not only in Pirots but also in Dam Beavers. The CollectR mechanic, as it's called over there, xLoot here. Potayto, potarto? Well, yeah, but if you're happy looking past the copied/pilfered aspect, Tanked has loads of gaming features to help set it apart from ELK's. It also has a more favourable RTP (if the max RTP is available on your casino), and for some players, they're probably just going to prefer NLC's particular brand of math.

Not easy going math, no, no, but Tanked ties its back-end workings to some sweet action up front when its features are detonating. One major highlight is the Kill Count, which removes characters and their associated symbols when the requisite number of lives have been extinguished - 3 most of the time, 1 in Mayhem Spins. Clearing all but one character from the grid and watching a single symbol type be collected, with a chunky multiplier in the pocket, is just good times. Although, getting to Mayhem Spins organically is likely to be a challenging mission - something that is theoretically possible for players unwilling to fork out 500x for the buy option. Players unwilling to do that probably aren't keen on risking ten times further for the God Mode buy, which NLC has tacked onto Tanked as if it didn't already have enough blast power.

The max payout of Tanked is 25,000x the bet, which can also be achieved by landing a complete MAXWIN symbol, 3x3 in size, in the reel area. And so, Nolimit City might have committed a cardinal slot sin by blatantly copying someone else's creative endeavours but, admittedly, they have done so in style, arming their version with potent weaponry, crates of betting options, and an excellent levelling up progression system.