Tombstone Begins

Tombstone Begins: Slot Overview

In the bloated world of Western-themed slots, one series that needs no introduction is Nolimit City's monolithic Tombstone range. What began in 2019 with the unconventional yet highly playable Tombstone, before climaxing in Tombstone Slaughter El Gordo's Revenge and Tombstone RIP, the studio has dropped some of the biggest Western bombs this side of the Rio Grande. Literally. Slaughter and RIP packed winning potential of 500,000x and 300,000x apiece, while carrying the sort of metaphorical six-shooters that could clear a saloon before a mouse could blink. Logic would dictate that the next release in the series (not counting Tombstone No Mercy here) would be an absolute monster. Interestingly, the studio has taken a completely different tack, and the resulting slot, Tombstone Begins, saunters in with a much lighter touch. Has the series run out of steam, or is this a bold new move?

The first shocking thing about Tombstone Begins is just how unshocking it looks. The distinctive appearance of Tombstone/No Mercy is absent, the dreary, everyone is going to suffer of Slaughter, and RIP has been sanded away. What's left is a Western that looks like it was designed by a far more conservative studio. There are skulls, okay, guns, a wrecked old town, but nothing leapt off the screen the way it did in previous Tombstone slots. It made for an odd start, like walking into town, except there are no inhabitants, just the whistling wind, a banging saloon door, and a lone tumbleweed blowing forlornly through a dusty street.

One thing Tombstone slots are famous for is their lopsided gaming grids, and in Tombstone Begins, that means a play area arranged in a 4-5-5-5-4 pattern. Ways to win are oddly out, replaced by just 22 win lines in their place. Volatility has remained high; it would have been scary had Nolimit City reeled that in, while the maximum RTP is 96.02%. Bet selection ranges from $/€0.20 to $/€100, with the usual sack of buys and ante bets available, as well as the dreaded (by some) extra bet.

The hierarchy of pay symbols is divided into two groups. On the lower side are Western fonted 10-A royals that forever turn up in games like this, awarding 1x-1.8x the bet for a 5 OAK winning combination. Next are knives, pistols, dynamite, cash bundles, and stacks of gold bars. Premium symbols pay 3x to 10x the bet for a 5 OAK hit. Wilds are present on any reel. They have the same payout values as the gold bars and substitute for all regular paying symbols.

Tombstone Begins: Slot Features

An ammo belt of features accompanies the game, from win respins, Revolver symbol modifiers, Unleash, and Refill symbols, three free spins rounds, extra spins, Nolimit Boosters and feature buys.

Win Respins

Wins trigger a respin where all winning symbols and their instances on the grid are sticky. If a new winning symbol, a winning symbol type, a wild, a scatter (in the base game),or Revolver land, they become sticky and respins continue. Payouts are made when respins end

Revolver Symbol

Revolver symbols may land on any reel. Each one contains 3 to 6 bullets, and one bullet is fired by each Revolver per spin. Bullets target regular pay symbols or wilds if it has the xSplit. Each bullet can trigger the following:

• Wild: The target turns into a wild.
• xSplit: Doubles the multiplier value of the target symbol.
• Upgrade: Can hit any regular pay symbol except the highest paying symbol. The target symbol and all other instances in view are upgraded to a higher value symbol.
• xNudge Wild: Activates when a bullet hits above the top row of reels 2 to 4. After activating, the xNudge Wild nudges to become fully visible on the reel when there are no respins left. Each nudge increases the win multiplier by 1.
• xNudge Multiplier: This bullet hits above reels 2 to 4 at random. If the xNudge Wild activates on the target reel, its xNudge multiplier increases by x2 to x100. Values are additive.
• Random: This bullet changes into a random bullet once fired. If there are no valid targets, the bullet fires without any effect.

Unleash & Refill Symbol

When the Unleash symbol lands, all Revolvers immediately fire all remaining bullets one after the other. Just one Unleash symbol may land per spin. Landing a Refill symbol, meanwhile, refills all Revolvers to 6 bullets. Only one Refill symbol can land on a spin.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 6 Gunslinger Spins, 8 Outlaw Spins, or 10 Widowmaker Spins, respectively. In Gunslinger Spins, the xNudge multiplier does not reset between spins, and landing a scatter awards +1 spin. Outlaw Spins are the same, except all Revolvers land fully loaded. In addition to Outlaw Spins' mechanics, during Widowmaker Spins, all Revolvers fire all their remaining bullets before xNudge activation or when no respins are left, after respins have been awarded. When all Revolvers have fired, win combinations formed by firing a bullet will not award extra respins.

Buy options

Players may get the chance to buy an extra spin when a bonus round ends, if the calculated cost is equal to or less than the total win. The extra spin keeps the xNudge multipliers of the previous spin and is guaranteed to land a Revolver with an xNudge bullet.

At 2x the bet, the Bonus Booster guarantees a scatter on the second reel. For 30x, the xNudge Showdown guarantees a Revolver loaded with 2 xNudge bullets and 2 xNudge multiplier bullets. xNudge Fully Loaded costs 190x to guarantee a Revolver loaded with 3 xNudge bullets and 3 xNudge multiplier bullets. Or, for 999x the stake, Revolver Mayhem guarantees 6 Revolvers with random numbers of bullets on top and bottom of the middle three reels. Three of these Revolvers will always have xNudge multiplier bullets and one xNudge bullet.

Players are also able to buy 6 Gunslinger Spins, 8 Outlaw Spins, 10 Widowmaker Spins, or a lucky draw for 70x, 200x, 600x, or 255x the bet, respectively.

Tombstone Begins: Slot Verdict

Going into Tombstone Begins, the expectations were sky high, like a bald eagle circling the firmament spying prey on the range type high. As a result, it was hard not to feel pangs of disappointment at how Tombstone Begins turned out. For sure, there is good stuff here, and had this been released under a different name, as part of a different series, or been made by a 'lesser' studio, then Tombstone Begins would no doubt have been a more impressive release. Unfortunately, Tombstone Begins' siblings cast long, dark shadows, which limits its ability to stand on its own merits, like those famous siblings that look like their brother or sister but just don't have anywhere near the same star power.

Putting the negative to the side for a bit, there are thrilling moments to be had. Revolvers play a big part in the enjoyment, as was the xNudging and the multiplying. Bonus rounds have a nice progression to them, getting steadily stronger the higher up the chain they go, and winning potential is solid at 20,000x the bet. And yet, that is a tiny figure compared to RIP and Slaughter, though the probability of it occurring in this game is higher, which is an odd combo. Certain big number gamblers who were thrilled by what the series appeared to be heading towards are going to be sorely disappointed by this. As mentioned, in any other series by any other studio, Tombstone Rip would probably be a great slot, but being part of such an illustrious Western slot dynasty means it's inevitably held to a much higher standard.

In the end, Tombstone Begins ended up feeling less like a bold new instalment and more like a faint echo of what came before. It is certainly competent, occasionally compelling, and its bullet-firing modifiers can lead to thrilling runs of action, but it lacks the same level of grit, charisma, and narrative punch which defined its more bow-legged predecessors. Tombstone Begins is not a bad entry by any means, just one that struggles under the weight of expectation it never quite manages to meet.