Wild Luchador

Wild Luchador: Slot Overview

Lucha libre is the Mexican term for a form of professional wrestling, full of big masked men leaping off ropes, and choke slamming their opponents in the hopes of pinning them to the mat. The contenders in this colourful sport are known as luchadores, and take centre stage in Quickspin's Mexican fiesta of a slot, Wild Luchador.

Despite the showmanship and staged theatrics, lucha libre is an extremely dangerous form of entertainment which has claimed several lives through tragic accidents. Luckily for players, Wild Luchador is a completely non-contact sport with no physical dangers, although financially speaking, it can be quite painful at times due to the volatile nature of the game.

Lucha libre is characterised by its flamboyance, so the first impression of Wild Luchador is a little underwhelming. A see-through grid positioned in the middle of a wrestling ring has been used to house a 5-reel, 3-row setup, providing 243 ways to win. The rest of the view is taken up with a silhouetted crowd, all done in warm reddy-brown tones, while a mad for it mariachi band provides much of the excitement, blowing horns, and having a blast while doing so. The audio-visuals do grow on you once the action kicks off in earnest, overriding the lifeless audience with merry music and amusing animations. Visually, it doesn't live up the high standards Quickspin is otherwise known for, but it does get the job done.

Playable on any device, players can get their lucha on by selecting bets from 30 p/c to $/€90 per spin. If it's rampaging, ring shaking volatility you're after, Wild Luchador is well worth a look. It might not push Quickspin to their limit, but a 4.5 out 5 volatility rating is not to be underestimated. The RTP clocks in at 96%, with just over half of that coming in the base game.

Quickspin has split the regular pay symbols into two groups – lows and mids. Lows are made up of 9-A icons backgrounded by stars, while mids are represented by guitars, cacti, chillies, candles, tequila, and a Calavera - 5 of a kind wins made of mid pays are worth payouts of 8.33 to 16.66 times your stake. The highest value symbol are the wilds. As well as fully stacked wild reels (covered in the next section) you also get Champion Belt Wilds. This one appears on any reel as a regular 1x1 sized tile. Champion Belt Wilds substitute for regular pay symbols, and form winning combinations of their own of up to 33.33x the bet for 5 of a kind.

Wild Luchador: Slot Features

Wild Luchador makes the most of its two features, combining them at key points to produce solid results. The Luchador Wilds may modify the reels at any stage of the game - base or bonus. They activate completely at random, but you'll know they are coming when spotlights light up the ring and the music ups the tempo. A cannon appears on screen next, firing 1 to 5 luchadores onto the reels. They land as full reel wilds on randomly selected reels. A win evaluation is made, then the next spin takes place.

The heavy hitter on the team is Dead Slam Free Spins, triggered by the Death Clock Scatter symbol. Death Clocks land anywhere on the reels, with 3, 4, or 5 in view awarding 7 free spins along with a 2x, 3x, or 5x multiplier respectively. Multipliers remain at the same level throughout free spins, are applied to any win and cannot be upgraded. In addition, Luchador Wilds trigger much more often during the bonus round, even appearing on consecutive free spins. As before, it is possible to land 5 Luchador Wilds at once.

Depending on the market, it's possible to come across a feature buy when playing Wild Luchador. For the cost of 70x the total bet, players can tag in straight to the bonus game. When bought, the feature buy power slams 3-5 scatters on the next spin.

Wild Luchador: Slot Verdict

Wild Luchador might not instantly pull you into a headlock, but there are several things that work in its favour to win you over. First is the excellent mariachi band furiously banging away on their guitars, trumpets, and vocal shout outs. The band adds a much-needed blast of excitement to compensate for a lifeless background which doesn't particularly detract nor add a whole lot either. Animated cut scenes of luchadores being fired into the reels add life and build anticipation for the Luchador Wilds feature. Five full reels wilds might be technically possible, but are rare, as you'd imagine. The usual number in test runs was one or two, yet even two Luchador Wilds on-screen can scratch together a decent win to tie you over until the bonus game drops.

As to the bonus game, well, talk about a quick adrenaline shot. Seven free spins isn't a lot, though you do get those helpful multipliers pepping wins up. It's nothing like the multipliers you can achieve in loosely similar games like Thunderkick's Esqueleto Explosivo 2 slots. However, Wild Luchador manages to make do just fine with what it has. The pay all-ways system compliments full reel wilds to pull in surprisingly good wins – amplified by the multiplier. Potential is a surprise as well, where wins of up to 40,557x the stake are on the cards.

Wild Luchador is like a mid-size wrestler who doesn't seem like he has a shot in heck of winning their match, to begin with. Then after a few power bombs, leg drops, and a plancha off the top rope, that opinion quickly changes. Wild Luchador's signature move might be its tremendous potential, but getting within striking distance amongst its Mexican party atmosphere is, for the most part, actually quite fun.