Smash Nudge Skillstar Slot - Review, Demo, Casinos, Bonuses

Smash Nudge Skillstar Review

Studio Lightning Box expands its collection of Skillstar games, this time with an exciting roller skate-themed slot called Smash Nudge. The slot comes packed with fun and rewarding features, including Wilds, Free Spins, huge Multipliers, and, of course, the branded Skillstar side mini-game.

Lightning Box has always been adherent to a somewhat of an old-school style, with most of the company’s games having that strong retro touch. Smash Nudge Skillstar is no exception, looking like a game released back in the 90s, at the time when roller skating was in vogue. Some may find it dated, but you should keep in mind it’s a slot machine designed for a specific taste, and it does get the job done quite well evoking nostalgic feelings.

Smash Nudge Skillstar Slot - Reel Screen

The Smash Nudge Skillstar slot can be played on any device, with accepted bets varying from £0.4 to £40 per spin. The volatility is in the medium range, and the default RTP clocks in at 96%, which is a solid average, so you should get your returns fairly often. However, you can also come across a 94% value at some of the casinos, so don’t forget to look through the rules before making a deposit. Finally, the maximum possible payout is 5,044x the stake, which is decent.

As we head over to the paytable, we see 10 regular symbols split into two categories that appear across the 5x4 grid. On the lower side, they start with 10-A royals, and the premium lot consists of helmets, skates, referees, and two symbols of skaters. Winning combinations are created when at least 3 of the same kind appear adjacently on the reels starting from the leftmost along one of the 40 fixed ways. Landing 5 of the same lower symbols pays from 2.5x to 3x the stake, and 5-of-a-kind premium symbol wins are worth from 3.75x to 6.25x the stake.

Smash Nudge Skillstar Slot Features

On top of the regulars, the Smash Nudge Skillstar slot makes use of two different Wild symbols, which, first of all, stand in for any other symbols in winning combos, and, secondly, have their own win values twice as big as the top-paying regular symbol.

First is the Wild Trophy symbol, which is the normal Wild. The other one, however, is way more interesting. Called Wild Nudge, it always lands stacked on the reels and is able to expand over the entire reel to produce bigger winning opportunities. There are special arrow indicators above each of the reels, which randomly get lit on each spin. If a Wild Nudge symbol lands on the reel with an active arrow indicator, the nudge feature proceeds and the Wild stack moves up or down to cover the corresponding entirely.

Smash Nudge Skillstar Slot - Wild Nudge

Keep an eye for star symbols, which are Scatters. When 3, 4, or 5 stars pop up on the same spin, players receive 8, 12, or 20 Free Spins respectively. Before the feature kicks off though, players are offered to take part in the Skillstart mini-game. It’s optional and doesn’t provide any monetary wins, so you can always skip it and proceed straight to the free games bonus.

The objective of the Skillstar mini-game is pretty simple. You play as a skater, using Up and Down arrows to move in corresponding directions. The point is to avoid collisions with red skaters, which reduces your life counter by 1. If all 3 lives are used, you lose, and the free spins feature begins. Finally, the top 100 players with the biggest scores make the leaderboard.

Smash Nudge Skillstar Slot - Side Mini-game

Back to the free spins bonus, it operates in a similar way to the base game, but there’s one major difference. A special Multiplier Reel is added during the feature, which can randomly award a random multiplier value from 2x to 10x that is then applied to all wins you achieve on that spin. The feature can be retriggered.

Review Summary

All said and done, Smash Nudge Skillstar is a fun slot, with action-packed gameplay and an exciting retro theme, and the retro-loving audience would definitely find plenty of entertainment here.