Drill the Thrill

Drill the Thrill Review

With Drill the Thrill, Hacksaw Gaming’s partner NowNow Gaming makes its way into the already overcrowded mining slot niche. And you know, that’s not the easiest place to stand out. We’ve all seen caves, drills, dynamite, and passionate old miners more times than I can count.

Still, Drill the Thrill does arrive with quite a few features, so it’s not just a barebones mining game thrown into the market for the sake of it. The question is whether those mechanics are enough to leave a lasting impression or whether it ends up being another forgettable entry in a genre that has been mined to exhaustion already. We’ll see.

First, let’s get the theme out of the way, because it won’t impress anyone at this stage of iGaming. Drill the Thrill looks exactly how you’d expect a mining slot to look – players are taken deep below the earth’s surface with all the usual underground scenery.

Drill the Thrill Slot – Base Game

The backdrop shows a dimly lit cave with a railway system running around the reels, while a mad-looking miner sits in a cart on the left side of the screen. That fella is your companion for the session, and he reacts loudly whenever you hit bonus features. Literally, screaming. The mute button was begging to be pressed after a few minutes.

So no, visually, NowNow Gaming’s Drill the Thrill slot machine is not going to make anyone drop their jaw. It’s a cliched design in a niche that has been used to death already. That said, the execution itself is not bad. Not the best out there either, but looks modern and polished.

Now, onto the rules and math, where things get a little more interesting. We have 3-4-4-4-3 reels at our disposal, at least that's how the base game starts. When features kick in though, this setup can expand dramatically, adding extra rows to the middle reels and effectively pushing the number of win ways from 576 to 4,608.

To spin the reels, players can use bets from €0.10 to €100 per spin. That’s the regular betting range, not counting the several bonus bets and the purchase option available in the game.

Drill the Thrill is powered by a medium-volatile math model, rated 3 out of 5 by the developers. So, you can expect fairly frequent returns, which occur at a precise rate of 27.12%. Returns in Drill the Thrill can be pretty significant too, up to 10,000x the stake.

In accordance with contemporary standards, the slot comes in three different RTP configurations. Depending on where you play, you can encounter values of 96.32%, 94.32%, and 92.27%.

Drill the Thrill Bonus Features

Here, NowNow Gaming combines expanding reels, cash collection mechanics, jackpot prizes, free spins, and a Hold & Win round, so there is quite a lot going on.

Drill It Hard

In the Drill the Thrill online slot, Silver Drill is one of the main symbols to keep an eye out for. This symbol can appear on reel 1 at different heights – 1 symbol, 2 symbols, or full reel height – but once it lands, it always expands to cover the entire reel, turning reel 1 into a stacked Wild reel.

Drill the Thrill Slot – Drill It Hard Feature

After that, reels 2, 3, and 4 expand together from their base height of 4 symbols to 5, 6, 7, or up to 8 symbols. Meanwhile, the first and the last reels remain unchanged. Then, the expanded reels open the door for Coin and Jackpot symbols to land alongside regular paying symbols.

Coin symbols carry instant bet multiplier values of 1x to 100x. Jackpot symbols can award one of the four possible fixed jackpot prizes:

• Mini – pays 10x the bet
• Minor – pays 100x the bet
• Major – pays 500x the bet
• Grand – pays 2,500x the bet

Golden Drill And Hold & Win

The Drill It Hard feature can smoothly transition into a Hold & Win round if the Golden Drill joins the party. Once the Drill It Hard feature is settled, reel 5 has a chance to land a Golden Drill. If it does land, it expands to cover the entire reel, creating another stacked Wild reel on the opposite side of the grid.

At that point, any Coin and Jackpot symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 stay on the screen and become sticky. This is where the bonus. It starts with 3 respins, and whenever a new Coin or Jackpot symbol lands, they lock in place, and reset the respin counter back to 3.

Drill the Thrill Slot – Hold & Win

The feature continues until there are no respins left or every position is filled. If the grid fills completely, the maximum win is awarded instantly.

Blast Zone Bonus

Drill the Thrill free spins round is triggered by landing 3 Scatter symbols simultaneously. The feature starts with 5 spins and keeps the same main mechanics as the regular game, but with one major upgrade.

On every free spin, reel 1 is always filled with a Silver Drill symbol. That means the Drill It Hard feature is guaranteed to be active on each spin, so the middle reels expand every time, opening up more ways to win and creating repeated chances for Coins, Jackpot symbols, and possibly the Golden Drill to show up.

FeatureSpins And Bonus Buy

Drill the Thrill also comes with a shortcut menu, which includes two bonus bet options and a buy feature:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins – cost 2x bet: each spin is 3 times more likely to trigger the free spins. Volatility is High.
• Drill It Hard FeatureSpins – cost 50x bet: each spin guarantees the Silver Drill on reel 1 and the Golden Drill on reel 5. Volatility is High.
• Blast Zone Bonus – cost 150x bet: buys the free spins round. Volatility is High.

Pros And Cons Of Drill the Thrill Slot

Final Thoughts

Drill the Thrill is not the worst effort in the mining slot niche, but I doubt it will manage to become a breakthrough release in the category. The game has enough going on mechanically, the math is solid, and the theme is decently executed. At the same time, it relies heavily on proven game design choices. Yes, there are a few tricks of its own, like the Silver and Golden Drill interaction, but the slot still comes down as a competent but forgettable experience. I just don’t think there’s enough to make it stand out in such a crowded category. Little thrill to drill here, sorry.