Rex Stampede

Rex Stampede Review

Despite popular belief, humans never co-existed with dinosaurs. These giant reptiles went out with a bang more than 66 million years ago, and nobody even knows exactly what they looked like. Their fossilized bones are all we have to piece together their appearance, and ELK Studios has taken some artistic liberties when creating Rex Stampede slot. A horned T-Rex is the definitive alpha of this game, but it’s the golden version that steals the show.

However, let’s start with the basics first. Rex Stampede plays out on a 5x4 grid with 1,024 default win ways. You win by landing matching symbols anywhere on at least 3 adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. The top-tier T-Rex symbol is followed by 4 other dinosaur creatures, with payouts ranging from 1x to 8x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. The royal symbols award 0.2x to 0.4x for the same, and Wild symbols substitute for any pay symbol.

Rex Stampede Slot - Reels Screen

In addition, Wilds can reveal multipliers of up to x5, boosting your wins accordingly. When pay symbols appear with an attached number, it signifies that the symbol is stacked a corresponding number of times on that position. Keep your eyes peeled for the T-Rex lava footprint symbol, as a couple of these on the same row unleashes the stampede feature. You will then see this apex predator sprint across the screen, upgrading the footprints and all symbols in between to T-Rex symbols.

In the bonus round, golden T-Rex symbols are collected to persistently upgrade the 4 dinosaurs to the top-tier T-Rex symbol, while also awarding extra free spins. The grid expands with each upgrade, and a maxed-out 5x6 grid boasts 5,184 ways to win. As usual with ELK Studios, you’ll be dealing with a below-average RTP of 94 %, and this is a highly volatile game scoring 8 out of 10 on ELK’s scale. With a hit frequency of 22.7 %, you can expect a win every 4.4 spins on average, and the Rex Stampede max win is 25,000x your stake.

Rex Stampede Features

You can look forward to plenty of symbol upgrade action in Rex Stampede ELK, and we’ll reveal all the bonus feature details below.

Stacked Symbols

Regular pay symbols may land “stacked,” displaying a number that indicates how many symbols the stacked symbol represents.

Multiplier Wilds

Wild symbols substitute for pay symbols to help complete or improve wins, and they can also reveal a multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 when part of a win. This multiplier will boost the win accordingly, and the wild multipliers are added together before being applied.

Stampede

Landing at least 2 Stampede symbols (Rex lava footprints) on the same row triggers the Stampede feature. The stampede symbols and symbols between them are all turned into the top-tier T-Rex symbol, and this goes for all rows with 2+ stampede symbols. In the bonus round, the symbols are turned into the golden T-Rex symbol. Stacked symbols are also transformed in the same way.

Rex Stampede Free Spins

The Bonus Round triggers when you land 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols (golden T-Rex skull) on the same base game spin, awarding 6, 12, or 18 free spins, respectively. During the bonus round, you win +1 extra free spin when a Golden T-Rex symbol appears on the leftmost reel. If this symbol lands on any other reel, it’s collected in the dinosaur meter above the reel. The Golden T-Rex symbol then turns into a regular T-Rex symbol.

Reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent the 4 different dinosaur symbols, each with a meter that requires 3 collected golden T-Rex symbols to be filled. When a reel meter is full, you win +1 extra free spin and the reel expands with 2 extra positions as the meter is removed. The dinosaur symbol represented on that reel is then turned into the T-Rex symbol for the current free spin and all free spins that follow. Wilds always reveal multipliers in the bonus round, and you win +3, +6, +12, or +18 free spins from 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters in view, respectively.

Rex Stampede Bonus Buy (not UK)

The X-iter menu is available in certain regions, allowing players to purchase both features and the bonus round. Here’s an overview of what’s up for grabs in Rex Stampede slot:

• Bonus Hunt - pay 3x your regular stake to increase your bonus round chances by more than 3 times.
• Two or More Wilds - pay 10x your stake to get 2+ wilds on the spin that follows.
• Stampede - pay 25x your stake to be guaranteed a stampede trigger.
• Bonus Round - costs 100x your stake.
• Super Bonus Round - costs 500x your stake, guaranteeing a stampede on each free spin.

Theme & Graphics

The Rex Stampede game transports you into a prehistoric world, with the backdrop revealing a rugged landscape dominated by towering rock formations that look like T-Rex rib cages. The reels are framed by ancient pillars etched with hieroglyphs, and the ominous soundtrack adds to the tense, primal atmosphere. Symbols include various dinosaur species, from the menacing T-Rex alpha to the three-horned triceratops, along with standard royals with a Stone Age look.

Pros and Cons of Rex Stampede

Our Verdict

I’m used to seeing buffalo stampedes in slot games but I believe this is the first time I’ve encountered a T-Rex stampede. Kudos to ELK for being original in that sense, and the prehistoric theme is pretty well done to boot. That being said, I don’t believe the T-Rex actually had horns as it does in this game, and combined with the purple color, it makes the creature look less menacing than a regular T-Rex. A more realistic rendering of the dinosaurs would probably have served this theme better, but it is what it is.

Another thing that didn’t quite sit right with me is the light blue background color of the royal symbols. It looks like some kind of fossil pattern is involved as well, but the color just sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the color scheme. Anyway, enough about the visuals already. Rex Stampede naturally revolves around the stampede feature, which triggers regularly in the base game. Don’t expect miracles from it most of the time, though, but it can deliver decent payouts once in a while. This is especially true if stacked symbols are involved, and even more so if multiplier wilds are added to the mix.

This is an explosive cocktail that can do serious damage, and overall, Rex Stampede contains just enough features and potency to keep the base game interesting. Still, the game doesn’t really feel like an ELK game, if that makes sense, and it’s far from the best release to come from this established studio.

The bonus round is all about upgrading symbols, a tried and tested concept that pops up ever so often. ELK has added their unique twist to it, though, as each symbol upgrade expands the grid with 2 extra positions on the relevant reels. You also get more multiplier wild action, which is appreciated, increasing your chances of cracking the generous 25,000x win cap. The 94 % RTP is a recurring issue with this provider, and although I had a decent time testing Rex Stampede, I’m probably not coming back for more.