Game of Thrones™ Power Stacks slot review

The much-awaited Game of Thrones Power Stacks is here. Will you forge an alliance with House Targaryen or will you join the battle with House Stark? Whatever your choice, just make sure to keep as far away as possible from the Night King. Game of Thrones Power Stacks is the latest slot to bear the name of the hit TV series (and books). This is the 3rd Game of Thrones game, however, the other two are unfortunately no longer available.

The game was developed by Slingshot Studios and is powered by Microgaming. It is played on a grid containing 5-reels and 4-columns with 40 paylines. The battle happens right outside of the wall with snowy landscapes as the slot’s background. To the fore, there are some exquisitely designed graphics and an even more thrilling soundtrack.

Symbols

High-paying symbols are represented by the heroes and villains of Game of Thrones. Low-paying symbols take the form of the house crests.

The symbols, from highest to the lowest consist of:

• The scatter tile is the throne of swords. Three or more scatters in any position will trigger the bonus round awarding 15 free spins. The scatter yields 100x with five-of-a-kind in any position.
• The Wild tile is the Game of Thrones logo and it substitutes for all symbols bar the scatter and the coins. It also yields 25x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• Jon Snow yields 7.5x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The queen of dragons Daenerys Targaryen yields 7x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• Sansa Stark yields 6x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The Night King yields 5.5x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The leader of the wildlings, Tormund yields 5x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The House Targaryen crest yields 2.5x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The House Lannister crest yields 2.4x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The House Stark crest yields 2.2x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The House Greyjoy crest yields 2x with five-of-a-kind on a payline.

Whenever a win is registered, some beautiful animations happen. When it comes to the high-paying symbols these are short clips from the most iconic moments. Score a Big Win and you will be rewarded with dragon fire and plenty of coins.

Features

• PowerStacks

On the bottom left of the screen, you will see the PowerStacks symbol and a box. This box will be randomly assigned a tile at the start of every spin. That tile then has a chance to become Super Stacked during that same spin. In the base game, all symbols - including the coins - can be stacked bar the wild and the scatter.

• The Bonus Round

Three or more scatters will trigger the bonus round giving the player 15 free spins. During this round, all wins are immediately multiplied by 2. Wilds can also appear stacked.

• Link&Win

During both base game and free spins if you land 6 or more coins you will trigger this feature. The reels will change and only leave those coins in their reel position as sticky. Three spins are awarded. As you spin, more coins can be added to the reels. As more coins are added, these are held into position and the respin counter is reset to 3 spins. The feature ends either when there are no more spins available or when all the reels are filled. This will trigger the Valyrian prize and award the max win of 25,000x. At the end of the round, all coin symbols will payout no matter their position.

In conclusion

Let me start by declaring my bias. Despite the way the series ended I am still a huge fan of Game of Thrones. And this slot delivers well on the GoT world. Everything is there; the most loved characters of the game (although I did miss Arya), the gorgeous soundtrack and best of all, dragons(!) when you hit those big wins. It definitely feels like whoever designed this slot was a fan of the show.

Then there are the mechanics. It is a high variance slot and you will notice quite a few spins where nothing happens. Some of the wins may also seem quite disappointing especially when you have stacked symbols. Even though this slot has 40 paylines it is played on a 5x4 grid. However, the power stacks can also create some interesting wins especially if they feature the high-paying symbols or the coveted Coin symbol.

Yes, we’ve seen these bonus features elsewhere but mixing them makes for some interesting gameplay. Even though the bonus level only comes with a 2x multiplier and the possibility of stacked Wilds it still made for a thrilling experience and a win of 75x. OK, that’s not the 25,000x max win but you can definitely see the potential, especially in the Link&Win feature.