Pine trees, a rainbow and a sunny hillside fill the backdrop of Smokestack Lightning, and a little locomotive chugs along a track beneath the reels. Five green and gold train cars carry numbers across the bottom of the grid, while a ladder of jackpot plaques climbs the right edge from Mini up to Grand. The balance reads 1,000.00 and the total bet 2.00, with the game playing 50 lines.
Theme and Gameplay
The look is a storybook railway: a smiling conductress in a blue cap, a moustached conductor in a red uniform, a green caboose, a purple suitcase, an oil lantern, a pair of green tickets and the four card suits. The colour work is warm and saturated, and each symbol sits on a patterned tile, which keeps the busy 50-line board easy to read. It feels more like a vintage travel poster than a gritty rail yard.
Slot Features
The Scrolling Prizes are the signature feature. A horizontal strip of five prize cars sits under the reels, and at the start of each spin it shifts one place left. The leftmost prize drops off and a new one enters on the right. When the Wild Scatter lands, you are given whichever prize sits below that reel. The list of possible prizes covers Free Games, the Jackpot Wheel, credit prizes from 1x to 20x the total bet, plus Mini at 10x and Minor at 15x. Because the strip moves in a fixed direction, you can see what is coming a spin or two ahead, which gives the Wild Scatter a bit of tension.
In the base game the Wild and Wild Scatter are stacked on every reel. If one or two Wilds land, each can independently nudge up or down to reveal a Wild Scatter, and that nudge happens before lines and prizes are counted.
The Jackpot Wheel starts when a WHEEL prize comes up. Its wedges hold credit prizes of 2x, 2.5x, 3x and 5x, each with a +1 Spin bonus that pays at once and grants another turn, along with Mini 10x, Minor 15x, Major 25x, Mega 150x and Grand 500x. The wheel ends when a jackpot is awarded.
Free Games start with 5 spins. At least one reel is filled with Wild and Wild Scatter symbols throughout, and the Scrolling Prizes continue in an upgraded form, adding 2, 3 or 5 extra Free Games and credit prizes up to 12x.
RTP and Win Potential
At the 2.00 stake shown, the Wild pays 40.00 for five, 2.40 for four and 1.20 for three. The conductress pays 12.00 for five, the conductor pays 8.00 and the caboose pays 5.00. Suitcases, lanterns and tickets pay between 2.40 and 4.00 for five, and the card suits pay 1.60.
My Thoughts On This Slot
My favourite part is the strip, since it turns an ordinary Wild into something you can plan around. The downside is that the big prizes are tied to one symbol landing on the right reel, so many spins will pass without the strip mattering. It is lively, but patience helps.
