Reel Nightmare
By Quickspin
Reel Nightmare is a horror slot from Quickspin with the same gameplay as Sticky Bandits Trail of Blood. Land 3 or more wilds on one spin to trigger Revenge Free Spins where all wilds are sticky. Each additional wild to land earns 1 extra spin, and landing 5 on a line creates a ‘Trail of Blood’ that pays out 300x on every subsequent spin. It’s simple, high variance slots play with a top payout of 17,279x. Spins start at 10p per play.
Game Name | Reel Nightmare |
---|---|
Developer | Quickspin |
Release Date | 09.07.24 |
Rows | 3 |
Reels | 5 |
Paylines | 10 |
RTP Rate | 96.23% | 94.19% | 92.07% | 87.15% |
Max Win | 17,279x |
Min Bet | £0.10 |
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Review Scorecard
What Our Reviewer Says …
Excellent production from Quickspin with a really creepy atmosphere, but it takes a lot of patience to reach the best part of the game - that free spins round.
What We Like
- Top production creates a really creepy atmosphere
- Simple gameplay with one objective - free spins with sticky wilds
- Chance to land 'trail of blood' repeat 300x paylines
- ALL wilds are sticky in free spins
- Nice top payout
What We Didn't Like
- Low RTP at some slot sites
- Can be a long wait for free spins to drop
Theme and Design
Chilling Audio and Visual Production In This Slasher-Flick Slot
Reel Nightmare is a slasher-movie turned online slot with a distinctly creepy vibe. The setting is the classic American suburban street at night, a shadowy figure passing across the foreground as a phone rings off the hook on the soundtrack. The atmosphere borrows from many 80s films, most notably Halloween, whilst graphically the Quickspin team have clearly been checking out Nolimit City games like Serial and Loner. It’s certainly more scary than Sticky Bandits Trial of Blood and a well-produced slot that horror fans should enjoy.
RTP and Variance
Reel Nightmare has 4 RTP rates – 96.23%, 94.19%, 92.07% and 87.15%. Which rate you play at will be at the discretion of your casino operator. The top rate of 96.23% is good – about average for an online slot – but the lower rates are to be avoided. Wherever you play you can check the RTP by hitting the settings icon in the bottom left of the screen, then the ? icon.
My recommendation is to play at MrQ from Lindar Media who consistently run Quickspin slots at the max RTP rates.
This is also a high variance slot. And we know from experience that Quickspin create some really volatile games so set your stake to a sensible level because this might be one that burns your balance fast.
Maximum Win
The max payout from one spin is 17,279x. That’s not a bad max win to play for. Quickspin have been pushing up the top payouts in their games recently and you’ll find good potential in slots like Sticky Bandits Unchained (30,000x), Cash Truck 3 Turbo (40,000x) and Beastwood (29,541x) too.
Symbols and Paytable
The mechanics of Reel Nightmare are simple. 5 reels, 3 rows and just 10 paylines. Wins are triggered by landing 2 or more identical symbols across the reels from left to right, starting at the left most reel.
There are 8 pay symbols in the table with really good value at the top end. The 4 low values ones are the cards, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, valued at from 0.2x for 3 Jacks up to 10x for 5 Aces. The 4 premiums are the boot, the hook, the axe and the chainsaw. These are valued at from 0.2x for 2 boots up to 75x for 5 chainsaws.
There is also a Wild – represented by the character pictures - that is key to the gameplay as explained below. It will substitute for any pay symbol to complete a line AND pays out at 1x, 2.5x, 15x or 300x for 2, 3, 4 or 5 on a line.
Features and Gameplay
Reel Nightmare uses the exact same game engine as Sticky Bandits Trail of Blood, even using the same ‘Trail of Blood’ phrases to describe the moment in the game when lines of Wilds are created on the grid.
It’s not tricky to understand. Here is how it works.
Wilds and Revenge Free Spins
The wild in Reel Nightmare doubles up as the scatter. You need 3 or more on one spin to trigger the Revenge Free Spins round as follows:
- 3 Wilds: 10 Revenge Free Spins
- 4 Wilds: 12 Revenge Free Spins
- 5 Wilds: 15 Revenge Free Spins
During the free spins ALL wilds stick, including those that triggered the round in the first place. When new ones land they also extend the round by 1 spin.
The holy grail is to land 5 wilds across a payline during the round because that means they will pay out the max 300x on EVERY remaining spin.
Final Verdict
Just like Sticky Bandits Trail of Blood, Reel Nightmare is as simple as they come and it appeals to a certain type of slots player - those who don’t mind the long wait for the bonus round if it means the chance of something spectacular at the end of it. In this case, that is the sticky wilds and the potential for repeat payouts they bring. What's nice is that any frustration that comes with waiting is partly offset by a high base game win rate of above 40%, and some excellent production too. Altogether, a quality game then, though it won’t appeal to everyone.
Testing Notes
I played 300 spins on Reel Nightmare on Quickspin’s test server prior to release to test the game. This is what happened.
- Stake Size: 1
- Start balance: 5,000
- End balance: 4,913.70
- Win Rate: 44.3% (133 winning spins in 300)
- Biggest Win: 10.8x
- Free Spins Round: 0
Tough as nails as expected! But one thing stood out a mile from this test session – a 44.3% win rate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a slot pay out that frequently. However, these were all small wins, the biggest of which was a 10.8x. So it was an attritional battle with the game gradually beating down the balance rather than the sharp drops you see when a game goes 10 or 15 spins without a win. The free spins round never triggered in 300 spins which was disappointing, though games like this can sometimes take up to 500 goes. In short, it’s a grind, but the production is excellent and the sound affects particularly good.
Who Made Reel Nightmare?
- Name: Quickspin
- UK License: 38516 (under Playtech)
- Total Games: 100 +
- Known For: Great artwork, fairytale slots, slots with wilds and sticky wilds, high variance
- Popular Slots: Sticky Bandits Wild Return, Big Bad Wolf, Golden Glyph 2, Wild Luchador