San Quentin xWays
By Nolimit City
San Quentin xWays is a prison-themed slot from Nolimit City with 5 reels and 243-win ways, increasing to many more if Enhancer Cells and Split Wilds come into play. Enhancer Cells sit above and below the main reels, revealing pay symbols, special symbols that split reels and xWays symbols that add 4 rows to any position. The highlight of the game is the Lockdown Spins round with Jumping Wilds with progressive multipliers of up to 512x!
The max win is 150,000x and spins start at 20p per play.
| Game Name | San Quentin xWays |
|---|---|
| Developer | Nolimit City |
| Theme(s) | Action, Crime |
| Release Date | 12.01.21 |
| Rows | 3+ |
| Reels | 5 |
| Paylines | 243 |
| Volatility | High |
| RTP Rate | 96.03% | 94.11% |
| Max Win | 150,000x |
| Min Bet | £0.20 |
| Format | 5-Reel, Win Ways |
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Review Scorecard
What Our Reviewer Says …
One of NLC's best games to date thanks to a blistering free spins round with Jumping Wilds with huge multiplier potential
What We Like
- Stylish prison theme with top soundtrack
- Massive 150,000x stake top prize
- Splitting cells increase paylines
- xWays symbols split cells into 4 adding win ways
- Jumping Wilds in free spins pick up multipliers of up to 512x
What We Didn't Like
- Base game is slow and requires patience
Theme and Design
San Quentin xWays is a slot with high quality production. It is set in the blistering heat of the prison yard of one of the USA’s most infamous jails There are barbed wire fences, guard towers, CCTV cameras and dark grey skies, as well as locked cell positions above and below the main rows which open up during special moments in the game.
Despite its dangerous and menacing location, the style in San Quentin xWays is humorous, with inmates on the paytable given names like Heinrich 3rd and Beefy Dick, whilst the soundtrack is upbeat with heavy metal and rap music interludes during the Lockdown Spins feature. Both audio and visual elements have been carefully put together for maximum entertainment value, making this a stand-out slot from a studio with many very good games in it’s locker.
RTP and Variance
San Quentin xWays has two available RTP rates – 96.03% and 94.11%. Each casino operator can choose for themselves which rate to run the game at. In the UK many now choose the lower rate. You can check for yourself wherever you play by navigating to the game rules page within the game, then scrolling down until you see RTP. We recommend playing at MrQ from Lindar Media which consistently offers NLC slots at the optimum RTP rate.
San Quentin xWays has an unusually high win rate - 34.25% according to the game page on the fan site. That means more than 1 in 3 spins will produce a win on average. That's a big difference compared to Tombstone RIP - 9.08% - for example.
Of course, it goes without saying that this is a volatile game – rated ‘high’ by NLC themselves. That is not as high as their ‘intense’ or ‘extreme’ volatility slots but still it tells you that you can expect a very uneven win distribution. And it pays to choose your stake carefully.
Maximum Win
San Quentin xWays is the second highest max win slot from NLC, with a 150,000x potential. It puts it behind only Tombstone RIP (300,000x). That’s massive!
If you manage to win the maximum 150,000x stake, you’ll trigger the Psycho Manhunt feature and a voice announces that a killer has escaped the mental infirmary!
Symbols and Paytable
The game plays on 5 reels, each displaying 3 rows. It is a win ways slot which means wins are triggered by landing 3 or more identical symbols on adjacent reels, starting at the left most reel, to score a win. That gives you 243 win ways (3x3x3x3x3). However, this number can grow higher on account of the splitting symbols feature explained below.
There are 10 pay symbols on the table. The high payers are the 5 inmates – Crazy Joe, Biker Bill, Loco Luis, Heinrich 3rd and Beefy Dick. These are valued at from 0.25x for 3 on a line up to 5x for 5 on a line. The low payers are the soap, lighter, razor blade and screwdriver, hand cuffs and loo roll. These are valued at from 0.15x for 3 loo rolls up to 2x for 5 soaps.
There are also wilds in the game in the form of the gold sheriff badges. These substitute for all pay symbols to complete wins.
Features and Gameplay
San Quentin xWays showcases some of NLC’s best features, including xWays, expanding reels, splitting cells and free spins with huge multipliers.
Enhancer Cells
The Enhancer Cells are rows of cells that sit above the below the main ones. They aren’t always open, but when they are the position revealed will display any of the premium symbols, or a Wild, a Razor Split, or an xWays.
A Razor Split causes all positions on the reel it sits above or below to split into two. If the Razor Split appears in Enhancer Cells above and below the reel, positions split twice. This give you many more win ways.
All xWays on the reels at the same time reveal the same pay symbol, stacked FOUR high. And, if you see xWays in Enhancer Cells above and below the reel, then the reel turns totally wild.
Two Types of Wilds
Remember the Gold Sheriff Wilds? These come in two types – Regular, and Split.
Regular Wilds just substitute for pay symbols to complete win ways. Split Wilds can land on ANY reel in the main game. They cause all other symbols on their reel to split in two.
Enhancer Cells
The caged Enhancer Cells run along the top and bottom of the reels. When randomly triggered, they can reveal high-paying symbols, Wilds, Razor Split or xWays symbols. The Razor Split splits all the symbols into 2, while landing Razor Split symbols at the top and bottom of the reels will split them twice. The xWays symbol will create Stacked Symbols for more ways to win.
BONUS Symbols
The BONUS symbol is a guard tower with the word BONUS written across it. These can drop onto any reel in the base game, but only onto those with unopened Enhancer Cells during free spins.
During the main game, if you land 1 or 2 BONUS symbols on a reel, then the BONUS will turn wild AND open up the Enhancer cells on its reel.
But if you can land 3 or more BONUS symbols anywhere across the reels then you will trigger the Lockdown Free Spins.
Lockdown Spins With Multipliers and Jumping Wilds
When 3, 4 or 5 BONUS symbols land on one spin during the base game. The reels on which your BONUS symbols land will have open Enhancer Cells for the duration of Lockdown Spins. But before the round starts, a number (1, 2 or 3) will be displayed in the open Enhancer Cells. Add those numbers up and you find out how many spins you get.
Lockdown Free Spins will trigger once in 230 spins on average according to NLC's own site.
Before your spins start, another spin takes place to reveal Inmate Mystery Symbols or Non-Inmate Mystery Symbols. The first award multipliers to a randomly chosen pay symbol or the Jumping Wilds.
Those Jumping Wilds move between positions on the reels with each Lockdown Spin. Their multiplier will be doubled – up to 512x max - if landing on a reel with a Razor Split enhancer. These wild multipliers are different to standard one though. Instead of being applied to a win, they indicate the number of wilds in the position they sit on. So, a 3x multiplier wild indicates 3 wilds on that position on the reels.
Finally, if you land a BONUS symbol during Lockdown Spins you will get an extra Jumping Wild – up to 3 max – and the number of free spins will increase.
Final Verdict
Since it’s release San Quentin xWays has become one of Nolimit City’s biggest games. And spending some time spinning the reels, it’s not hard to see why. It is, of course, massively volatile. It also boasts some complex but really rewarding bonus features and an involving theme. The prison setting might sound grim, after all, we’re talking about one of the USA’s most notorious institutions with California’s only death row facility and the imagery gets a bit raw when you hit higher payouts, including black and white photos of a grinning convict in a straight-jacket. However, Nolimit City manages to inject enough humour and style to carry the potentially macabre theme into entertaining territory. The design is top notch but the best part of the game is the incredible 150,000x stake top prize, which is one of the best out there for a non-jackpot slot. In short, that amount of swag is surely worth a few days in ‘the hole’!
Testing Notes
Test spins and results analysis by Mark Wadie on 15.07.24
Results from 250 spins with real money on San Quentin xWays at Casumo.
- Stake Size: £0.2
- Start balance: £1,038.21
- End balance: £1,016.70
- Hit Rate: 30% (75 winning spins in 200)
- Biggest Win: 42.35x
- Free Spins Round: 1
Despite the high win rate – advertised as 34.25% but coming in at 30% in these 250 spins – the base game felt slow here. Wins are generally very small, due to low values in the paytable – and most of the time even when a feature triggers, like splitting cells or xWays, the result isn’t spectacular. I saw a couple of wild reels and a lot of splitting cells, but really San Quentin xWays is all about hitting that free spins round where the action hots up A LOT.
NLC say the free spins will trigger once in 230 spins. In this case it took 89 spins. Visually it’s one of the best they have done. There is an initial round to decide your spins total and symbol multiplier – 10 spins and 4x for me – then you’re into the bonus. With each spin the Jumping Wilds move and Enhancers reveal themselves before the main reels do so you can see what potential you have going on which adds to the thrill.
Overall my win was just 42.35x as the Jumping Wild didn’t accumulate any multiplier and I failed to land any more BONUS symbols to extend the round. Nevertheless it’s a fun feature and worth playing for and on another day with 3 Jumping Wilds picking up progressive multipliers you can see how it could go off.
Who Made San Quentin xWays?
- Name: Nolimit City
- UK License: Remote 052097-R-329532-005
- Total Games: 50 +
- Known For: Super high variance, super high maximum wins, adult themes, irreverent humour
- Popular Slots: San Quentin xWays, Mental, Book of Shadows, Tombstone RIP
