Split Happens

Theme and Design

Split Happens is a really simple, almost retro slot. It’s set in a bowling alley with a neon blue and pink bowling lane behind the reels. There is a disco feel to the design and its certainly entertaining, with bowling pins with grinning faces on them and a bearded bowling superstar heading up the paytable. Thunderkick slots always have good production and this is no exception.

RTP and Variance

Split Happens has 2 RTP rates – 94.16% and 85.7%. Casino operators can choose for themselves which to run the game at. Whist 94.16% is reasonable, though not ideal, you definitely want to avoid playing at 85.7%. Wherever you play you can check the RTP for yourself by hitting the ‘I’ button in the top right of the screen and scrolling through until you see Return to Player.

A good choice for this game would be MrQ from Lindar Media which always runs Thunderkick slots at the top RTP rates.

This is also a high volatility slot so it will be a tough play with an uneven win distribution. Set your stake accordingly to avoid burning down your balance too fast.

Maximum Win

Despite its high volatility, Split Happens has a relatively low max win of just 3,000x. That’s really underwhelming for a game of this type. If you want to shoot for higher prizes we recommend reading our article on highest max win slots with top payouts of over 100,000x.

Symbols and Paytable

The format is really simple with 5 reel, 3 rows and just 10 fixed paylines in play. To trigger wins you need to land 3 or more identical symbols along a payline from left to right, starting at the left most reel.

Symbols on the pay table include the cards 10, Jack Queen, King and Ace, a Nachos and Beer snack, and a super star bowler with a big beard with a max win of 7.5x for 5 bowlers on a line.

There is also a Wild symbol, represented by the letter W over 3 bowling pins, which substitutes for any pay symbol to complete a line. It also has other powers that are explained in the next part of our review.

Features and Gameplay

The gameplay in Split Happens is really simple. You need stacked wilds to land to trigger re-spins, and the free spins round comes with some powerful progressive multiplier action. Here is how it works:

Walking Stacked Wilds and Re-Spins

The main feature of the base game is the Walking Stacked Wilds. This is triggered by landing a full wild stack on any of reels 2, 3 or 4. Re-spins are awarded and the stacks move one spot to the left or right with each spin, continuing to do so until they walk off the reel set.

NOTE: If the stack landed on reel 3 then it splits to give you TWO walking stacks – one on reel 2 and one on reel 4.

Free Spins With Progressive Multiplier 

Look out for the fire-y bowling ball with BONUS written across it. This is the scatter and when 3 land anywhere on the reels, the free spins round is triggered.

Now, a progressive multiplier comes into play. You can see its value displayed to the left of the reels. It increases by 1x each time a re-spin is triggered by the Walking Stacked Wilds feature. It does NOT re-set between free spins.

Finally, during the round every time a wild lands fully stacked, the free spins counter re-sets to 5. This does NOT re-set the multiplier.

This simple mechanism is a powerful way to build a big progressive multiplier and ultimately drive some big wins.