Hot Potato!

Hot Potato, developed by Thunderkick, is set in a bustling urban environment in New York City. The background showcases tall skyscrapers and iconic yellow taxis, creating a lively cityscape. The main character is a comical, anthropomorphized hot potato with an angry expression, which serves as the wild symbol. A chef character also appears prominently, likely representing the culinary aspect of the game.

The slot's theme cleverly combines city life with fast food culture. Symbols on the reels include various food items such as burgers, french fries, donuts, and soda cans, all rendered in a vibrant, cartoonish style. The game's soundtrack features an upbeat, funky tune that complements the urban setting and adds to the overall energetic atmosphere.

Core Game Mechanics

Hot Potato utilizes a 7×7 grid with a Cluster Pays mechanic. Players form winning combinations by landing clusters of 5 or more matching symbols, either horizontally or vertically. The game employs an Avalanche feature, where winning symbols are removed from the grid, allowing new symbols to fall into their place. This process continues until no new winning clusters are formed.

Bet sizes range from €0.10 to €100 per spin, catering to a wide range of players. The game boasts a high volatility and a maximum win potential of 10,000x the bet. The Return to Player (RTP) is set at 96.16% by default, though operators can choose lower settings of 94.13%, 92.16%, 90.16%, or 87.11%.

Bonus Features

1. Exploding Wilds: The hot potato wild symbol can land naturally or be generated after a cluster win. When no more wins occur, or after participating in a win, the wild explodes, removing symbols in a 3×3 area and revealing the Multiplier Grid underneath.
2. Multiplier Grid: Beneath the regular symbols lies a Multiplier Grid. Each cell starts with a 2x multiplier value. When exposed by an Exploding Wild, these multipliers become active. If new wilds explode and overlap existing multipliers, the values double, up to a maximum of 128x. Winning combinations that include symbols on the Multiplier Grid have their values multiplied accordingly. Importantly, these multipliers are additive, meaning all multipliers that a cluster win overlaps are summed up before being applied.
3. Free Spins: Landing 3 scatter symbols triggers the Free Spins feature, awarding 10 initial spins. During this bonus round, the Multiplier Grid values become persistent, maintaining their values throughout the entire feature. This can lead to potentially massive wins as the multipliers accumulate over the course of the free spins. The feature can be retriggered by landing 3 more scatters during the bonus, awarding an additional 10 spins.
4. Bonus Buy: In jurisdictions where it's allowed, players can opt to purchase direct entry into the Free Spins feature for 100x their bet. This option comes with a slightly increased RTP of 96.44%.

One of the most interesting aspects of Hot Potato is its innovative Multiplier Grid mechanic. This underlying grid of multipliers, revealed through Exploding Wilds, adds a layer of strategy and anticipation to each spin. The potential for these multipliers to stack and persist during the Free Spins feature creates the possibility for truly explosive wins, living up to the game's “hot potato” theme in a clever and engaging way.