Halloween Jack Slot Review

Halloween Jack is a video slot from NetEnt, released just in time for Halloween 2018. The game offers up 5 reels and 20 paylines. This spooky slot is available for play at online casinos such as ComeOn, Casumo and Guts.

Theme and basic information

The title says it all, really: the theme is Halloween. But you can make it light and fun and full of candy. Or you go all out to make it as dark and spooky as possible. NetEnt went with the latter here, setting the scene at a cemetery during the night. The graveyard is shrouded in mist, dark ravens fly into the night and a storm with lightning appears to be brewing in the background as well. Underscore that with a quiet and creepy soundtrack and the scene is set. Screams and screeches can be heard, especially on big wins. Green skeletons emerge from the ground just before you may hit the bonus feature. It’s all very well done and beautifully drawn.

The symbols, down to the playing card symbols, look fantastic. We get a female vampire, a horse, a raven, a horseshoe and a bat as high-paying symbols. All the card symbols, from 10 to A, are made from stone with cold, grey hands clawing at them.

The female vampire pays out the most with 50x our stake in a 5-of-a-kind win. The horse is the second most-valuable symbol, offering 40x our stake in such a winning combination, and other symbols follow far behind.

The heavy chest is the scatter symbol and the Jack o’Lantern is our wild in this game.

Basic gameplay

When it comes to the basic gameplay of Halloween Jack, you’re looking at a fairly standard NetEnt slot. You set the coins and level you want to bet at and get spinning. Handily, you can simply hit autoplay to keep the reels going. Since nothing much is happening most of the time, this is indeed your best option, unless you have some sort of betting strategy.

The main feature in the base game is the Walking Wild. Whenever a Jack o’Lantern shows up on the reels, it begins moving from right to left, giving you free re-spins for as long as it is on the reels, thus accumulating any wins. On top of that, a 3x multiplier is automatically applied to all wins. And the free re-spins keep going should another wild appear on the reels.

Whilst you will get one or two wilds most of the time, we have seen as many as three at once, which can indeed result in big wins. This is the main feature that will keep you going through the base game and shows up with surprising frequency.

Bonus features

The same cannot be said for the free spins feature. You need three scatters anywhere on the reels to trigger it. And that can take a few hundred spins, which is unfortunate. But when the feature is finally triggered, it feels worthwhile.

You will receive 10 spins, which will end up feeling like twice or three times that many because of the many re-spins you’ll get thanks to the wandering wilds.

In the free spins feature a lantern will make an appearance on reel 5 and add to the three counters on the right-hand side. Each stands for a special wild symbol and each requires three lanterns to have made an appearance. Whenever a counter is full, the corresponding wild will make a random appearance:

• Stacked Hell Hound – You will receive this for the first three lanterns. It can appear stacked two highs and it comes with the Wandering Wild feature.
• Stack Jack O’Lantern – Once you have another three lanterns, the next wild is added to the reels. The Jack O’Lantern can come three stacks high and will wander as well.
• Expanding Death Reaper – With a total of 9 lanterns the final wild is activated. It expands when it shows up and will become a wandering wild reel.

Chances are, you will collect enough lanterns for two of the wilds to make an appearance. If you collect three more chests, you will also receive 5 more spins. In that case, you have a realistic chance of getting all three wilds and with that big wins and a free spins feature that will feel as if you’ve played 30 or 40 spins thanks to all the re-spins.

Conclusion: A cool Halloween slot that is hard on your budget

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) of Halloween Jack is . This is definitely a volatile slot, so you won’t often emerge as the winner. Whilst big wins are possible, you’re better served by budgeting carefully, especially if you ever hope to see the free spins feature.

Unfortunately, it took us just about forever to trigger the free spins even once. After the first 400 rounds, we took a break to come back later and see if the cold streak has abated somewhat.  Alas, waiting for the free spins proved to be an exercise in frustration once again. It did take another 300 spins before we finally triggered the feature. The one thing we loved to see was the green skeleton that always emerges on the reels when you already have two of those heavy chests. It just sucks when no further chest stops, and you are missing out once again.

When it comes to spooky, creepy slots, Halloween Jack does an excellent job. That alone makes the slot worthwhile. And if you love the mechanics of Jack and the Beanstalk but are not keen on the theme, Halloween Jack is an excellent alternative for you.