Skulls UP! Slot Review

Released in January 2020, this game can be played at online casinos such as Casumo, Betsson or Maria Casino.

Theme and general information

Aarrrgh, mate! We’re at it again with the pirates. Surprisingly, pirate themes are not only popular but relatively common in the slot’s world. Sure, there are nowhere near as many pirate slots as there are Egyptian or Irish Luck slots, but you will be able to find a fair share.

With Skulls UP! we get the typical Quickspin look, which usually stays on the friendly and fun side of things. We’re on an island, probably where the pirates rest and bury their loot in between their swashbuckling adventures.

It’s all quite cartoonish, but it still looks great. We get a few playing card symbols that look like gold coins. And then there is a parrot (Biscuit), a little monkey (Wrench), a dangerous-looking black pirate (Biggy), a shabby-looking pirate with an eyepatch (Smelly) and the female captain of the pirates (No-Beard).

Our lady captain named No-Beard is worth the most in this game, paying out 20x our stake for five of a kind. Biggy pays 15x our stake for such a win. The Smelly is worth 7.5x for five on a payline. Biscuit and Wrench pay 5x our stake for five of each.

You can play this game from 0.10 to 100.00 per spin.

Flaming Skulls and flaming Re-Spins

There are two types of wild in the game: the flaming skull and the normal skull – both of which only land on reels 2, 3 and 4. Whenever a flaming skull lands, it triggers the Skulls UP! Re-Spins. The flaming wild will open up a position on the locked rows above the three middle reels, which increases the number of ways to win.

Then we get a re-spin. If new flaming wilds land, further positions in the locked rows may be opened up, adding further paylines. But once a flaming wild becomes part of a winning combination, the flame is extinguished, and it turns into a normal wild.

As long as we have flaming skulls on the reels, re-spins will continue. The maximum number of paylines that we may end up with during the re-spins is 1,944.

Flaming free spins

The locked treasure chest is the scatter in the game. Three chests will trigger 8 Flaming Free Spins. In essence, the same flaming skulls and flaming re-spins can make an appearance during the free spin, unlocking further ways to win.

Now, however, once a symbol is unlocked it remains unlocked. Plus, once a reel is completely unlocked to 6 rows, we get +2 free spins. This means we can get up to 6 additional free spins.

Verdict: All the flaming action may not light your heart on fire in the end

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) of Skulls UP! is 96.26%, which is above average and definitely decent. The game is very volatile, though, so wins aren’t exactly frequent. Still, since the Flaming Skulls manage to show up reasonably often thereby triggering the Flaming Re-Spins, the slot never feels slow or boring.

Indeed, the characters and the atmosphere are quite charming and there’s a good flow to the action on the reels. Despite the potential 1,944 ways to win, the maximum payout is only 3,650x our stake in a single spin. That’s not stellar, though it isn’t too bad either. Quickspin isn’t exactly known for their high potential slots.

Skulls UP! can be entertaining for a little while and even though the features aren’t exactly new, the whole concept works very well together. Except, at the end of the day the lack of big wins may make you look for treasure elsewhere.