Tutan Kha-boom

Tutan Kha-boom: Slot Overview

One of casino game maker Thunderkick's earlier defining hits was Esqueleto Explosivo, a Pixar movie-type slot that had singing calaveras in place of regularly spinning reels, blasting out little tunes and exploding when making wins, with a progressive win multiplier boosting pays. It went on to inspire several sequels, as well as a Feliz Navidead version. Now, the classic Thunderkick slot has formed the basis for an ancient Egyptian edition. Cleverly titled Tutan Kha-boom, it resurrects the singing, exploding skulls, multiplier trail concoction that has proved popular in the past.

A huge part of Esqueleto Explosivo's charm is its symbols. Each one is like its own little person, piling all sorts of character onto the reels. That's all back in Tutan Kha-boom, except we're playing alongside mostly mummies. However, the skulls in this game are just as full of singing, humorous charm, only this time, they're chanting with an ancient Egyptian slot influence. They inhabit a radiant, cartoon tomb in three stacks, making the whole show easy on the eyes and ears.

It's as if a regular 5x3 gaming grid has been turned on its side to create Tutan Kha-boom's 3x5 play area. Winning combinations form when symbols connect from bottom upwards along 99 connecting pay ways. The math model is highly volatile, and when betting $/€0.10 to $/€100 on each spin, the RTP comes out at 94.17%.

Six pay symbols land in Tutan Kha-boom. They are singing skulls of blue, green, dark green, orange, and people colours, plus a Cleopatra type, awarding 0.7x to 5x the stake for a 5 matching symbols combination.

Tutan Kha-boom: Slot Features

The kha-booming is aided by exploding avalanches, rising multipliers, an Exploding Wild, free spins, Bet+ ante bets, and a feature buy.

Exploding Avalanche & Exploding Wild Symbol

Winning symbols explode and are replaced by new symbols dropping from above, giving another chance to win. Each avalanche increases the multiplier up to x32 in the base game or x64 in the bonus round. The multiplier is tracked below the reels and resets between rounds. Avalanches continue until no new wins or wilds remain. The Exploding Wild, meanwhile, substitutes for all symbols except the scatter. When it explodes, it removes all symbols in its row and column except high pay and scatter symbols.

Bonus Game

Hitting 3 scatters triggers 10 free spins. During the round, hitting 2 scatters grants +3 spins, while 3 scatters trigger +7 spins. Every 3 wilds that land in the feature removes the lowest multiplier from the trail and awards +1 spin. Collecting 15 wilds unlocks the x64 multiplier.

Bet+ & Feature Buys

Four Bet+ options may be activated. They are Bonus Boost at 2x, the Bonus Boost Plus at 3x, the Bonus Boost Ultra at 5x, and Bonus Boost Extreme at 9x, making each spin 4, 8, 16, and 32 times more likely to trigger a bonus game, respectively. Or, players may just buy the bonus game for 80 times the stake.

Tutan Kha-boom: Slot Verdict

While Tutan Kha-boom isn't the reskin Esqueleto Explosivo Feliz Navidead was, it also doesn't bring a huge amount that's white-hot new to the party either. Instead, Thunderkick has taken a tried and true formula and given it a fresh coat of ancient Egyptian paint, where nostalgia or cosy familiarity rather than innovation does much of the lifting. For fans of the Esqueleto Explosivo series, that familiarity will probably be a selling point rather than a drawback, though the wish for more innovation may cross the mind as well.

There are some changes, the most obvious is the realigned gaming area, and it may take time to train yourself to spot winning combinations forming from the bottom row up instead of left to right. There are also a lot more ways to win, 99 compared to the original's 17, and the symbol values have increased too, which explains why winning potential has mushroomed from a quaint 700x to a more contemporary 5,000x the stake. Volatility, too, has been tuned from low to high, giving Tutan Kha-boom's maths and stats a modern makeover.

Otherwise, Tutan Kha-boom is business as usual, which could bring joy to players lapping up the nostalgic feel-good, less thrilling for gamblers who wanted more. Tutan Kha-boom is a nice-looking slot, oozing sing-along charisma that lets fans experience the game through a different cultural lens, though the decreased RTP and lack of mechanical leap might put others off.