The Lightning Link series of games and its familial cousins are among the most popular games in casinos, and have been for some time. However, there’s things even some of the most avid fans of the games simply don’t know about them.
Leadership at Aristocrat has noted that Lightning Link is a “10-year game” due to the way the game is designed, and it certainly is bearing out that way, with sequels and mixing with other brands like Buffalo happening in recent years. The Hold & Spin model has also been blatantly copied by other manufacturers, a clear sign that there’s a bona fide hit on their hands.
While all three games are quite similar, especially when it comes to aspects like the Hold & Spin feature, there are also some subtle differences. When that is the case, it’ll be noted.
That said, here’s five things you may not have known about Lightning Link and its cousins:
You Could Win a Random Major… or Grand
This is specifically on Lightning Link and Dragon Link, as Dollar Storm adds the Super Grand Chance with its own random big prizes. But on any bought game where the Hold & Spin is not triggered, you are able to randomly win the Major or Grand progressive jackpots on those games.
This is a pretty rare occurrence, but I do see the odd report here and there about it. Click here to learn all the ways you can win the Major or Grand, including seeing a random Major caught on video by Diana Evoni.
Hold & Spin Bonuses are Not Predetermined
Through clues and the way the Hold & Spin presents itself and progresses, it is clear that this is not a predetermined bonus. When you hit the button determines what will happen for that next spin in the various spaces still open on the grid.
I personally think it would’ve been harder for them to develop a bonus like this as predetermined and have it feel as good as it does.
One only has to look at a game like Ultimate Fire Link and how it operates when deployed in a predetermined setting like in New York Lottery machines, which is not how it operates by default as a Vegas-style slot (an RNG-based bonus based on the button press), to understand why.
There’s so many permutations of how many items drop, the values of each, and so on that makes this much more functional as a true RNG bonus.
A Grand Jackpot is Theoretically Possible Every Hold & Spin Bonus
I’ve spoken about this in a couple of previous posts, but when you watch carefully the Hold & Spin bonus as video’d, including those where the Grand Progressive Jackpot has landed, you’ll see there’s one space each bonus (although it can move around as the bonus progresses).
This is how the game’s design controls for not giving out the Grand often. That one space is really hard to capture, and if you bet higher, it’s marginally easier but still quite tough. So while it’s theoretically possible as the chance is built into the RNG possibilities, it’s a very low chance.
Landing the Difficult Space Does Not Guarantee a Grand Jackpot
Brian Christopher posted a video on Dollar Storm that shows the same thing we learned previously on Lightning Link and Dragon Link: Just because you got the difficult space, you still have to land the other spaces, and that’s not guaranteed.
At 37:42 in this video, you’ll see him play through a Hold and Spin bonus where he got 14 spaces filled, and the 15th space had plenty of balls in there. He just didn’t get it on the three spins he had.
Similar Bonuses, Different Free Spin Counts
Lightning Link and Dollar Storm bonuses, while structured basically identically to Dragon Link’s, can many times have more free spins than the Dragon Link equivalent.
You can read a breakdown of the different bonus types here, and generally speaking the games are in pairs where two games will have the same structure/bonus but with different themes.
Dragon Link’s bonuses are designed to be consistently 6 free games. Lightning Link and Dragon Link can many times give you a few more. Presumably this is balanced out in other ways like bonus frequency, but if you have a certain type of bonus you like, you may want to factor that in to your decision of which games you play.
Are there things you didn’t initially know about Lightning Link or its cousins? Share in the comments!
I was recently at a casino where high limit Lightning Cash had options to play 50 lines at $.25 or 25 line at $.50.
The bets for either of those denominations cost the same for the corresponding bet levels.
I guess the choice is between more line hits versus bigger bonuses, and supposedly higher RTP.
Which one would you pick?
Why?
Hi JJ – given the choice between two denominations and the same bet level, the general expectation is the higher denomination will pay back a bit better in the long run. It won’t be a huge differential, and some people may prefer extra lines to reduce volatility. I think either choice is OK but if the goal is maximum opportunity, the higher denomination would win out in the long run.