An Analysis Of New Slot Game, Esqueleto Explosivo 3

Everyone’s favourite Mexican Day of the Dead slot is back on 25th October 2024 as Thunderkick release Esqueleto Explosivo 3. In this article, Mark Wadie from slots review site, AllSlotSites.com, looks at what’s new from the famous dancing skeleton mariachis.

Esqueleto Explosivo Showcases Thunderkick’s Creative Talent

Few developers have invoked the vibrancy of the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations with quite the same panache as Thunderkick in their Esqueleto Explosivo (Exploding Skeletons) games. The first in the series announced Thunderkick’s arrival on the slots scene back in 2015 with a distinct artistic style and simple gameplay. The theme wasn’t a new one but the execution certainly was.

Nearly a decade on, in this new release the style of the original has been retained, with the backdrop of a small Mexican town on the evening of the festivities, lit up with colorful lighting, candles and red roses. And center stage, the skeletal mariachi band whose painted skulls make up the symbols in the paytable. It’s all as charming as ever, even before the reels start spinning and the band starts singing.

Bigger Numbers Than 1 and 2

Thunderkick have turned Esqueleto Explosivo from a laid-back low variance slot into something much tougher. The third in the series is a high volaltity game, which means high risk for high reward, with a much bigger max win of 7,500x (compared to 700x in the original). Typically slots like this will have an uneven win distribution with prolonged streaks of low payouts or no payouts followed by a burst of big wins. It therefore requires patience to stick with the game whilst waiting for that significant moment to drop.

At the same time, some ground has been conceded on the Return to Player (RTP) which sits at 94.22% compared to 96% in the first game. That change reflects a reduction in RTP across many slot games in the UK in the last decade.

Cluster Pays, Avalanche Wins and the Mucho Multiplier

Just as the game engine has shifted gears with each new release in this series, so the gameplay has changed too. In Esqueleto Explosivo 3 we move from paylines to Cluster Pays, as the game grid expands to 5 reels and 5 rows.

Clusters are created by landing 5 or more identical symbols in vertically and / or horizontally adjacent positions on the grid. That creates chances to build bigger wins as clusters of 15 or more top paying symbols produce a massive payout of 150x the stake. Compare that to a top win of just 2.5x for 5 of the highest paying symbols on a payline in the first Esqueleto Explosivo game and you can see how Thunderkick have beefed-up a once low-key release.

Whilst the format may have moved to cluster pays, anyone who has played Esqueleto Explosivo 1 or 2 will recognise the Avalanche Wins feature that remains core to the gameplay. When a winning cluster of painted skulls is formed, the skulls sing a few bars of a song before they explode and new ones then drop in to the spaces left behind. If new clusters are formed, then the process repeats.

Each new avalanche in a sequence triggers the Mucho Multiplier value beneath the reels to double to 2x, then 4x, 8x, 16x and finally 32x if there are 5 avalanches in a row. The Mucho Multiplier is applied to each win before resetting when the avalanches end.

Explosivo Wilds

Further continuity between the Esqueleto Explosivos is found in the Explosivo Wild which appears again here. These special wilds can drop onto the reels at any point during an Avalanche. When they do, they explode all symbols in a 3x3 space around them, triggering more avalanches and more potential wins.

Free Spins With Up To 1,024x Mucho Multiplier

But the highlight of Esqueleto Explosivo 3 is definitely the free spins round. This was introduced with the second game in the series and appears again here. Landing 3 or 4 scatters in the base game unlocks the feature with 2 important differences from the base game.

Firstly, the Mucho Multiplier can now grow to a much bigger 1,024x. This is a huge upgrade from the previous Esquelto Explosivos, which topped out at just 64x. And secondly, each Explosivo Wild that lands is collected in a meter under the reels. Every 3 that are collected extend the round by 1 spin up to a maximum of 5 times.

Conclusion – Is Esqueleto Explosivo 3 A Better Slot Than The Others?

Esqueleto Explosivo is certainly a different beast to its predecessors. Whilst retaining the charisma of the original games it is also a more exciting proposition for most slots fans. Key areas like maximum win and volatility have been cranked up to bring the game into line with the modern era of high-risk high reward gaming and super-charged features that can trigger a big win sequence out of nowhere. Specifically, the 1,024x multiplier in the free spins round can help drive wins the like of which you would never see whilst spinning the reels in either of the first 2 games.

But it’s also worth pointing out that Esqueleto Explosivo 3 has been built for high volatility fans, and those who prefer more laid back slots play with frequent, if smaller wins, should return to the original game for their kicks instead.