Halloween Jack from NetEnt: Slot Review - spin the reels if you dare!

Halloween is almost upon us and to celebrate, software giants NetEnt have released this slot that’s straight from your deepest darkest nightmares! This spine-tingling game tells the story of a young girl who is cursed after putting her hands on a sinister looking jewellery box. Whenever the poor young girl tries to dispose of the box, it keeps coming back to her and unleashes unspeakable evil onto the world every time it opens up. This Halloween, the haunted girl is determined to destroy the box once and for all but what price will she pay in doing so? Let’s just hope that the box contains plenty of cash prizes for our sake!

Halloween Jack is a 5 reel 20 payline slot that comes with Respins, Free Spins, Walking Wilds, and a Jack ’O’ Lector feature.

Special Features

This game features 20 paylines where wins are formed when you land 3 or more identical symbols on the reels. Symbols on the reels include Horses, Bats, Ravens, Horseshoes, and a scary looking Female Vampire. Speaking of the Vampire, this is the highest paying symbol in the game as if you are lucky enough to land 5 of these symbols on the reels then you will be shrieking with delight with a payout worth 50X your initial wager!

The Wild symbol in the game is represented by a glowing pumpkin. This symbol substitutes for all symbols apart from the Scatter and Lantern symbols to help create winning combinations. It appears on all reels in the main game except for reel 1. When a Wild symbol appears on the reels then you will be awarded a Respin and the Wild will proceed to move one reel to the left. This is known as the Walking Wild feature. Respins continues until there are no Wild symbols left on the reels. The best thing about this symbol is that when it is part of a winning combination then your win is subject to a 3X multiplier!

The Scatter symbol is depicted by an image of a treasure chest. Land 3 or more of these symbols anywhere on the reels to activate the Free Spins bonus game. Once triggered, you will be awarded 10 Free Spins and if you land 3 or more Scatters while in this feature then you will receive an additional 5 Free Spins. Walking Wilds are also active here and can be triggered when the Wild appears on any of the 3 middle reels.

During Free Spins, keep an eye out for the Lantern Bonus symbol which only appears on reel 5. Collect enough of these symbols to trigger the special Jack ‘O’ Lector feature where you will unlock the following Wild extras:

• 3 Lanterns – activates the Stacked Hell Hound Wild which is made up of 2 symbols and also triggers the Walking Wild feature.
• 6 Lanterns – triggers the Stacked Jack ‘O’ Lantern Wild where you'll receive a 3 symbol high Stacked Wild and also activate the Walking Wild feature.
• 9 Lanterns – activates the Expanding Death Reaper Wild which transforms the next Wild into an Expanding Death Reaper symbol. One reel will also become fully wild and will move 1 reel to the left for every Free Spin.

Theme, Graphics and Sound

The presentation of the game is absolutely fantastic as the game is set in a spooky cemetery shrouded in mist with dark gnarled trees and dead vines everywhere. It is creepy and scary looking to perfectly replicate a ghastly and memorable Halloween experience. The symbols in the game are wonderfully designed and consist of a Female Vampire, a Pumpkin, a Treasure Chest, a Raven, a Bat, a Horse, a Horseshoe, and your typical A – 10 icons. The A – 10 icons feature pale hands surrounding them which is a nice but scary visual touch! The animations are top-notch as symbols frantically speed up and down the reels and pop brightly with a neon orange square when part of a winning combination on the reels.

The game features a haunting piano soundtrack with lots of strange whispering voices. It ties in perfectly with the scary Halloween theme of the game.

Win lines, Payouts and Jackpots

The game features 20 paylines, a good RTP of 96.28%, and a maximum payout worth 3,000X your wager.

Below is a summary taken from the PayOut Table from the game. The amount won for each combination depends on the value of the bet when you spin the reels.

Bet Range: 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 0.80, 1.00, 1.20, 1.40, 1.60, 1.80, 2.00, 2.40, 2.80, 3.00, 3.20, 3.60, 4.00, 5.00, 6.00, 7.00, 8.00, 9.00, 10.00, 12.00..100.00

• Female Vampire Symbol: 20 for 3X, 200 for 4X, 1,000 for 5X
• Horse Symbol: 15 for 3X, 100 for 4X, 750 for 5X
• Bat Symbol: 10 for 3X, 50 for 4X, 250 for 5X
• Raven Symbol: 10 for 3X, 50 for 4X, 250 for 5X
• Horseshoe Symbol: 8 for 3X, 30 for 4X, 125 for 5X
• A Symbol: 6 for 3X, 25 for 4X, 100 for 5X
• K Symbol: 5 for 3X, 20 for 4X, 75 for 5X
• Q Symbol: 5 for 3X, 20 for 4X, 75 for 5X
• J Symbol: 4 for 3X, 15 for 4X, 50 for 5X
• 10 Symbol: 3 for 3X, 10 for 4X, 30 for 5X

Our Verdict on Halloween Jack

This game comes from leading software provider NetEnt and it is definitely not for the faint-hearted I can tell you! Halloween Jack features stunning graphics, a spine-tingling soundtrack, and a superb set of spooky bonus features. The Wild symbol appears quite often when playing and is a highly lucrative symbol since it triples your payouts when part of a win on the reels. The standout feature of the game is the Free Spins feature as here you can get your hands on rewarding Stacked Wilds and Expanding Wilds once you have gathered enough Lantern symbols to trigger the special Jack 'O' Lector feature. In terms of variance, I found this slot to be High so it might take a chunk out of your bankroll but with a top prize of 3,000X your bet on offer then it is definitely worth a few spins with some frights thrown in for good measure! For slots with a similar Halloween theme, check out Halloween and Attack of the Zombies.

Monstrous rewards await you when you spin the reels in Halloween Jack!