Timed Bonuses Create Major Sinks

Read this month’s Headline Release and Market Watch

In this month’s Slots Headline Release, we analyze Quick Hit Slots’ Nemo’s Voyage, which uses a unique time limit mechanic in its base game to create a major sink. Bonuses with time limits remain rare in slots, but they’re a great way to change the pace of gameplay and encourage players to spin quickly in short bursts.

In this month’s Market Watch, we tear down a machine from Jackpot World that also includes a timed bonus, along with five new innovative machines from Cash Frenzy, DoubleU Casino, and Lotsa Slots. 

Headline Release

In Nemo’s Voyage, spins cause a submarine to descend, which activates increasingly valuable bonuses at milestones and increases a pressure gauge. Once the gauge is full, the submarine slowly ascends at a constant rate regardless of how frequently players spin, and players lose their bonuses once it reaches the top. 

By tying the duration of the bonuses to time rather than number of spins, the machine creates a sense of urgency that encourages players to spin faster in order to get the most value from the bonuses. During the submarine’s ascent, spins also decrease the pressure gauge, so players can stop the submarine’s ascent earlier by spinning more frequently.

Nemo’s Voyage uses several alarming audio and visual effects during this stage that amplify this sense of urgency, such as flashing red lights, steam animations, and siren sounds.

Release Trends

Wild features in the base game, such as those in Nemo’s Voyage, are relatively rare in slots apps, due in large part to the prevalence of machines with respin features, collection features, or no base game features. Wild base game features have been significantly less common in the past year compared to the preceding year.

Read our full analysis of Nemo’s Voyage in this month’s Headline Release.

Market Watch

In Cash Frenzy’s Birthday Fiesta, players spend tokens earned from spins to decorate three rooms. Completely decorating a room awards a background cosmetic for the machine, and players can switch between backgrounds at any time.

In DoubleU Casino’s Fruit Fortune Slash, landing shuriken symbols awards prizes from corresponding positions on a grid beside the reels, and prizes randomly roam down the grid during spins. Triggering the bonus with a gold shuriken awards the prizes in the corresponding column and row.

In Lotsa Slots’ Beast Brawl Social Slot, a social bonus splits a shared reel set in half for two teams, and each team collects multipliers that land on their respective positions. When a team lands a bonus symbol on their position, they convert some of the other team’s positions into their own positions. At the end of the bonus, the team with more positions earns double rewards.

Read our full teardowns of all notable releases in this month’s Market Watch.