If you like playing casino games, chances are you’ve heard the phrase «Cascading Symbols». It is a popular game mechanism found in plenty of the most popular online slots. This mechanism is often referred to as Avalanche.
Instead of spinning on reels, the most common slot mechanism, cascading symbols will fall from above the playing area into columns. This can resemble a cascade (small waterfall), hence the name. Most of the games utilising cascading symbols comes with free re-spins.
In those cases, winning combinations will be cleared from the playing area, and new symbols will fall from above to fill the gaps. These re-spins will continue until no new winning combinations are formed – and some games will even offer multipliers attached to these re-spins.
The sheer volume of slots using cascading symbols makes it impossible to include everyone. In the following, we will present some of the best and most popular Cascading Symbols games.
Gonzo’s Quest
We’re starting with an absolute slot classic. We’re talking about Gonzo’s Quest, one of NetEnt’s all-time most popular casino games. The beautifully animated slot doesn’t come with a load of bonus features. Still, the free re-spins with multipliers have always been a hit with players.
For every winning combination in Gonzo’s Quest, the winning symbols are removed from the board and replaced by new ones. And for every new combination formed on these re-spins, the win multiplier increases by 1x.
The first Avalanche has a 1x multiplier, and then it increases by 1x per re-spin up to a maximum of 5x. As soon as no new winning combinations occur, the multiplier resets to 1x and normal spins resume.
The Cascading Symbols really come to their right in the Free Spins round in Gonzo’s Quest, activated by landing 3 Free Fall symbols across a payline. It works in the same way, but the multiplier starts at 3x and then increases to 6x, 9x and 15x.
This 2014 NetEnt classic is a great example of a Cascading Symbols slot. Let Gonzo take you on a south American adventure at Wildz Casino.
Bonanza
Big Time Gaming has made a name for themselves by being a breath of fresh air in the world of online slots. They introduced the Megaways™ mechanics, which changes the ways you can win in a slot for every spin. This is done by symbols in various sizes for every spin, meaning every reel can contain between 2 Mega symbols and 7 small symbols.
The number of ways will change for every spin, based on how big each symbol on each reel is. For Bonanza, the maximum number of ways to win is 117 649. Yes, that’s a 6-digit figure. For Gonzo’s Quest, the same number is 243.
This absurd number of ways is one of the main draws in the entertaining Bonanza slot, which also utilises cascading symbols. This works in the same way as in Gonzo’s Quest, where winning combinations are removed from the board and replaced by new ones.
If you manage to activate the Free Spins in Bonanza, you also get an unlimited win multiplier. The multiplier will increase with 1x per win, and it’s possible to retrigger more Free Spins in this round.
Bonanza offers an innovative slot experience with fun gameplay and, most importantly, A LOT of ways to win.
Reactoonz
And speaking of innovative and unique online slots…. You can’t look past Play’ n Gos Reactoonz. It utilises cascading symbols, but with a plethora of bonus features to come with it.
Reactoonz has a Charge Meter on the right side of the 7x7 grid, which will fill up with each win (and the slot has free re-spins like in the two other games). Each time one of the five bars on the meter is full, it places one of the game’s 4 bonus features in reserve:
- Implosion
- Alteration
- Demolition
- Incision
All these features will bring a different bonus to the table, including transforming symbols to Wilds or destroying low-value symbols.
If you manage to fill up the entire Charge Meter, the game’s massive alien-like creature Gargantoon comes into play. After all the other bonus features have been used up, a 3x3 Gargantoon Wild will appear, before you will receive several Wilds throughout plural re-spins.
It might sound unclear, and admittedly it is, but it’s also highly entertaining and potentially rewarding. Reactoonz feels almost like a cross-over to a mobile game, and the sheer madness of all the bonus features makes this a great online slot.
Jammin’ Jars
Push Gaming has burst into the scene of online slots, and this is in large due to Jammin’ Jars. The colourful slot with the funky soundtrack has captivated players with great gameplay and high pay-outs.
Just like the other slots in this article, the cascading symbols feature is very straightforward. Symbols that are part of a winning combination are removed and replaced by new ones. You will receive a free re-spin for as long as new winning combinations land in the playing area.
What you should hope for, however, is to land the game’s colourful jar in a winning combination. It is the game’s Wild symbol, and it comes with a multiplier attached to it. For every win that makes use of the Wild, it will stay on the grid and move to an adjacent spot when the other symbols are cleared.
This multiplier will increase for every win it is a part of. With a big playing area and a lot of colourful Wilds at play, the possibility of landing a bunch of Sticky Wilds with unlimited win multipliers is good. The win potential in Jammin’ Jars is immensely high – and the slot also offers great graphics and a funky soundtrack.
Moon Princess
The last slot on this list is another Play’ n Go classic. Moon Princess presents a mange-themed 5x5 playing area and is stacked full of features. The randomly triggered Girl Power features can give Wild symbols or remove low-value symbols. In contrast, the Princess Trinity feature can help you clear the entire grid of symbols.
As far as the cascading symbols go, they also come with a multiplier that increases for every new re-spin that results in a winning combination. This is beautifully designed on the left side of the playing area, where the player can see the current multiplier and all the completed combinations.
The Moon Princess Free Spins feature lets the player choose between three different rounds: Love Free Spins, Star Free Spins and Storm Free Spins. Each Free Spins round comes with a different number of spins and a different set of bonus features.
The colourful slot from 2017 is still among the most popular slots at Wildz Casino, and it’s easy to see why.
Cascading Symbols at Wildz Casino
This list contains some high-quality online slots if we can say so ourselves. You find all these titles, and hundreds of others, at Wildz Casino. Cascading symbols, walking wilds, multiplier wilds, classic slots, Live Casino games. You name it, Wildz most likely has it.