Asgardian Stones Slots
Norse-themed slot fans have always been spoiled for choice. Who can resist the old-school charms of Microgaming's classic Thunderstruck slot, or the thrills of its upstart younger brother, Thunderstruck II?
Online gambling slots like those have been given an even bigger boost by the popularity of films like Thor: Ragnarok. The recent Marvel instalment has made over $853m at the global box office.
It's no surprise to see another Scandinavian legend - NetEnt - dip their toes into the world of Odin, Loki and Thor. New for 2018, the Asgardian Stones video slot looks an absolute treat on screen and works on both desktop and mobile platforms.
Let's strap on the armor and take a trip along the Bifröst to see if Asgardian Stones delivers.
Mythical Reels from 0.01 a Coin
You can play the free Asgardian Stones slot now. It plays in HTML5, so make sure your web connection is decent. However, we found it worked perfectly well in the most recent version of Google Chrome.
NetEnt's game works on a standard 3x5 set of reels. Moody music plays in the background as we see the home of the Norse gods rising out of the water. Whoever designed the graphics on this new slot were obviously looking at the Hollywood Thor outings for inspiration.
There are 20 fixed paylines to bet across and coins start from just 0.01. In the mobile-optimized version, NetEnt's Asgardian Stones Touch has a similar layout and functionality to the desktop game.
Hit Avalanche Reels and Increase Your Multiplier
If you are a fan of Cascading Reels slots or NetEnt's own Avalanche feature, you'll get a kick out of Asgardian Stones.
The slot's symbols fall to the base of the screen to form winning combinations. If you line up winners, the symbols will explode from view to be replaced by the symbols above.
This is easier said than done, of course. We're in firm NetEnt slot territory so the volatility can come into play. It's not unusual to go a long time without any consecutive winners.
Watch out for Colossal Symbols
There are eight regular symbols to look out for in Asgardian Stones. All symbols can potentially appear as a block of colossal symbols and take up four spaces at once on the reels. Super colossal symbols, like Odin, can take up an entire 3x3 space on the reels.
The Colossal Crush feature can activate after any Avalanche. The giant colossal symbol will keep falling, removing symbols beneath it and giving the player some massive wins. The multiplier on the side of the reels increases if the player lands consecutive winners this way. Multipliers go from 2x to 4x.
The "royal" symbols of Q, K and A look more like Viking runes than card symbols. All three pay a top payout of 30x the line bet for five of a kind. Norse gods and goddesses take up the rest of the symbols. These pay from 100x to 500x line bet for the max jackpots, with Odin the biggest payer.
The blue W symbol is the wild and will substitute for all regular symbols in the game other than the Bonus Wheel. It won't award players any special prizes, however.
Land the Bonus Wheel for Big Bonus Wins
If you're a fan of the wheel of fortune, look out for the Bonus Wheel symbol. This is a 3x3 block of symbols resembling a prize wheel. It has to land on reels 3, 4 and 5 to activate. Once in view, the wheel will spin to award free spins or a real cash prize to the gambler. Coin wins are 1x, 2x, or 5x the total bet. The more rows the Bonus Wheel covers, the more you win and the more spins you trigger.
It's possible to win up to 15 free spins with the wheel, but the wild symbol will turn into a Colossal Wild during the feature. You can also retrigger the wheel for a potential 25 additional free games.
Start Your Quest for Big NetEnt Slots
NetEnt definitely has some experience in delivering slick themed slots with great features. Some of the best online slots have come from the Scandinavian producer over the years.
The Avalanche feature is understandably popular with players but we think it works best when used with all regular symbols. The problem Asgardian Stones has is that the progressive multiplier only kicks in when the Colossal Symbols appear.
If you still want some more Colossal Symbol mayhem, try another NetEnt gaming slot: Secrets of Atlantis. It features a Colossal Symbols re-spin with the chance to win up to 320,000 coins. There's also a cool Nudge Wild feature which lets you move reels up or down to complete winning combinations.
With an RTP of just over 96%, Asgardian Stones needs a little more going for it than tasty graphics and a Bonus Wheel. We advise sticking to NetEnt's history-themed slot, Gonzo's Quest, as it features a generous prize multiplier on all winning combos worth up to 5x. Players can also trigger a 'Free Falls' bonus with a potential 15x multiplier available.
