Lightning Link Pokie
Lightning Link isn’t an individual Poker machine, but is instead a series of 4 games all linked together by some common features including progressive jackpots that build up as a small part of each wager gets put aside until a lucky player lands the right combinations to scoop one of them.
Each of the games follows a proven theme, so players will be able to choose from the Asian styled Happy Lantern, the undersea adventures of Magic Pearl, the desert themed Sahara Gold or play at the home of gambling in High Stakes Las Vegas.
While the themes and styles may be different, the gameplay is almost identical, with wild substitutions, expanding symbols, scatter wins, free spins and the shared jackpots featuring across the whole range. It’s just up to the players to decide what their favourite theme is, and how much they want to stake per spin.
These can be played from just 0.50, and while most winnings are proportional to the amount staked, the progressive jackpots are the same at any bet level.
The Australian games developer Aristocrat is behind Lightning Link and presents them in their popular Helix cabinets, which sees the controls angled towards players, a wide game screen above them and details of the progressive jackpot levels on an upper screen, all topped off with a bright game sign that stands out on the casino floor.
Playing Lightning Link
Each game comes in a 5 reel format with symbols in 3 rows and either 25 or 50 paylines, with 3 or more matching symbols stopping in an unbroken line across the reels being enough to get a win. Bet options should attract players at most levels, but the maximum stake is 5.00, so high-rollers may steer clear of them.
The standard playing card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A are present on most Aristocrat pokies and these games are no different, but at least they are colourful enough and players know that when these line up they will receive a small payout.
The picture symbols are unique to each pokie, as are the elaborate background images that help to set the themes, so players could for example, see lots of red and gold highlights across Happy Lantern, or the blues and greens of the deep when playing Magic Pearl.
Lightning Link
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Bonus Bits
Any time 3 or more scatter symbols appear in any positions on the reels, players will be awarded with 6 free spins. While this may not sound like many spins there’s the potential for some big payouts during them, as the middle 3 reels will be transformed into a single giant symbol. Any time that symbol appears on reel 1 they will get the equivalent of a 4 in a line win, and should it also stop on reel 5 at the same time, they get a big 5 of a kind payout.
But everyone will be wanting to get their hands on a progressive jackpot when they play these games and the path to the biggest prizes starts when 3 or more coins, or pearls, depending on what is being played, land in any positions.
Some coins will have win values attached to them, while others will be marked Mini, Minor or Major, to show which progressive prize they can win. Any wins, whether jackpots or not are then paid out but then the coins stay locked in place while any remaining symbol positions spin again, 3 times. If more coins land, the process repeats until a series of 3 spins occurs where no more coins appear.
This can lead to screens packed with coin symbols, and anyone who manages to see all 15 spots on the reels filled by them will automatically win the Grand jackpot which can be a substantial amount.
Even without a jackpot payout, there will be some nice wins from the bonus coins.
The Verdict
Available to play at casinos worldwide, Lightning Links games have a broad appeal and it sees a number of well-designed pokies coming together to bring some nice progressive jackpots to players. Housed in attractive cabinets, the 4 different games will appeal to different audiences, but the main features should certainly appeal to everyone.
Perhaps Aristocrat could have done more to improve the ratio of winning spins, as these are games with a fairly high volatility, where players could be spinning the reels for a while before getting symbols to line up favourably, but the trade-off is that the value of those wins will tend to be higher.
Bonus rounds are certainly interesting, with the giant symbols making the free spins game potentially very rewarding, while the jackpot games are guaranteed to reward players with something, even if it’s not the main progressive prizes.