20,000x Max Win and DigiWheel – Evolution’s New Lightning Storm Live

Evolution is on a live show innovation spree. Following the release of Balloon Race earlier this month, the famed live casino game developer is set to unleash their next highly-anticipated darling in the Lightning series: Lightning Storm Live. Just like Funky Time or their equally ambitious live shows, there’s plenty of mad-scientist quirks and features packed into it to discover and unlock hours on end. While you’re better exploring them for yourself, here are the core aspects and good-to-know facts to get you briefed in time.

Game Overview

Lightning Storm kicks off with players placing their bets on a 39-segment DigiWheel. Each spin of the wheel can lead to immediate cash wins or trigger one of the five exciting bonus games, each packed with guaranteed multipliers and unique gameplay elements.

Key Features

• Five Electrifying Bonus Games: Each bonus game comes with guaranteed multipliers that pack a punch of up to 20,000x or €500,000, whichever comes first.
• 20 Bonus Segments: Every game round, 20 wheel segments have the potential to unlock a bonus game and pay a randomly assigned multiplier between 2x and 50x.
• Storm Chaser Bet (costs 2.7x bet): Ensures that a bet is placed on the Lightning Storm bonus, guaranteeing participation if the segment is hit.
• X Chaser Bet (costs 7.8x bet): Automatically covers all bet spots that receive a multiplier, maximizing the chances of hitting a big win.

Bonus Games

Hot Spot

In this game, players interact with a 9x12 tile multiplier wall, guessing the location of the highest multipliers. Multipliers can reach up to 10,000x, and a unique "3x3" area can double the multipliers, potentially leading to massive payouts.

Monster Mash

Set in a Frankenstein-inspired lab, this bonus game involves spinning three horizontal reels to assemble a monster. Each body part (head, torso, and legs) has a multiplier, which combine to create the total multiplier for the game. The maximum multiplier here is also capped at 10,000x.

Battery Charger

Players power up their multipliers using a mini wheel and a conveyor belt of batteries. The wheel determines whether batteries explode or add their multiplier to the total. A global multiplier can double all remaining batteries, with potential multipliers up to 10,000x.

Fireball

In this bonus, a ball is launched onto a grid with 149 multiplier pockets. If the ball lands on a double multiplier, all multipliers on the grid are doubled, and the ball is relaunched. This can continue until multipliers hit 10,000x, creating significant win potential.

Lightning Storm

This marquee bonus game involves selecting a lightning strike on a billboard grid filled with multipliers. Lightning strikes three times, and players can choose their preferred strike to determine their multiplier, with a maximum potential of 20,000x.

Return to Player (RTP)

Here are some useful stats for consideration, if you’re planning on playing for longer.

• Leaf (19 alternating sectors) pay 1:1 with RTP 97.44%
• Numbered bet spots (1–20) RTP 95.13%
• Storm Chaser bet RTP 95.12%
• X Chaser bet RTP 95.13%.

Gameplay Mechanics

Betting Phase

Players place their bets on one or multiple segments of the wheel. When the betting period ends, the host spins the wheel, and the action unfolds.

Lightning Round

During the spin, 20 bonus game symbols are assigned randomly to wheel segments. If a player has placed a Storm Chaser bet, they are guaranteed entry into the Lightning Storm bonus if the wheel stops on the relevant segment. The X Chaser bet ensures that all bet spots receiving a multiplier are automatically covered.

Thoughts

Evolution’s second Lightning game of the year, following Lightning Dragon Tiger, is sure to make fans happy when it comes out across Evolution partner casinos tomorrow, on July 31. The use of the DigiWheel technology in contrast to a regular wheel of fortune seen in Crazy Time for instance, is sure to differentiate it from the majority of similar epic live shows out there. It's also a first in the Lightning series, which has been largely about table and card games, but more recently also Lotto.

Do you think Lightning Storm is any special? Drop a comment below.