Dead Canary

Intro

Playing out on a unique game panel with multiple winning ways, Nolimit City’s Dead Canary slot is an edgy mining-themed slot that features two of the developer’s signature xMechanics. There’s a host of other bonus features that help give this slot some real appeal too, including cascading wins and free spins. Dead Canary comes with a max RTP of a just-above-average 96.02% and offers a max payout of 65,000x the bet. This slot should be warmly welcomed by Nolimit City’s army of fans and will likely see a few new ones join the ranks too.

Screenshots

Set in a dusty rock chamber deep underground, Dead Canary is an intense mining-themed slot with a splash of romance for good measure. The game plays out on a uniquely shaped game grid that starts in a 3-3-2-2-1-1 position and can increase to 3-4-3-4-3-4 as barriers and extra positions are unlocked. To score a win, you’ll need to match at least three symbols on consecutive reels, starting with reel one. There are ten regular symbols, with 10-A acting as the five low-pay symbols and a hook, flask, compass, rat and the dwarf serving as premium symbols. The top payout for regular winning combos is 7.5x the bet for hitting six-of-a-kind.

Dead Canary has a max RTP of 96.02%, which is slightly above the average and means that you’ll get back around £96 in winnings for every £100 wagered. Of course, things are rarely so straightforward, and it pays to remember that this is a highly volatile game. You can expect some decent sized wins from Dead Canary, but they won’t necessarily come thick and fast. Bet limits range from 20p to £100 per spin. However, for a 40% extra cost, you can turn on the xBet mechanic. This unlocks the first barrier and ensures that a Scatter lands on every spin.

Dead Canary is loaded with bonus features which make gameplay even more immersive. The Collapse feature is first on the list and removes winning combos from the grid. New symbols then cascade onto the reels, potentially forming more wins. Each win also causes a blocked row to open up and unlock even more winning ways. At the same time, multipliers in the bottom spots kick in if the symbol is destroyed or if the barrier’s removal reveals a Scatter.

The Wild Mining feature shows up when 3-5 matching symbols land diagonally without creating a winning combo, replacing the symbols in question with up to 3 xBomb Wilds. In turn, these explode and the xBomb Wild Multiplier feature adds +1 to the win multiplier in anticipation of the next Collapse. xBomb Wilds blow up all other symbols except other xBomb Wilds, though Scatters will reappear in a different spot on the reels. They can also help you out by substituting for any paying symbol except Scatters.

Landing 3 Silver or Gold Cage Canary Scatters anywhere on the reels triggers Canary Free Spins. This changes the reels to a 4x3x4x3x4x3x4 layout and locks the vaults in each corner. Coins and multipliers from the three neighbouring spots are collected in the vaults, with xBomb explosions able to open them up. You’ll start with 3 free spins, with the triggering Canary Scatters carrying a 1x multiplier. Throughout the Free Spins feature, Canary Scatters collect a variety of coins, multipliers, upgrades and enhancers, with the Gold Scatter able to haul in more.

Here’s the kicker. You’ll need those sweet little birds to drop dead to collect the haul they’ve collected. Each Canary Scatter starts the Free Spins feature with 3 hit points, with gas enhancers and xBomb Wilds removing one hit point each. When you’ve seen off a canary and collected its payload, the bird will respawn with a fresh set of hit points. The Canary Free Spins feature ends when you run out of free spins. The contents of any vaults unlocked by an xBomb are added to the value of the Canaries and paid to players. There’s a max win of 65,000x your total bet, which Nolimit City call ‘Happy Wife, Happy Life’.

Developed using HTML5 technology, Nolimit City’s Dead Canary slot has been optimised for play across a range of different devices, including desktop, tablet and mobile devices, such as smartphones running Android or iOS. That said, given the elaborate design of this slot, players may struggle to get the full visual hit on a smaller screen, so we’d say playing on a laptop or desktop device is the best bet for this one.

With games like Road Rage and Punk Toilet in its portfolio, Nolimit City is known for its edgy slots with unusual designs. From that perspective, Dead Canary doesn’t disappoint, though the design here is perhaps not quite as visually pleasing as some other Nolimit City games. We’re not sure how excited we can get about graphics like poo enhancers, but since they can take out the canaries and help earn players a pay out, we guess we can get on board. Dead Canary adds a dramatic soundtrack, which helps to enhance the game’s big moments.