Spectra

Thunderkick’s Spectra slot is 80’s all over. Our first impression was Flashdance! Still, the game manages to appear futuristic at the same time. That, at least, is players’ impression.
Thunderkick might see things in a different light, however. They define it as “retro minimalistic expressions merged into this money making machine featuring stacked wilds aimed to fill your entire screen for ultra-wins”.

Theme

Spectra is best defined as an old-school slot with a fresh-approach. Featured is a range of extras, most attractive of which are wild nudges and re-spins. According to Thunderkick, the hit frequency stands at 21.9%.

Betting Options and Other Functions

Spectra is a 5-reel, 30-payline high-variance slot. The betting range is from €0.1 to €2. The maximum number of coins per line is 100. The slot has an RTP rate of 96.4% and is playable on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
Regular symbols include a disc, a triangle, a square, a rhombus, a pentagon, and a clover.

Payouts:

• Disc pays out 0.10, 0.20, and 1.40 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• Triangle pays out 0.10, 0.20, and 1.60 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• Square pays out 0.20, 0.50, and 1.80 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• Rhombus pays out 0.20, 0.50, and 2 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively;
• Pentagon pays out 0.30, 0.60, and 2.20 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively;
• Clover pays out 0.50, 1, and 3 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively.

All wins pay left to right.

Note: Previous wins will show to the left and right of the reels.

Features

High-payout symbols comprise a bell, a 7, a bar, and a colorful W (wild).

Payouts:

• Bell pays out 0.50, 1, and 4 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• 7 pays out 0.70, 1.50, and 7 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• Bar pays out 1, 2.50, and 10 coins for 3, 4, and 5 symbols, respectively; 
• 5 Ws pay out 20 coins.

Spectra offers some novel features, such as is the so-called wild nudge. The W symbols acts as the slot’s wild; it substitutes for all symbols. It behaves in an unusual way, though. Namely, it covers 4 positions on the reel (any). Lining up at least one wild will trigger wild re-spins. During the feature, wilds may move up and down (one position only), whichever is closer to the centre. There they form sticky wilds, granting, at the same time, a re-spin per stack.

The wilds make their appearance fairly often, too, which significantly increases the frequency of sticky wilds forming up (and also of wild re-spins). The maximum payout that can be formed in this way is 2.400x the wager.

Our Take

Upon its release (2016), Spectra was all the rage. Albeit the features are inventive, the slot may appear confusing at times. Wins may be difficult to follow unless you get used to the display, and quickly at that. Otherwise it is definitely worth a spin, especially since it’s a golden goose in hiding. We recommend you should try it out for free first, then move on to the real thing when you get accustomed to the gameplay.