Skibblings Demo (Elk Studios) Slot Demo & Review

Game Overview

Skibblings is a fantasy-themed slot from ELK Studios that does away with the conventional hero-versus-monster story and tries something totally different! This unique-looking game offers 178 paylines, mystery symbols, a medium-to-high volatility, and a decent maximum win potential of 10,000x.

Theme & Design

We’re used to seeing some pretty bizarre concepts from Elk Studios, and in our opinion, they’re a developer who doesn’t get anywhere near as much credit as they should. Releases like Nitropolis TV and Pirots 3 are some excellent games, and it’s a shame they don’t have more exposure today, although maybe we’re just biased due to our personal love for them

Now, Skibblings is set in a quirky subterranean world full of huts, glowing lanterns, and some pretty weird-looking goblins preparing for battle. The visuals are pretty much classic Elk Studios; polished, colourful, and far more intricately designed than what we see from most providers today.

Skibblings Gameplay & Features

Skibblings is played on a five-reel, four-row layout, and you’ll find 178 ways to win with a cascading reels mechanic, meaning winning symbols are removed, and new ones drop down to take their place. You can wager between €0.20 and €100 per spin, and the game, unfortunately, has a below-average RTP of 94%.

Now, the game’s central mechanic is the Skibbling Cannon, powered by glowing lanterns between the reels. When wins pass through a lit lantern, Skibblings are added to the cannon. Green lanterns add 1, pink ones add 3, and orange ones add 10. Once at least 5 Skibblings are “stored”, the Cannon Blast feature triggers, firing the creatures onto the grid to create Mystery Symbols. If multiple Skibblings land on the same position, the symbol’s multiplier increases. After the blast, the Mystery Symbols reveal matching icons, offering up some pretty decent base game potential alone.

Now, the Skibbling King can also randomly trigger two events: Skibbling Rain, dropping extra Mystery Symbols onto the grid, or Bonus Rain, which adds scatter symbols to boost your bonus chances.

You’ll also find two “special” wilds: the Paladin and Wizard. The Paladin collects all active lanterns and adds their Skibblings to the cannon while destroying adjacent symbols, while the Wizard lights up all inactive lanterns and clears the grid for new symbols to be able to drop down.

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols activates 5, 6, or 7 free spins, respectively. If at least one Super Bonus symbol triggers the round, you enter the Super Bonus Game, where every spin features a guaranteed Skibbling Rain. In the bonus, all Skibblings stay stored in the cannon until the final spin, when they’re basically fired off in one massive Cannon Blast. Most of the time, this ends up turning most of the grid into mystery symbols.

X-iter Feature Buys

Elk Studios’ signature X-iter menu offers a number of different feature buys, too. You can pay 2.5x your stake for the Bonus Hunt, increasing the odds of landing a natural bonus by 4x, or increase your stake by 5x for an 8x increase.

A King Spin costs 25x and guarantees Skibbling Rain or Bonus Rain, and entry into the main bonus round costs 100x, while entry into the Super Bonus costs 250x.