Elk Studios Slots – Demos & Reviews

At Demoslot, we consider Elk Studios to be a ‘true’ software provider known for delivering high-quality, innovative slot games that stand out in the industry. Unlike many studios that churn out cookie-cutter slots, the developer stands out for its commitment to creativity over imitation, and players can always expect something fresh and different, as Elk isn’t content with following trends and instead tries to set them. 

If this brand’s releases excite you as much as they do us, we’ve assembled the entire free slots catalogue of Elk Studios games for you to try. You can play them all with unlimited credits on our platform, read game reviews, and find the best slots to play from Elk by using our data and statistics to highlight their games with the highest rating, greatest RTP and biggest jackpot prizes.

History & Company Background

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Elk Studios has earned a reputation as a leading innovator in online slots. While it might have taken the studio a few years to stamp its mark on the industry, it is now known for creating games with distinct mechanics, exquisite graphics, and a mobile-first design philosophy. From the outset, Elk Studios made it clear that creativity, innovation, and premium quality game releases were its priorities as they aimed to carve out a niche in an iGaming industry dominated by much more established software providers. 

After acquiring licenses to operate in the UK and across Europe, the studio finally began to break through. In fact, that was achieved emphatically in 2017 with the release of Wild Toro, a slot that went on to win Game of the Year at the EGR Operator awards. Since that landmark day, the studio has not looked back, consistently releasing successful slots, including Nitropolis, Cygnus, and Pirots.

Many of these titles featured innovative new mechanics, such as Elk’s signature X-iter™ mode, debuting on the studio’s Bompers slot in 2021. Another is the ConnectR™ mechanic that propelled the Pirots series of slots to big success. Eventually, Elk’s unique and ambitious approach caught the eyes of more established companies, ultimately leading to Scientific Games acquiring the software provider at the end of 2021. With increased backing, that can only mean an even brighter future for the studio.

Key Milestones & Awards

• 2013: Elk Studios is founded in Stockholm, Sweden.
• 2013: The first slot, ‘The Lab’ is released. 
• 2015: Issued an iGaming licence from the UK Gambling Commission.
• 2017: Wins Game of the Year at the EGR Operator Awards for Wild Toro.
• 2017: Becomes licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority.
• 2019: Forms a strategic partnership with Slotregator.
• 2021: The company is acquired by Scientific Games.
• 2021: Goes live in Italy. 
• 2021: Is granted a Greek licence by the Hellenic Gaming Commission
• 2021: Establishes the X-iter buy bonus feature. 
• 2024: Goes live in New Jersey – the studio’s first US state

Global Presence

Despite its relatively small size, Elk Studios has expanded its reach across numerous regulated markets, mainly across Europe, the United Kingdom, and, more recently, North America. Their mobile-first games are available at hundreds of online casinos worldwide, including top-tier operators. With headquarters in Sweden and licenses in multiple jurisdictions, including the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority, Elk Studios continues to grow its international footprint.

Highest RTP ELK Studios Slots

ELK Studios’ expanding collection of slot games leaves players with an intriguing question: which slot machines offer the best potential returns? To make your search for this information easier, we take the data from each Elk slot that we input onto our site and use it to create insightful tables our visitors can use to make statistical based decisions about which games they wish to play. If the return-to-player percentage of a game is something you like to know about, you’ll find the best Elk slots in this category below.

Elk Studios Product Portfolio

One thing we’ve learned from Elk Studios is that the provider has consistently prioritised quality over quantity, both in terms of visuals and gameplay. The studio’s slots often feature unique mechanics, while the team prefers utilising highly volatile math models. 

Elk’s slot portfolio has now increased to over 110 titles, with many proving highly popular with players and operators alike. The developer has been responsible for titles that continue to hit the sweet spot, from award-winning slots such as Wild Toro to trailblazing series such as Nitropolis, Cygnus, and Pirots.

Online Slot Games

Elk Studios tends to deliver around two new slots each month, striving to deliver consistency and excellent games rather than filler content that will be quickly forgotten by players.

Throughout the studio’s portfolio, you’ll see many iconic releases, many of which became part of long-running series’. 

• Wild Torro: If one release started Elk Studios’ rise to the top tier of the iGaming sphere, it was Wild Torro. This 5×4 reel configuration slot blends humour with exciting features like Walking Wilds that give you a re-spin for each step they make across the reels and three bonus games. The series has since spawned follow-up titles, including Wild Toro 2 and Book of Toro.

• Nitropolis series: The Nitropolis series has been a game-changer for Elk Studios. Set in a post-apocalyptic world run by rebellious animals, the series has produced five main Niropolis titles, as well as sub-themed slots, such as Gritty Kitty of Nitropolis and Rogue Rats of Nitropolis, focused on each of the main characters. We recommend checking out Nitropolis 4, which has up to an incredible 262,144 ways to win thanks to the innovative Nitro Reels™ mechanic.

• Pirots series: Elk Studios revealed another new mechanic for its Pirots series of slots, with the ConnectR™ offering a unique payout mechanic that involves the four Parrot characters collecting connected symbols of the same colour. Three of the four slots in the series feature ConnectR™, but the studio bravely decided to remove it for Pirots X. 

• Cygnus series: The original Cygnus slot, released in 2019, with its 6×4 reel configuration and 4,096 ways to win that progressively grows to a maximum of 8 rows and 262,144 win ways, proved another big hit for Elk. The success of that title soon saw follow-ups with Cygnus 2 and Cygnus 3, released in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and Cygnus 4 coming online in 2024.

Game Mechanics & How They Work

We’ve already mentioned Elk Studios’ drive for innovation through new and exciting gaming engines. However, the software provider does also use traditional mechanics such as paylines, cluster pays, and scatter pays for some slots.

As for the studio’s game collection as a whole, you can expect to experience the following:

Nitro Reels

Much of the popularity of Elk Studios’ Nitropolis range of slots comes down to the Nitro Reels™ feature. It is a reel-splitting mechanic that can split each reel to reveal up to 12 symbols, which significantly increases winning potential and the ways to win.

ConnectR

If you’ve played the Pirots, 1, 2, and 3 slots here at Demoslot, you’ll know the creativity shown by Elk via its ConnectR™mechanic. Rather than relying solely on paylines to form winning combinations, the mechanic uses connectors to link symbols on the reels. It allows paths to be formed between symbols rather than requiring them to be traditionally aligned.

X-iter

As for X-iter, this is a range of bonus buy options that allow players the chance to jump straight into certain modes or features without having to trigger them organically. You can buy straight into free spins bonuses, spin with a higher chance of triggering bonus games, and more.

Paylines

While Elk Studios prefers to use modern reel mechanics in its releases, it has still reverted to traditional paylines on occasion. As most will know, this engine calculates wins when matching symbols line up across a slot’s paylines. The higher the value of a symbol and the more instances across a payline, the more you’ll win.

Popular Payline slots from Elk Studios:

• Book of Toro (10 Paylines)
• Night Trax (72 Paylines)
• Fate of Fortune (81 pays both ways paylines)
• Poltava Flmes of War (40 Paylines)
• Vegas Diamonds (5 Paylines)

Cluster Pays

Elk Studios has experimented with the cluster pays mechanic more than it has with most others. It calculates wins by matching symbols in clusters anywhere on the reels. The brand often combines this engine with cascading reels, such as in slots like Oxygen, which features a 6×7 playing grid, a 25,000x maximum win, and a bunch of multiplier modifiers.   

Popular Cluster Pays slots from Elk Studios:

• Cluster Slide
• Stars of Orion
• Oxygen
• Dam Beavers
• Buggin

Scatter Pays

Surprisingly, Elk has notably resisted the widespread trend of using the Scatter Pays mechanic, which has become so popular in slot space. Scatter Pays, which pays out when matching symbols appear anywhere on the reels, has been a major hit for many other developers. However, Elk has only dabbled with the mechanic a couple of times to date.

• Ashoka
• Hula Balua

Ways to Win

As with the Cluster Pays mechanic, Elk has a fondness for ways to win, which, after the success of Wild Toro, is fully expected. Many of the software developer’s best titles have used anything from 243 ways to win up to millions of potential win ways in releases such as those in the Nitropolis series. Winning combinations are formed if a specific number of matching symbols lines up across successive reels, removing the need for fixed paylines. 

Popular Ways to Win Slots from Elk Studios:

• Buffalo Toro (4,096 Ways to Win)
• Nitropolis (4,096 – 85,155,840 Ways to Win)
• Topicool (46,565 Ways to Win) 
• Electric Sam (243 Ways to Win)
• Taco Brothers (243 Ways to Win)

Commitment to Player Safety and Fairness

Licensing & Regulation

As a start-up company, Elk Studios’ priority was to establish itself in the UK and across European iGaming markets, something that was achieved with licenses issued in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Over the years, the company has expanded into other jurisdictions thanks to licensing from the respective authorities. In 2024, Elk Studios moved into the US for the first time, with the brand qualifying for a licence to operate in New Jersey.

• UK Gambling Commission (UKGC): Account number 40844
• Malta Gaming Authority (MGA): Licence Number: MGA/B2B/605/2018
• Romania National Office for Gambling (ONJN)
• Swedish Gaming Authority
• Hellenic Gaming Commission (Greece)
• Italy
• New Jersey

Fair Play & Security

We cannot find any information on whether Elk Studios has obtained ISO certification for the fairness and randomness of its slot titles or if they’ve been tested by third-party testing companies such as Global Laboratories International (GLI) or BMM Testlabs. That said, as these are requirements to achieve licensing from many regulatory bodies, we’d assume the studio’s slots have been tested and certified as fair. 

Partnerships & Collaborations

Elk Studios is a sought-after slot development brand, with online casinos lining up to feature the developer’s games on their platforms. It wasn’t always this way, however, as, in the early days and founding years of their business, the studio struggled to get its slots in front of the audiences they deserved. Fortunately, strategic partnerships with aggregation platforms such as Slotregator, EveryMatrix, and SkillOnNet have allowed Elk to receive increased exposure across different iGaming markets. 

Final Summary

Elk Studios may not be as prolific as some of the more established developers in the industry, but there’s no doubt they make up for a lack of quantity with consistent quality. Moreover, the studio has carved out a unique identity that’s comprised of creating visually stunning games that come packed with innovative and exciting features and mechanics. 

For the most part, we’ve enjoyed the slots the studio has released over time and always anticipate what they have for us next. Whether you’re a long-time fan of Elk Studios or new to the provider but enjoy what you’ve played so far, visit this page regularly to catch up on the studio’s latest slot releases.