May 7, 2010 (CAP PR Wire) — Microgaming (www.microgaming.com), the world’s largest provider of online gaming software, today announces the launch of its new flagship game: Thunderstruck II, the sequel to the 2003 video slot classic, Thunderstruck.
Thunderstruck II is based on an innovative 5 reel, 243 ways to win concept. It hosts a range of benefits that include, Wilds and Expanding Wilds, Scatter action, four different Free Spins Bonuses, Multipliers ranging from 2x to 6x, and absorbing free games.
The game’s epic theme centres around mystical Nordic gods and contains a visual feast of high quality graphics depicting Thor’s hammer, longships, and Asgard, a rainbow city from the great Nordic sagas.
The real road to riches begins in the Great Hall of Spins where the chambers of the four great gods, Valkyrie, Loki, Odin and Thor, can be unlocked, one by one, when three or more of Thor’s hammer symbols land anywhere on the reels. Each entry to this feature brings the player closer to unlocking the chambers of the other gods, who wield greater features and rewards. The first is inhabited by Valkyrie, the maiden of Valhalla, who delivers 10 retriggering Free Spins laced with a generous 5x Multiplier.
Next up is Loki, god of mischief, offering 15 Free Spins, with an animated burst of lightning energy if the Wild Magic feature triggers, transforming random symbols into additional Wilds.
Odin, ruler of Asgard, dwells in the next chamber, granting 20 Free Spins by sending out his ravens Huginn and Muninn, to fly into random symbols, converting these to 2x and 3x Wild Multipliers, and, 6x if both ravens land together.
The fourth and final type of major reward is bestowed by Thor, the mighty god of thunder himself. Thor brings 25 Free Spins to the player, accompanied by a massively entertaining, and rewarding, Rolling Reels feature at up to a 5x Multiplier.
The action doesn’t stop there either; Microgaming has embedded a completely unique feature for online slots into the gameplay in the form of a player achievements structure, which has the capacity to remember returning players’ past wins, allowing for cumulative pursuit of rewards. The achievements based concept empowers players to achieve “gold status”, by winning the range of payouts of each symbol. This is reflected in the paytable; as players unlock each symbol their paytables will begin to turn gold, keeping track of winnings and striving for a full Gold paytable. The grand achievement is the unlocking of all the God’s Features and reaching the 20th trigger of the bonus, where players will obtain Gold Status in the Great Hall of Spins.
Mike Hebden, Head of Casino, Microgaming said: “Everyone knows the secret to a great sequel is to do things bigger and better, and that’s just the approach we have adopted with Thunderstruck II. Thunderstruck is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful and entertaining video slots in the Microgaming stable, and we are thrilled to deliver an updated version of this iconic game to our operator network.
“The new game both retains and builds on the essential themes and graphic-quality of its predecessor, but we are also introducing some genuinely never-seen-before features that take the game to a new level of ‘epic’. Thunderstruck has proved its strong appeal amongst a wide player demographic and we are convinced that the power of the Gods delivers yet another lightning gaming experience, the second time around.”
For further information or screen shots of the game please contact:
Duncan Skehens / Lizzi Malley / Lyndsay Haywood
Lansons Communications
020 7490 8828
[email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]
About Microgaming (www.microgaming.com)
Since the company developed the first true online Casino software over a decade ago, it has led the industry in providing innovative, reliable gaming solutions. Thanks to an unrivalled R&D programme, that averages 60 games per year and a unique ‘partnership’ approach to working with operators;
Microgaming software powers over 160 market-leading online gaming sites.
The company’s front and back-end software supports multi-player, multi-language games – over 450 of them, all uniquely branded and provides platforms for land-based and wireless gaming. Microgaming powers the world’s largest Progressive Jackpot Network and has paid out over €265million. In May 2009 it created the biggest ever online jackpot winner with a single payment win of €6.37m.
As a founding member of eCOGRA, Microgaming is at the forefront of an initiative focused on setting the highest standards in the gaming industry, and leads in the areas of fair gaming, responsible operator conduct and player protection. Microgaming has been awarded eCOGRA’s Certified Software Seal following a rigorous onsite assessment to ensure that the development, implementation and maintenance of the software is representative of industry best practice standards Microgaming licensees are therefore eligible to apply for the eCOGRA Safe & Fair Seal.