Zap Attack

Zap Attack: Slot Overview

Look out, players, aliens with ray guns are here, in Zap Attack, a sci-fi slot from Swedish provider Thunderkick. Alien invasion games or movies really make you hope that if an advanced alien race makes the trip here through the oceans of space, they're the benevolent kind, and they've come to help humanity ascend to a higher level of existence rather than harvest us or the planet for their own benefit. Not just to avoid a war, but it would be disappointing to find out that even a species which has evolved to the point of achieving interstellar travel is no better than a belligerent bunch of violent warmongering resource gatherers. That'd just be sad.

The green people in Zap Attack aren't here to make friends, though; let's be clear upfront. However, when they do start zapping people in the free spins round, the results can be beneficial for players. Now for a word on Zap Attack's looks and sounds which are subtly exceptional. The game is located in one of those middle-of-nowhere towns, this one's cleverly called Roswealth and is accompanied by an outstandingly eerie twanging, reverberated guitar soundtrack. The effect brought to mind sci-fi from the sixties when the Space Race was in full swing, or the film Asteroid City by Wes Anderson released not long before Zap Attack.

Spinning in the middle of the screen is Zap Attack's gaming grid, consisting of 5 reels, 5 rows and 25 fixed paylines. Hitting matching symbols along a payline from the left side of the grid on consecutive reels creates a win, and at least 3 are needed for all symbols except the top paying alien symbol, which pays out on 2 OAK or more. With its highly volatile math model, Zap Attack spits out an RTP of 96.15%, rising to higher values when buying free spins. Base bets of 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin can be selected, and buy feature options range from 60 to 250 times the bet.

As for symbols, 10 to A card ranks make up the low pays, and they award 1 to 1.5 times the bet when a 5-of-a-kind winning line hits. Then there are 4 human character symbols as the mid pays and one alien symbol as the high pay. Landing a 5 OAK win awards 2 to 10 times the bet for these 5 symbols. Next is the regular 1x1 wild symbol, which substitutes for all symbols except the scatter.

Zap Attack: Slot Features

Zap Attack also has another wild called the Expanding Multiplier Wild, as well as a bonus game with a symbol upgrade element and bonus buys.

Expanding Multiplier Wild

Expanding Multiplier Wilds expand to cover the entire reel if it is part of one or more wins when expanded, getting a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, or x5. Any wins passing through the Expanding Multiplier Wild have the multiplier applied to them. If wins pass through more than one Expanding Multiplier Wild, the multiplier values are multiplied together before being used. The maximum is 5x5x5 for an x125 multiplier. Expanding Multiplier Wilds substitute for all regular paying symbols.

Bonus Game

Old TV sets are Zap Attack's scatter symbol, and they are needed to activate the bonus game. Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters in the base game awards 7, 11, or 15 free spins, respectively, while landing 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters during the bonus game awards an extra 3, 5, 7, or 9 free spins, respectively. In the bonus game, the high-pay alien symbols carrying a zap guns shoots one of the human character symbols next to the gaming grid. Each hit is collected on a meter and this all happens in a set order: sheriff, waitress, grandma, and farmer. When a meter is filled by 10 hits, the corresponding symbol turns into the high-pay alien symbol for the rest of the bonus game. Players are also awarded +1 free spins when this happens.

Buy Feature

From the bonus buy menu, players can buy the bonus game triggered by 3 scatters for 60x the bet (RTP 96.45%), 4 scatters for 125x the bet (RTP 96.44%), or 5 scatters for 250x the bet (RTP 96.48%).

Zap Attack: Slot Verdict

Thunderkick is largely responsible for the popularity of bonus rounds featuring lower symbols transforming into the highest value symbol thanks to games like Pink Elephants released back in 2017 and Pink Elephants 2 in 2020. Zap Attack relies on the same concept to generate a lot of its best moments, and it would be easy to sling criticism at Thunderkick for falling back on past glories to make new games. However, Zap Attack doesn't feel like a thin echo of a superior game, and there are several reasons for this. One is the excellent use of the sci-fi, alien invasion theme. It's not over the top, nor is it sleepily moderate. Instead, Zap Attack resides in a tastefully presented game world built using high-quality artwork complemented by an excellent soundtrack.

Once you've gotten all cosy in Roswealth, it's time for the features to do their thing, fingers crossed. This means hitting Expanding Multiplier Wilds in the base game before triggering or buying the free spins bonus game. It's not exactly Pink Elephants since you need the alien to shoot mid-pay symbols rather than collect orbs, but the gist is the same, really. Sorry townsfolk, but you want those ray guns blasting as many of the characters as possible in the hopes of stacking the grid with the high-pay alien symbol - even better, with Expanding Multiplier Wilds present.

One possible gripe for some players perhaps is that Zap Attack offers a lower max win than its elephant populated predecessors of 5,000 times the bet. But, if that number isn't an issue, then there is plenty of good stuff for fans of Pink Elephants to experience in Zap Attack, which might not be bigger or necessarily better than its forebears, yet it remains a highly entertaining game regardless.