Ghost Slider Demo: Try Merkur Gaming’s Thrilling, Classic Slot With Two Gamble Features
The Ghost Slider slot was released in the summer of 2015, and it became sort of a cult classic among avid slot players. Not only does it offer a unique, spooky theme that was not too common among slot games at that time, but it offered some very creative features that helped it stand out among the crowd of many other high standard slot games that were popular around this time.
Ghost Slider has aged particularly well over the last decade, and a huge reason for that is how unique it is. With 10 fixed paylines and a max win of 5,000x, that gives you a taste of what the Ghost Slider game has to offer players. You can try the Ghost Slider demo above to get a real feel for this game, which has certainly stood the test of time.
Ghost Slider Features
But, what really helped Ghost Slider age well compared to many of its contemporaries were the unique features that it employed. Let’s take a look.
Cascading Wins
A huge part of how a slot game like Ghost Slider can be consistently valuable to slot players over a number of years is the Cascading wins that it offers players. Cascading wins are what they sound like: every time you hit a winning reel, those symbols are replaced and other symbols ‘cascade’ down from the top of the grid to create a new line of symbols. As you can imagine, Cascading reels can culminate in multiple wins over the course of one spin, which can be very valuable for the player.
The other great part of the Cascading feature in this game is that it plays directly into activating the free spins. We will talk about this in more detail later on, but it’s a good indicator into how many cascading wins you come across when you play Ghost Slider.
The Gamble Features
Another great feature you can try out is the Gamble Feature. Merkur Gaming has always been a big proponent of using this feature in their slots, and the Gamble functions appears as two separate Ghost Slider bonus features. You have your regular Gamble feature, which acts as any other gamble feature.
When you hit a winning spin, you have an option to gamble your winnings. When you press the Gamble button, you are taken to a screen with a deck of upside down cards.
You have to guess the colour of the suit of the next card. If you get it right, your winnings are doubled. If you get it wrong, you lose all your winnings, and the game ends. You can leave the game at any point, but it’s a good way to try to squeeze some more winnings, though do approach with caution.
You can also play the Merkur Gaming-exclusive Ladder Gamble. In this game, instead of simply doubling your winnings, you’re presented with a ladder of potential winnings you can make. Each win gradually increases the amount you win, and each loss gradually increases the amount you can lose.
So rather than double or nothing, you have a chance to move up the ladder and play the game for longer. So, you could end up with triple your winnings, or only a quarter of your winnings amount. The game ends when you reach either the bottom or the top of the ladder. However, you can also choose to leave the game at any point as well. It’s a creative and fun take on the Gamble feature, and this mini game in itself is just as immersive as the base Ghost Slider game! It’s a lot of fun, and adds a whole new layer to your play.
Ghost Slider Free Spins and Bonuses
There are no conventional Scatter symbols in Ghost Slider, so to activate the free spins here, it works a little differently. If you hit a sequence of at least four Cascading Spins in one spin, you will activate the free spins rounds.
Like scatters, the more Cascades you get means the more free spins you get, including progressive spins. 4-8 Cascades gets you from 10-50 free spins, with each extra cascade adding an extra 10 free spins to your total amount. Retriggers also will happen if you hit four Cascades within your free spins games.
In your free games round, that is the key. You will find Cascades will happen far more often, and that’s where you will pick up your wins. All your wins have a 2x multiplier attached to them in the free spins rounds, so the Cascade Wins can really add up to some big amount. Just try out the Ghost Slider demo, and that will give you an idea of how the free spins rounds work.
Ghost Slider Themes and Symbols
Ghost Slider is focused, as the title suggests, on haunted manors, ghosts and other spooky elements. However, it is not too based within gritty or dark horror, so you won’t need to worry too much about playing this! It’s very on the nose, instead focusing on the atmosphere and characters rather than creating a true horror experience. We are glad the focus is more on the gameplay, as it added a lot to the graphics and the animations, which all feel smooth.
The grid is based within a murky ghost house, and all of the symbols capture the aesthetic perfectly. You have symbols such as the titular ghost, a skeleton, a grandfather clock, the haunted mansion and an ancient haunted book, that are all high scoring symbols. You also have your classic card numbers and letters as your lower scoring symbols as well. Honestly, the atmosphere and slot theme is captured so well, there are very little critiques to make about Ghost Slider. They know what they wanted their game to be, and they achieved that.
Ghost Slider RTP and Volatility
When you first play a game like Ghost Slider, your initial instincts would tell you it is a high volatility game. It offers high multipliers, plenty of cascading wins and big wins through the gamble features as well. But, surprisingly, it is not that high after all.
Ghost Slider is a medium volatility slot. This means that you will likely win quite frequently when playing this game, and the wins will be a decent amount. It walks the line between frequency of win and value of the win quite well, making it a solid medium volatility experience.
There is a minor issue with the RTP. The current Return to Player for Ghost Slider is only 95.75%, which is slightly below the industry standard of 96%. This game is over a decade old, so we do keep this in mind considering the modern standards. All the same, all the best slot games meet that 96% RTP standard, and in some cases, far exceed it. If the RTP was a little higher, this game would be a lot more valuable for slot players.
How to Play Ghost Slider
Merkur Gaming has never overcomplicated its gaming controls across any of its slots, so the layout is usually very simplified and easy to understand. There are only a few controls you need to take note of when playing Ghost Slider. All the same, if you want to get a feel for how the game plays, we’d recommend trying out the Ghost Slider demo free play. It can never hurt to try out a free demo before wagering with real money.
All the buttons you need to play are across the right hand side of the screen. There, you’ll find the spin button in the middle, the bet stake amount below it and the autoplay button above it. If you look in the left hand bottom corner, you’ll also find a menu button that is useful. This has buttons that can adjust the volume, settings and will give you a guide on how everything in the game works.
Across the bottom banner, you have your full balance, and the amount you are betting per spin. When you score a winning spin, the win displays across the bottom, with the Gamble button appearing beside it if you want to play the gamble game. That’s all there is to it. Merkur Gaming have boiled it all down to make it as simple as possible, so that players of all experience levels can enjoy playing the Ghost Slider slot.
Slotsia’s Review of Ghost Slider
Ghost Slider is an aged game, but in many respects, it has aged like a fine wine. It brings almost everything to the table you’d expect from many modern high quality games. A great range of bonus features, a fun free spins game and a medium volatility making wins achievable. That being said, the RTP is a little lower than the standard, which is a problem, but it is not too low to affect your enjoyment of betting with the slot. Still, you could always play the Ghost Slider demo first. This will let you try out the game for free, and then you can decide whether you want to play the real money game.
Two separate gamble features
Great free spins round
Medium volatility
RTP is slightly below the industry average
