Cluster Tumble

Provider Relax Gaming have quickly risen through the ranks over the years to become one of the most reputable studios available, releasing some of players’ most revered games, including Money Train 2, Book of 99, Iron Bank, and more recently Helios Fury. Their extensive catalogue also includes Temple Tumble Megaways, a 2019 release that remains popular even today. Since it’s release, we’ve journeyed through a series of tumble releases including Templar Tumble and Tower Tumble. Now, the latest edition to join the team is Cluster Tumble, featuring a cluster pays mechanic alongside a fixed RTP of 96.40% and wins on offer up to 20,000x bet. Let’s take a closer look at this highly volatile release, rated 5/5 by Relax themselves.

cluster Tumble Base Game

Visually, things are similar to Temple Tumble Megaways, with enough tweaks to set this release apart – first, rather than being in the wilderness we’ve found ourselves inside an ornate golden temple. The sides of the reels are engraved, with grey squares acting as stone blocks to close off ways to win, which does make the whole thing a bit plainer, but clean in design. To the left of the reels we see the tough female explorer character who has journeyed to this temple in search of her husband who has gone missing, resulting in this solo mission. Audios are subtle, with very light backing music, and most of the sounds resulting from stones being exploded from the reels to really set the mood.

wins Are Formed By Matching 4+ Adjacent Symbols

Cluster Tumble Base Features

Taking place on an 8×8 grid, wins are formed by matching clusters of symbols – a minimum of 4 symbols touching horizontally or vertically are required in this instance. Symbols available begin at the lower paying end, with blue triangles, green diamonds and pink hexagons paying between 0.3 and 50x bet for clusters between 4 and 40+ in size. At the premium end, blue masks and green scarabs pay between 0.4 and 100x bet, again for clusters between 4 and 40+ in size. The highest paying symbol is a pink dragon, paying 1x bet for clusters of 4, increasing to a whopping 2,000x bet for clusters of 40+. 

Wilds are available, and substitute for all symbols except Scatter symbols. A wild can have up to 5 lives, which are decreased when a wild is used in a win, not unlike the Charged Wilds available in ELK Studios’ recent release, Zulu Gold.

winning Clusters, and Adjacent Symbols, Are Removed From the Reels

It’s Cluster Tumble, so of course there’s a Tumble mechanic active at all times. When a win occurs winning symbols, along with any adjacent symbols or stone blocks, will be destroyed, and new symbols will fall down to fill the board.

Alongside Tumbles, there are Special Stone Blocks that can be activated on every spin. With the special blocks sitting behind stone blocks, they are activated when there is an adjacent win, therefore removing the blocks. The first is the wild symbol, which again substitutes for all symbols except Scatters.

Next up is Lightning Win. When activated, Lightning Win is replaced by a regular symbol target. After the cascade, all normal symbols of the same kind will create a win, regardless of their placement on the board. Wilds will also be included in this win.

Finally, it’s Fire Transform. When activated, Fire Transform will replace the block with a regular symbol target. In the following cascade, 1-2 symbol kinds are transformed into the same kind as the regular target symbol.

cluster Tumble Regular Free Spins

Cluster Tumble Bonus

Land 3 Scatter symbols to trigger 5 free spins, or alternatively go in the classic tumble direction and remove all stone blocks from the reels, which will also trigger 5 free spins. Within free spins, clearing the entire board will award +3 free spins and increase the multiplier by +3. The multiplier will then continue to increment in +3 values for every board clearance. The increased multiplier is applied as soon as it is awarded and is persistent throughout Free Spins.

Every individual Scatter symbol that lands during free spins will award +1 free spins.

cluster Tumble Volatile Free Spins

Players in appropriate regions may avail of the Feature Buy, with two options available:

• Regular Free Spins: 100x bet (3/5 volatility)
• Volatile Free Spins: 200x bet (5/5 volatility)

During Volatile Free Spins, the multiplier will increase twice as fast as normal, in increments of +6.

The maximum win available is 20,000x bet. If the sum of all wins achieved in one round reaches 20,000x bet or higher, the player is awarded 20,000x bet for the whole round.

lightning Win Special Stone Block

First Impression

If you’re used to Temple Tumble Megaways, it can feel a bit odd at first to remember the cluster pays mechanic that is active in Cluster Tumble – you might find yourself looking for symbols in the wrong place. However, once that initial confusion is quickly removed, Cluster Tumble has all the makings of a great edition to this series. Action packed with a fast pace, there’s always something happening, particularly now with Special Stone Blocks to amp up that excitement.

Continuing with what has already been developed from the team, removing all stone blocks triggers free spins, so that gives us something else to look out for, although as with most tumble releases so far, it feels like the wins are quite low, at least until we can activate a multiplier. I’m not quite sure why we now also have the option to land 3 Scatter symbols to trigger the feature, but it is there, so if you prefer the more traditional trigger, you’ll be kept happy in this new release.

Audiovisuals are wonderfully Relax, and there’s not much else we need to say about that. The team are continually serving up superb graphics, and this release is no different. I particularly like this new tough girl heroine with a sleeve tattoo and a temperament that shines through despite being animated.

Statistically, no complaints. Solid, fixed RTP of 96.40%, a hit frequency of just over 1 in 5, high volatility, and wins up to 20,000x bet on offer. Nothing we could take issue with, even if we tried. Whether you like the tumble series or not, it’s worth giving this one a go.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.