Fire In The Hole 3

Producing a great mining-themed online slot game is almost just as valuable as striking gold, itself…

With such an arguably saturated market full of pick-axes, chisels and hard hats, which players have long ventured down into the murky depths for, offering up that stand-out prospecting punch truly can lead a studio into the next gold-rush.

Besides Big Time Gaming and its pioneering Bonanza Megaways waaaaaay back in 2016 (feeling old yet?), it’s difficult to think of any other slot provider than Nolimit City when it comes to fulfilling your cavernous needs; the team already filling the online casino community with hits from Dead Canary to the well-established Fire In The Hole double-header.

Fire In The Hole 3 base game play

Well, that double-header is now set to become a trilogy as our favourite whisky-swilling, bearded cave-dweller is back in new style as Fire In The Hole 3 is set to explode onto our casino platforms from 3rd June, and there’s an awful lot to sharpen those axes for!

Full of a whole array of features and enhancers from the usual xBombs, xSplits and multipliers to Buried Features and an in-depth Free Spins round, players may literally find themselves lost in the dark if they’re not careful…just watch out for that elusive xHole whilst you’re down there as it has, thankfully, once again found a new home.

Gameplay takes place within a 6 reel 6 row game grid, this time in the icy reaches of a winter-struck cave entrance; icicles dangle perilously from the snow-topped rocks above, as crystals and gems glisten in the gloomy darkness.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the Dwarf’s hunger for riches, and with the inclusion of an extra Evil Dwarf this time around, of course the max win potential had to be increased to make that quest for glory even more lucrative, no less than 70,000x bet, in fact!

With a wide range of betting options, high volatile game play and a 96.07% RTP, action is certain to be non-stop, so let’s head down into the gloom once again as we check out everything there is on offer upon Fire In The Hole 3’s highly anticipated debut…

Fire In The Hole 3 offers up to 46,656 ways to win

Fire In The Hole 3 Base Game and Features

Win Spins are formed by combining 3 or more matching symbols across any of the potential 46,656 win ways.

10 regular paying symbols make the cut, featuring low-paying Royals paying up to 1.5x bet for 6 matching symbols and high-paying chicken, lantern, boots, wheelbarrow and bottle worth between 1.75x to 7.5x for a line of 6.

Achieving a winning combination sees all symbols involved removed from the reels, allowing fresh symbols to fall in from the top to fill the gaps.

Each new game round begins with a 6 reel 3 row active grid matrix, with the bottom 3 rows blocked off.

Each winning cascade activates the Collapsing Mine feature, whereby one extra row is unlocked, up to a maximum of 6.

Additionally, xBomb Wild explosions, the xHole feature and triggering the Wild Mining feature all count towards activating a new collapse.

Form winning combinations along with enhancers to activate extra rows during a game round

xBomb Wild Multiplier

xBomb Wild symbols substitute for any regular paying symbol.

When landing on the reels, xBomb Wilds always explode prior to the next collapse, unless the Wild Mining feature is triggered.

Upon exploding, all symbols positioned adjacent to the xBomb Wild are removed, apart from scatter symbols, and the win multiplier is increased by its value, ready for the next collapse.

Wild Mining

During base game play, when 3 to 6 symbols of the same instance line up either horizontally or vertically, and no winning combinations, xHoles or xBomb Wilds are available, the Wild Mining feature is triggered.

Upon activating, all triggering symbols are removed from the reels, leaving behind Wild symbols in the middle positions of the alignment.

Triggering the feature with 3, 4, 5 or 6 symbols leaves behind 1, 2, 3 or 4 Wilds, respectively.

All symbols above the active bar will then explode and be removed from the grid, triggering a new collapse, except for scatter symbols and Ice Buried symbols.

Any Ice Buried symbols will be revealed and activate with the following collapse.

Activate xBomb Wilds to break through Ice blocks to reveal extra features

Buried Features

Each spin can see Ice symbols placed in positions within the game grid.

Ice symbols may contain Wilds, xSplits, Win Multipliers, xHoles, Scatters or the game’s MAX symbol, each remaining inactive until the ice breaks via an exploding xBomb Wild.

Trapped symbols may also be revealed when split by an xSplit symbol, except for a Win Multiplier.

Any empty Ice blocks or Ice blocks containing a Win Multiplier will be removed from play should an xSplit create a collapse.

Win Multipliers inside Ice blocks may reveal a value between x2 to x100, whilst the MAX symbol reveals as a 2×2 symbol and awards the game’s max win should all Ice blocks be cleared around it.

xHole

When an xHole appears active on the reels, its feature is triggered.

All regular paying symbols, currently visible on the reels, are drawn into the xHole before being scattered into random, new positions with split symbols ranging from sizes 1 to 3.

The xHole then leaves behind an empty position, triggering a new collapse.

Landing more than one xHole during a spin causes symbol sizes to increase multiple times.

Land 3 or more scatters to trigger the Lucky Wagon Spins bonus round

xSplit

Landing an xSplit on the reels causes all other symbols on its respective reel to double in size.

Scatters, xSplits and xHole symbols cannot be split by an xSplit symbol and, once activated, all xSplit symbols transform into the same instance of a random, regular paying symbol.

Any Ice blocks affected by an xSplit feature are removed from play if a collapse occurs as a result.

Fire In The Hole 3 Lucky Wagon Spins

Landing 3, 4 or 5 scatters during the same game round triggers the Lucky Wagon Spins with 2, 3 or 4 starting active rows, respectively.

3 spins are awarded, resetting back to 3 each time a new Coin symbol lands on the reels.

Triggering the bonus round with 6 scatters activates a Persistent Dwarf symbol during the first spin and also begins the round with 4 active rows of the game grid.

Throughout the free spins round, the top row reveals random enhancers every spin, each activated should a new Coin symbol land on its respective reel, beneath…

During Free Spins, land Coin symbols to activate enhancers and win values

• Coin Values – determines the value of the Coin symbol landing beneath.
• Multipliers – multiplies the value of all Coins, Persistent Dwarf, and the coin value of Persistent Dynamite on the reel beneath.
• Dynamite – adds the Dynamite value to the triggering coin below before throwing as many Dynamites, as its count, onto random reel positions.  Ice blocks will be removed, Coins will double in value, Chests will be activated, symbols within Ice blocks will be revealed, other Dynamite will double in Coin value and Persistent Dwarfs will double in value.
• Persistent Dynamite – drops a number of Dynamites onto the reels each spin, equal to its count.
• Persistent Dwarf – collects all coin values within the reel area into its own position, every spin.
• Evil Dwarf – triggers a Golden Spin, reactivating all coins within the reel area.  All enhancers above the reels will be triggered by the coins below.
• xHole – triggers 3 Frozen Wagon Spins before transforming into a 1x Coin.
• Frozen Wagon Spins – the enhancer row shall only include Coins, collected by existing Coins within the reel area.
• Collect Chests – Collect Chests can be activated along the bottom-most row by Dynamite.  When activated, all Coin values within its respective reel are collected on every spin.  When the reel area is full, all normal Coin symbols with values are removed with their accumulated total adding to the bootom Coin on each respective reel.

Nolimit Boosters and Bonus Buys

A wide range of purchasable features and bonuses are available with Fire In The Hole 3, which players may opt to utilise should they see fit…

• Booster 1 – at the cost of 2x bet, each spin guarantees a scatter landing on reel 2.
• Booster 2 – at the cost of 5x bet, a spin guarantees at least 3 scatter symbols held in Ice blocks.
• Booster 3 – at the cost of 5x bet, all 6 rows begin active during a spin.
• Lucky Wagon 3 scatter – at the cost of 60x bet.
• Lucky Wagon 4 scatter – at the cost of 200x bet.
• Lucky Wagon 5 scatter – at the cost of 500x bet.
• Lucky Draw 25/50/25 – at the cost of 240x bet.
• Lucky Wagon 6 scatter – at the cost of 4,000x bet.
• Lucky Wagon Evil Dwarf – at the cost of 700x bet, Lucky Wagon Spins is triggered by 3 scatters and awards a guaranteed Evil Dwarf on every spin.
• GOD Mode – at the cost of 7,000x bet, a MAX win symbol is guaranteed within an Ice block.

Fire In The Hole 3 Lucky Wagon Spins play

First Impression

First things first, are you all still with me and accounted for?  Boy, when we said that Fire In The Hole 3 was graced with an array of features, we really weren’t lying, right!?

But the thing is, and certainly most importantly, regardless of all of the extra fixtures and fittings that this new cave-dwelling exploration comes along with, it still keeps close to those good old, sturdy roots cemented by that classic original back in 2021.

In fact, in the grand scheme of things, very little has actually changed throughout the course of the new-found trilogy and the rules remain clearly the same…activate extra rows during base game play by way of winning collapses and enhancing features, and collect as much value as possible during the Lucky Wagon free spins round.

Everything else added is purely a bonus and, whilst some may argue that too much has potentially gone into this third installment, very little seems out of place during gameplay, even that elusive xHole made famous by Kenneth Must Die.

All features included from xSplits and xBomb Wilds to Multipliers and Evil Dwarfs work together in a crazed form of holy matrimony and that’s how a game should truly progress.

Fresh overall theming helps breathe extra life into that stale air, deep beneath the surface, whilst including Ice block features helps prolong game rounds, offering up plenty of potential enhancements to help boost those wins.

The Free Spins round also has taken a bit of a shake up with the addition of a second Dwarf character going about his pesky ways, Frozen Wagon Spins and, of course, that xHole ready to show its hand at any given moment.

And it wouldn’t be a new-gen Nolimit City release without including the MAX win, notably able to be achieved during all modes of play, and worth a staggering 70,000x bet…a slight increase from its more recent predecessor.

Anyone brave enough to scour the gloomy depths for their next fortune will be sure not to miss the release of Fire In The Hole 3.

Whilst it may look intimidating from the outside, venture in a little and you will find only what you have long-loved from the Nolimit team from times gone by…

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.