Phantom Pulse Slot (Print Studios)

The Phantom Pulse slot is played on a 7x7 grid with Cluster Pays. As is the case with Cluster Pays slots, you need a certain amount of matching symbols to appear on the grid, connected either horizontally or vertically. In this instance, you need 5 or more with the top payout awarded for 49.

With a 10p minimum bet per spin, the most you can spin for in the UK is £5 (or £2 if you’re under 25): use the arrows to change your bet or press/click the ‘Bet’ amount to view all options. Outside the UK, there is added functionality with Autoplay and Turbo Mode available.

The Phantom Pulse RTP rate is 96.4% which is higher than the slots average. Print Studios has also produced 94.37% and 92.35% RTP variants. Based on a £20 balance and playing at the 10p minimum ber per spin, below is the average number of expected spins before running out of funds:

• 96.4%: 5,528 spins
• 94.37%: 3,535 spins
• 92.35%: 2,602 spins

In the very high volatility bracket (10/10), the hit rate frequency is 32.37%: meaning that a winning cluster will land every 1 in 3.09 spins on average. Triggering 1 of the 2 free spins modes will occur every 1 in 204 spins with an average payout of 56 x your total bet. Finally, Phantom Pulse comes with 20,000 x bet max wins: the max win probability is 1 in 2,380,952 spins.

With a space theme, the Phantom Pulse slot takes you to an otherworldly techno grid that is ruled by a mysterious Phantom (according to Print Studios that is). Beautifully designed, the first thing I noticed was the soothing techno soundtrack: Print has managed to sync the sound, light and motion perfectly with the soundtrack.

With a futuristic feel, blues, purples and splashes of pink dominate the colour scheme. It feels like you’re in Ibiza in outer space after a big night out at one of the major nightclubs (if that makes any sense at all).

On the 7x7 grid, you will come across low-value Hex, Penta, Block and Shark symbols. The high-value symbols include a Ray, Owl, Beetle and Panther with the panther symbol the best paying (awarding 150 x your total bet for 49 in view).

Phantom Pulse also comes with special symbols including a substituting Wild symbol, Scatter and Charged Scatter: more on these below.

Phantom Pulse Mobile

With Print Studios creating all slots with HTML5 technology, Phantom Pulse can be played on mobile, tablet and desktop devices. If playing on an iOS or Android smartphone, you’ll experience the game in Portrait Mode. I do recommend you play with sounds on though.

Phantom Pulse is all about morphing clusters that sees winning clusters transform into an adjacent symbol for more wins. With doubling grid multipliers and Pulse Bombs, there are 2 free spins modes where you’ll benefit from persistent grid multipliers and guaranteed Pulse Bombs.

Morphing Clusters

On every spin, 1 symbol is chosen randomly to act as the Morphing symbol. After a winning cluster, is the cluster consists of the Morphing symbol, they transform into a different symbol that is adjacent to the cluster: this then expands the winning cluster with another win awarded.

A new Morphing symbol is then chosen. The process continues as long as winning clusters contain Morphing symbols. If a Morphing cluster takes over the whole grid, it transforms into a random symbol.

Grid Multipliers

Each grid position can gain a multiplier. The first time a winning symbol is removed from its position, that position becomes marked. If a winning symbol is removed from a marked position, a 2x multiplier is added. Each subsequent removed from the same grid position doubles the multiplier each time.

When a Pulse Bomb removes symbols, the multiplier on affected grid positions by increase by multiple steps (i.e. doubling multiple times). If a winning cluster has 1 or more positions with multipliers, all multiplier values are added together and applied to the win. Grid position multipliers reset with each base game spin.

Pulse Bomb

The Pulse Bomb feature can activate randomly when no more winning clusters appear. All grid positions covered by the Pulse Bomb will remove its symbol and increase its multiplier according the number of steps indicated by the size pattern. The only exception is the Scatter symbol. There are 2 types of Pulses too:

• Zone Pulse: appears randomly along the centre diagonals of the grid, except for corner tiles and come in 6 sizes.
• Radial Pulse: appears on the outer edge of the grid and comes in 4 sizes.

Pulse Spins Bonus

The Pulse Spins Bonus feature is triggered by landing 3 or more Scatter symbols during a base game spin. 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 Scatters will result in 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16 free spins, respectively.

The good news is that grid multipliers are persistent throughout the feature. Landing 2 or more Scatters will result in 4 extra free spins.

If 1 of the Scatters is a Charged Scatter, you’ll play the Charged Pulse Spins Bonus feature instead: the different is that a Pulse Bomb is guaranteed on each free spin.

Feature Bet

Players outside the UK can opt for the Feature Bet. With 4 options, below are the details:

Phantom Pulse Slot

Rating: 4.2/5

Phantom Pulse takes you a surreal audiovisual realm where the idea is to combine progressive grid multipliers and morphing clusters for a new Cluster Pays experience that can award 20,000 x bet max wins.

Chris Taylor

When I fired up the Phantom Pulse slot, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Despite having a space theme, the soft tones and soundtrack give it a trippy and mesmerising feel. It did remind me, graphically, a little of NetEnt’s Starburst combined with Print’s very own Reapers.

When it comes to the gameplay, winning clusters lead to avalanches. Print Studios has tweaked this conventional feature by transforming the winning cluster into an adjacent symbol if the win consists of the Morphing symbol: in turn, this creates a bigger cluster and another win. The Morphing Clusters mechanic was also used in Print's Tarasque. 

Phantom Pulse comes with grid multipliers that activate once marked. The multiplier doubles each time like Nolimit City’s Duck Hunters and Pragmatic Play’s Sugar Rush 1000. To help, there are random Pulse Bombs that increase the multiplier by a certain number of steps.

With 2 free spins modes, the win potential is greater as you’ll benefit from persistent grid multipliers and guaranteed Pulse Bombs on every free spin. Whilst testing the game, I only triggered the Charged version once (out of 14) and managed to win extra free spins twice.

With 20,000 x bet max wins, Phantom Pulse is a very high volatility slot. The key is to build continuous winning clusters, increase the grid position multipliers and benefit from Pulse Bombs to keep the momentum building. Just 1 lucky streak in the free spins can lead to some serious payouts due to the persistent multipliers. However, creating a flowing experience with winning clusters is easier said than done.

 In summary, Print Studios has used conventional mechanics and added their own twist to make Phantom Pulse a worthy game in the popular Cluster Pays slots genre.

The Phantom Pulse slot review was written by Chris Taylor from our OLBG Expert team who has written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades.

Chris Taylor

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Chris Taylor is an industry veteran originally from Gibraltar. Having worked in the online gambling industry since 2004, Chris loves slots and has reviewed over 10,000 online slot games. Running a slots-focused website for 13 years, Chris is the go-to guy for everything slots-related.