Spooky Carnival Slot (Red Tiger)

This 100 Spin test was updated by Steve Madgwick on 16/11/2023

The Spin Test criteria can be found at the bottom of the page

Test Comments

A very eventful test run producing 32 winning spins form the 100 played, returning a session RTP of 157% - Impressive - This was bolstered by a high win rate and landing the free spins round on spin 30, in turn returning a 66.5x bonus round.

This in turn provided an average winning spin value of 4.90 for the session, and even removing the bonus win, it still came in at an impressive 3.12x which makes it feel like there is something worthwhile in the game - Overall, quite impressed with this Red Tiger release, which can be considered for year round play, not just Halloween.

Love it or loathe it. Halloween is here. Personally, I’m team Halloween. I love all the witchy films and the fun fancy dress. So it’s great to review a Halloween-themed slot game.

I’ve already mentioned the Spooky Coins in the summary and there’s also a Free Spins bonus round to enjoy. Here, 3 Free Spins Scatter Symbols trigger you 10 Free Spins. 

During this detailed slot review of the Spooky Carnival game, I’ll be telling you about all aspects of this release. Let’s go!

Graphics, Music, and Sound Effects

The seasonal graphics show a deserted funfair with an array of Halloween-related imagery covered by a sinister green mist where pumpkins eerily glow in the background.

As you'd expect, the music is suitably spooky, it’s the kind of traditional music you'd hear at a funfair, especially while you’re whirling around in the haunted house.

You’ll hear typical slot sound effects and the Halloween Wild makes a spooky laugh when it lands. You then hear the loud clunk of the pumpkin coin being added to the progressive bar at the top of the screen.

Now that I've covered the summary, intro, graphics, music, and sound effects, coming up next will be the key game features. 

The slot games reviews we share on OLBG include accurate info about the important features such as the theme, paylines and reels, bet range, and bonuses. I’ll finish off the review by sharing my play experience, first impressions and expert verdict.

Theme – Halloween

There is so much scope with Halloween imagery and the mood of the game has been set perfectly with the design. The base game background creative has an eerie green mist that stretches across the abandoned carnival scene where you’ll clap eyes on bats, creepy pumpkins, a huge raven and a scarecrow. The foreground design consists of traditional imagery such as candles, skulls, cobwebs, pumpkins and candles -  the designer has included the whole nine yards of Halloween imagery. When the game switches to the Free Spins bonus game the mysterious mist transforms into purple hues which helps to differentiate the experience.

On the reels, you’ll discover an array of characters which from the highest value goes like this- the Wild Pumpkin, toffee apple, carnival mallet, green cauldron and a blue bottle of magical potion. This is then followed by the standard symbols of A, K, Q, J, and 10 which have been created in a spookish ghost style.

Reels

You’ll discover the classic setup of 5 reels by 3 rows for the Spooky Carnival slot game. 

Paylines

There are 10 non-adjustable paylines on the grid and the Pumpkin Wild is a paying symbol as well.

RTP

You’ll see the acronym RTP on every slot site and it stands for return to player. It’s a way of telling players (theoretically) what percentage of their stakes they should see returned to them over the long term. Rates are usually somewhere between 94% - 96% although I’d expect to see them nearer to 96% nowadays. The Spooky Carnival slot game is 95.58% which is slightly below the average by today’s standards.

Red Tiger, like most providers, uses the RTP as a default value so you’ll find different RTP rates across various operator sites. We’ve identified a few rates at some of the most popular UK online casinos and added them to the table below for you.

RTP is just one thing to think about when deciding which site to play at. Other factors such as the number of games, customer services, options for payment choices and welcome bonuses and deals are also worth considering. You can read about all of these factors plus many more when you read our OLBG casino reviews.

Stake Range

Options for stakes start at 20p and go right up to £5 for the Spooky Carnival game.

Max Win

The max win is 1,530 x your stake for the Spooky Carnival game which is one of the lowest amounts I’ve seen in a while.

Wild Shape

When playing the Spooky Carnival game the Wilds have been combined with the Spooky Coins to create a ghostly feature. This feature can trigger during any spin. Every time a Wild lands it’s turned into a Spooky Coin and it flies up to the progress bar at the top of the screen. There are 5 spots in the progress bar where 5 Spooky Coins can be placed. When all 5 spots are filled with coins a random symbol is then swapped for Wilds on the following spin. Sometimes you’ll even find that an additional symbol may be swapped for Wilds on a random basis so look out for this! If you collect more than 5 coins they will still be stored and will show on the next progression bar. Also, a Wild Symbol substitutes for all paying symbols and it is the highest-paying symbol on the grid.

Free Spins

When 3 Free Spins Scatter Symbols land on reels 1, 3 or 5 it will trigger 10 Free Spins. During the Free Spins round if you have any Spooky Coins in the progress bar when the bonus round starts  they will move into the Free Spins bonus round. During the bonus round, Spooky Coins are collected in the bar as normal but all symbols swapped for the Wild Symbol will continue swapping on each spin during the round. 

Jackpot

There’s not a jackpot element within the Spooky Carnival game, which is the case in most slot games nowadays. If jackpots are your thing you should visit this page with the top jackpot games.

Play Experience & First Impressions

The base game was pretty basic, the main feature to watch out for was the progress bar at the top of the screen for your Spooky Coins. Seeing those pumpkin Wilds land was fun as you could see them fly off to join the progression bar as a coin. And they came in regularly which is what you’d expect for a medium-volatility game. The Wild Symbol and Spooky Coins working together made sense visually and were straightforward to follow. If you’ve landed 2 Free Spins Symbols and are waiting for the 3rd the ghost sound effect builds up the tempo to build up the atmosphere as you cross your fingers that a 3rd symbol will land.  

The Free Spins round was also pretty basic but it did what it said on the tin. You receive 10 Free Spins once you trigger this round. All swapped symbols remain wild for the bonus round which is good and during this round, you can still build up your coin collection in the bar. It’s fair that if you have more than 5 coins in the bar you take them back with you into the base game. And it’s the same vice versa i.e. if you have them in the base game when the bonus game triggers. 

There is not an abundance of features to talk about with this game however Spooky Carnival is a light-hearted, simple, seasonal slot game. It was fun to while away a bit of time. The features are simple which can sometimes be refreshing as there are some out there which are far too complicated. Visually, it had the carnival theme which worked well although it was mixed in with pumpkin fields which were a bit random but hey, why not? It wasn’t scary at all and had more of an old-fashioned, traditional Halloween vibe.

Realistically, this game isn't strong enough to become a favourite. There are other Halloween games out there which have a bit more meat on the bones however, it’s a pleasant gaming experience. The low RTP and max win are off-putting at 95.68% and 1,530x respectively. The max win is especially low even combined with the game’s medium volatility rating.

In the summary, I started off the review by asking myself whether this game is more of a trick or a treat. To answer that, it’s neither really. It won’t set the slots world on fire but it has a certain charm nonetheless. For better options, check out the top Halloween slots:

ALSO READ

The Best Halloween Slots to Play in the UK

The Spooky Carnival slot review was written by the OLBG Slots Content Team, beginning with Jenny Mason our prime Slot reviewer who has 17+ years in online gambling, top UK brands. Expert in sports betting, slots, and bingo. 

Contributing to the review was Jake Ashton, a slots fan who is also part of the casino and sports betting team here at OLBG.

The review is Fact Checked by William Westerlund, an online casino expert reviewing casinos and slots for over five years, and published by Steve Madgwick, our Editor-In-Chief with over 18 years of experience creating and managing high-quality sports betting and Casino content for OLBG & multiple other publications and a self-confessed online slots fans who has played at 100's of the best slot sites online and completes the Spin tests.

100 Spin Test Criteria

The 100 Spins test is undertaken on a demo slot, staking 100 spins at £1 per spin

Session RTP - Return to the player after 100 spins - Eg, A return of £45 from 100 spins is 45%, or a return of £107 is 107%

Win Frequency - A winning spins to spins frequency, higher frequency regardless of prize, is often more entertaining.

• 0-10 Very Low
• 11-15 Low
• 16-30 Medium
• 21-35 High
• 36+ Very High

Biggest Base Game Win  - Highest single base game spin winning value

Spins to Bonus - How many spins were completed before the main bonus round was achieved

Bonus Paid - Value of bonus once complete

Time Taken  - How long did the 100 spins take to complete?