The Border Slot (Nolimit City)

The Border slot takes place on a 6x6 grid and uses Cluster Pays. Nolimit City’s first grid game, it uses a new xCluster mechanic where winning combinations are formed by seeing 5 or more matching symbols touching vertically and/or horizontally in a cluster. The more matching symbols there are, the bigger the payout: the largest wins consist of clusters of 160+ symbols.

You can play The Border from as little as 20p a spin. With the maximum bet ranging up to £100 a spin, some UK slot sites will limit the max bet to £10 or even £5 a spin. To change your bet, use the Coins icon on all devices so be presented with a list of options. Outside the UK, there is Autoplay (single-win and balance limits on up to 100 auto spins) and Turbo Mode (enabled using the Lightning Bolt icon).

The Border RTP rate is 96.17% which is above the 96% slot game average. With 53.77% of that RTP for the base game and 42.4% for the bonus features, there are 94.07% and 92.15% RTP versions created by NLC which will be used at some sites (check in the Paytable basically).

When it comes to volatility, The Border is in the extreme bracket like the Disturbed and Deadwood RIP slots. Winning combinations/clusters land fairly frequently (every 3.38 spins on average) as the hit frequency rate is 29.58%. Expect to trigger the free spins once every 260 spins too.

Finally, The Border slot comes with 44,288 times bet max wins. This is known as ‘Seized & Destroyed’. With the max win probability at 1 in 44 million spins, winning 100 times your total bet or higher will occur every 634 spins on average.

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With an immigration/US theme, The Border slot was released on the 13^th of September 2022. Nolimit City takes you to a desolate world of trigger-happy patrol agents who take on cash-fuelled cartel kingpins.

With the US/Mexican border the setting, you’ll see a barbed-wired wall which stretches 1,954 miles along the Gulf of Mexico through to El Paso, Texas to the Rio Grande (the natural border that has been in place since 1849). It is the busiest border in the world which allows in more than 300 million people, approximately 90 million cars and 4.3 million trucks according to The White House archives.

Back to the game: you’ll see a heavily guarded Border (Rio Grande) at nighttime with barbed wire, spotlights and plenty of security cameras. What struck me initially was the Mexican-style guitar soundtrack which sounds like it was taken from the Narcos Netflix TV series. It’s dramatic and gripping and sets the tone perfectly.

On the grid, symbols include scorpions, snakes and vultures which reinforce the desperate setting. The 5 higher-value symbols include various characters: there is a female migrant, Loco Luis from the San Quentin slot, a Border Patrol agent, the sheriff and a drug lord who looks like ‘El Chapo’. The drug lord symbol pays the most with 2,214.4 times your total bet awarded if you land 160 or more in a winning cluster.

The Border slot game also comes with special symbols such as xWays, xSplit, xNuge Cluster Wilds, xBomb Wilds and xCluster. Wild symbols, as expected, substitute for all paying symbols. The other symbol of note is the Dollar Sign Scatter which is key to trigger the free spins features. With more details on each of these below, find a list of all symbol payouts and functions:

• Scorpion: 5 to 160+ pays 0.2 to 553.85 x bet
• Snake: 5 to 160+ pays 0.25 to 553.85 x bet
• Vulture: 5 to 160+ pays 0.3 to 553.85 x bet
• Female Migrant: 5 to 160+ pays 0.5 to 1,107.2 x bet
• Loco Luis: 5 to 160+ pays 0.6 to 1,107.2 x bet
• Border Patrol Agent: 5 to 160+ pays 0.65 to 1,107.2 x bet
• Sheriff: 5 to 160+ pays 0.7 to 1,107.2 x bet
• Drug Lord: 5 to 160+ pays 1 to 2,214.4 x bet
• xWays: Transforms into 2-4 of the same symbol
• xSplit: Splits all symbols to the left, doubles the symbol size and changes into a wild
• xNudge Cluster Wild: Substitutes and nudges both up & down if part of a Cluster win
• xBomb Wild: Substitutes and removes adjacent paying symbols increasing win multiplier by 1
• xCluster: Appearing during free spins, increases win multiplier by 1 from 2^nd Cluster onwards
• Dollar Sign Scatter: 6 or 7 trigger free spins features

The Border Mobile

With Nolimit City deploying HTML5 technology for all their slot games, The Border is available to play on all devices including laptops, PCs, tablets and mobiles. Compatible with iOS and Android smartphones, I recommend a larger screen so you can see all the detail on the grid and get the full experience.

The Border slot game comes with 10 bonus features. With collapses, there are plenty of xMechanics in play which transform, nudge and split clusters as well as boosting the win multiplier. Look out for xBomb Wilds as they explode symbols as well as increasing the win multiplier. All combine in the 2 free spins features where a new xCluster feature boosts the win multiplier for every symbol cluster on the grid.

Collapse

When a winning cluster of 5 or more matching symbols appears on the grid (they need to be adjacent vertically and/or horizontally), the Collapse feature comes into play.

The winning symbols are removed from the grid with new symbols dropping down to fill the empty positions. In turn, this can lead to another win which will give you another collapse. The process continues as long as you keep winning.

xMechanics

The Border benefits from various xMechanic features which are activated when the corresponding symbol lands on the grid. Below, you’ll find details on the following features:

• xWays: Transforms into 2 or 4 instances of any paying symbol. Multiple xWays symbols will see the same symbol revealed. Appearing as 2 full-size symbols or 4 half symbols, they help you connect symbols for winning clusters.
• xSplit: Appearing on columns 2-6, it splits all symbols to the left and doubles the size of the symbol. It then transforms itself into a wild. The xSplit symbol can also split Dollar Sign Scatters into 2. If multiple xSplit symbols appear on the same row, the already split symbols will benefit from a multiplier up to 64x. The multiplier value reflects the number of symbols on that column.
• xNudge Cluster Wild: This wild symbol can nudge up and down if part of a winning cluster. Increasing the win multiplier by 1 for every symbol it nudges over, if the symbol contains an xMultiplier value, that value is added. If the xNudge Cluster Wild has been split, its own multiplier is added to the overall win multiplier.
• xBomb Wild: It substitutes for any paying symbol and removes adjacent symbols except scatters and wilds with the win multiplier increasing by 1 for the next collapse. If the xBomb Wild is split, it increases the win multiplier for the next collapse with the amount it has been split into. All xBomb Wilds also explode before the next collapse.

Mule Spins

The Mule Spins feature will be activated when 6 Dollar Sign Scatters appear on the grid. With 10 free spins awarded, Cluster symbols on the same reel as the xWays symbol become infected before the xSplit and xNudge Cluster Wild become active.  

If you land additional Dollar Sign Scatters, you will upgrade the feature to the Coyote Spins feature with 2 extra free spins per scatter. Expect this to occur every 15 times you play the Mule Spins feature.

Importantly, there is an xCluster feature which is triggered when 2 or more unique symbol clusters in the same collapse land. Increasing the win multiplier by 1 for each unique symbol cluster, this occurs from the second cluster onwards.

Coyote Spins

The Coyote Spins feature is triggered when landing 7 Dollar Sign Scatters in the base game and anywhere on the grid. .With 12 free spins awarded, extra scatters give you 2 additional free spins each time.

With the xCluster feature in play, xWays symbols infect cluster symbols but this time, all cluster symbols are infected. All xBomb Wilds add their multiplier value to all symbols with an xX indicator that are not blown away. xBomb Wilds without a multiplier will add +1. Finally, the win multiplier doesn’t reset during the feature and can only increase.

Boosted xRIP

To help you trigger the above free spins features, there is an optional Boosted xRIP feature. Costing 50% more per spin, you are guaranteed a Dollar Sign Scatter symbol on the first column. The RTP also increases to 96.2%.

With no payouts award for cluster wins smaller than your bet, using Boosted xRIP can be beneficial as the stats below indicate:

Nolimit Bonus

For players located outside the UK, the bonus buy element, the Nolimit Bonus feature, will give you access to the free spins features. With 3 options available, they can be enabled using the yellow Star icon. Here are your options: 

If you choose the Lucky Draw option, there is a 50/50 chance of which feature you’ll play.

The Border Slot

Rating: 4.7/5

The Border is controversial, uses plenty of popular xMechanics and introduces a new one for an explosive combination coupled with 44,288 x bet max wins. Not bad for Nolimit City's first attempt at a Cluster Pays slot!

Chris Taylor

The Border slot was Nolimit City’s first Cluster Pays game which introduced the xCluster mechanic. Well, NLC has upped the ante with explosive action, a huge range of xMechanics and big win potential all rolled into a controversial package.

Thematically, the US/Mexican border issue is a touchy one with most studios not brave enough to base a slot game around this. Nolimit City is known for creating thought-provoking slots with The Border another superb example. It follows on with the likes of Tombstone RIP (which features amputations and hangings) and Karen Maneater (based on an entitled/demanding white woman and her gang of raccoons in a post-apocalyptic world).

Not offering the usual cluster wins and collapses/cascades, Nolimit City has thrown in various xMechanics into the mix to set it apart from other Cluster Pays slots. With xWays and xSplit symbols giving you over 160 symbols on the grid as well as multipliers up to 64x, xNudge Cluster Wilds increase the multiplier by 1 for every symbol it nudges over. The xBomb Wild blasts nearby symbols off the grid with the win multiplier increasing with each collapse.

All 4 of these symbols combine beautifully in the 2 free spins features. You also have the new xCluster feature which increases the win multiplier for every unique symbol cluster. In the Coyote Spins feature, the win multiplier doesn’t reset so is by far the most lucrative of the 2.

Whilst the bonus buy element isn’t available in the UK, the Boosted xRIP feature makes it a lot easier to trigger the free spins (112 vs 260 spins) and achieve the max win of 44,288 times your total bet (1 in 8 million from 1 in 44 million spins).

All in all, The Border slot is a superb Cluster Pays game which combines an array of NLC xMechanics coupled with new concepts, a controversial theme and huge max win potential. Let’s hope you end up on the right side of the border. If you side with Mexico, check out the top Mexican-themed slots. 

The Border 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. It was then verified/checked by Jenny Mason, our prime Slot reviewer who has 17+ years working in online gambling, top UK brands. 

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