Introduction to Gremlins After Midnight
Gremlins After Midnight is a casino slot from Light & Wonder based on a classic comedy horror movie. The original Gremlins movie was released in 1984 and was a huge success, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the media tried to dip its toes into all sorts of categories, such as merch, books, and even slots, for even more widespread fame. In 2019, we saw the release of Gremlins from Red7, a studio that sadly isn’t around anymore. But the series didn’t stop there, as it was later picked up by Light & Wonder, and in 2022, we saw the release of Gremlins Time to Tumble. However, outside of the theme, these games don’t have much in common with Gremlins After Midnight, which comes with a gameplay loop surrounding Wild Fuzz Balls with Cash Values and a 3-Pot mechanic Hold & Spin bonus game. The game isn’t the most complex, but it does come with a few layers, as multiple bonuses can hit on just about any base game spin.
Light & Wonder delivers a licensed release in the form of Gremlins After Midnight, bringing back the 4-decade-old movie to our screens in the form of a casino slot.
Theme, Gameplay, & Payouts
Gremlins After Midnight is a video slot from Light & Wonder with 5 Reels, 3 Rows, and 20 Paylines. You can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.2 and a Max.bet of 100. Gremlins After Midnight has an average RTP of 96%, but note that the game also comes in other versions with lower RTPs of 94% and 90.01%. At the time of writing, Light & Wonder has not announced the max win of Gremlins After Midnight.
As soon as you open up the game, you’re met by Gizmo standing next to the playing grid, with the window open and the moon shining through. Above the playing grid are three green eggs, which also act as the game’s 3 Pot bonuses. You can play the game on most notepads, mobiles, and desktops.
The lower-paying symbols are J, Q, K, and A. Creating a win with 5 of the same symbols will pay out 0.6X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are various items and characters from the movie, including a car, a clock, Kate, Billy, 3D Glasses, and Gizmo. Landing a win with 5 of the same symbols pays out 0.6X to 2X the bet. There’s also a handful of Special Symbols, including Fuzz Ball Wilds, many types of Chicken Bucket Scatters, and BOX Symbols, but more on these in the next section.
Special Features & Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Gremlins After Midnight?
Light & Wonder has not announced the max win in the game.
What features are available in the slot Gremlins After Midnight?
The features are Wild Symbols, Mystery Chicken Bucket Symbols, Mystery Stacked Reels, Scatter Fuzz Ball, Instant Win Bonus, Hold & Spin, and Feature Buy (Buy Pass).
Wild Symbols
Wild Symbols, also known as Fuzz Ball Symbols, help form winning combinations by being able to substitute for all symbols except Chicken Bucket Scatter Symbols.
Mystery Chicken Bucket Symbols
Mystery Chicken Bucket Symbols can randomly appear on the playing grid and will reveal either an Orange, Purple, or Green Chicken Bucket, which in turn will be added to their corresponding Pot above the reels. Any combination of the colored Chicken Bucket Scatter Symbols can trigger the Hold & Spin feature with the respective bonuses.
Mystery Stacked Reels
During any base game spin, the Mystery Stacked Reels bonus may trigger, adding Mystery Symbols to random positions on the playing grid, which can reveal most paying symbols. Additionally, Mystery Symbols may reveal Mystery Chicken Bucket Symbols on top of a replaced symbol.
Scatter Fuzz Ball
During any base game spin, the Scatter Fuzz Ball can trigger after landing a Wild Fuzz Ball Symbol. When triggered, Gizmo will add 2-5 Wild Fuzz Ball Symbols at random positions on the playing grid.
Instant Win Bonus
During any base game spin, any Fuzz Ball symbols that land may trigger the feature, making Gizmo add 1-3 BOX Symbols to the playing grid. Each Fuzz Ball comes with its own Cash Value, with naturally landing Fuzz Balls having values between 0.5X and 1.5X, and Scatter Fuzz Balls having a value between 1.5X and 10X the bet. Each BOX Symbol will collect the value of all Fuzz Ball Symbols on the playing grid and payout to the player.
Hold & Spin
Randomly triggered by any colored Chicken Bucket Scatter Symbols, the Hold & Spin feature comes with 3 spins and awards 3 Fuzz Ball Symbols at the start of the bonus game. During the bonus game, all Fuzz Balls that land will be stickied, and every time a new one lands, the spin counter resets to 3. The 3 Pot Chicken Bucket Bonuses are as follows:
Orange Chicken Bucket = Awards the More Money bonus, making any time an Orange Chicken Bucket lands on the reels, a random amount of Fuzz Ball symbols will have their Cash Value increased by an additional Cash Value ranging from 1X to 10X the bet.
Purple Chicken Bucket = Awards the Jackpot bonus, where Purple Chicken Bucket symbols are replaced with Jackpot Symbols, awarding Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand prizes.
Green Chicken Bucket = Awards the Expanded Reels bonus, expands the playing grid from 5x3 to 5x6.
Whenever a Mystery Chicken Bucket symbol lands, reveals a Feature, and it triggers, the spin counter resets to 3.
Feature Buy (Buy Pass)
Through the Feature Buy, you can instantly trigger the Hold & Spin bonus game for a price based on the current bet.
50X = Awards the Hold & Spin feature.
Final Thoughts on Gremlins After Midnight
Licensed slot releases can be a bit of a mixed bag, as sometimes we get genuinely interesting releases that really take their original source to heart and build around it, and other times we get either a lazily thrown together game or just a straight-up reskin of a previously released game. Gremlins After Midnight, while being a step away from its predecessors, isn’t anything out of the ordinary, as it is, for the most part, just a regular slot release, just with a Gremlins theme. We don’t exactly care for the theme itself, although this game is probably the best the theme has ever looked, but that bar is already pretty low, and that isn’t even to say that the visuals are very impressive.
Gameplay-wise, while being a bit all over the place in terms of strange features, Gremlins After Midnight, at its core, is a 3-Pot Hold & Spins-centric game with Cash and Jackpot prizes. While it’s randomly triggering bonuses such as Mystery Stacked Reels, Scatter Fuzz Balls, and Instant Win features can be fun, they also feel a bit too spread thin, and we feel like the gameplay could be a bit smoother by maybe combining these features into one or two bonuses. While they’re not bad, they just don’t leave enough of an impression. On that same note, the Hold & Spins feature and its 3 Pot bonuses work well enough, but it’s just not very impressive, especially as many of its wins just feel kinda lacking outside of some of the larger jackpots. What’s more is that the game’s paytable in general just feels weak, and that natural Fuzz Ball Wilds can only come with up to 1.5X the bet during the base game feels almost laughable. At the end of the day, we don’t think Gremlins After Midnight is a bad game, just very lackluster in many departments, and hardcore fans of this old classic movie might get a thrill out of the release.
Gremlins After Midnight is a licensed release based on the Gremlins movie, coming with a pretty standard 3 Pot Hold & Spin-centric gameplay with a handful of randomly-triggering bonuses spread over the base game.
