Lightning Storm by Evolution, what we know so far

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Every year in January, the world’s best live casino game provider, Evolution, presents its new games. This year the big bang of the new releases will be Lightning Storm!

We had the privilege of seeing a presentation of this promising live casino game in London.

Here You Can Play The Best Evolution Live Casino Games

About Lightning Storm

Once again, Evolution has chosen to bring a new MoneyWheel game to the market with attractive bonuses. The wheel, which is once again a Digiwheel, consists of 39 segments. Each new game features a live dealer spinning the wheel, with additional bonuses and multipliers appearing on the wheel. This gives players extra chances to win big prizes.

The game is presented from Evolution’s live studio. A live host presents the game and also acts as the game leader when bonus games need to be presented.

The Moneywheel

As with the live casino game Funky Time, the Digiwheel is used for the Moneywheel. There are 39 segments on the money wheel, divided as follows: numbers 1 to 20 and 19 segments with the Evolution logo. During spinning, random multipliers and bonus symbols appear on the wheel.

Betting Options

Players have 23 different betting options. They can bet separately on each number, which includes numbers 1 through 20. If the wheel ends on the number you bet on, the payout is 35 times the bet. They can also choose to bet on the Evolution Logo, which pays 1:1. But the most exciting bet is on the bonus games.

You can also choose the options Storm Chaser or X Chaser. With the Storm Chaser bet, you are guaranteed a bet on the number where the Lightning Storm Bonus segment is.

With an X Chaser Bet you are guaranteed that all numbers with Bonus symbols and a multiplier will be covered by a bet.

If a bet is placed on the bonus games and the wheel lands on it, the player automatically participates in the bonus game. Let’s look at the bonus games one by one.

The Bonuses of Lightning Storm

The game features five different bonuses. Each spin reveals bonuses on random positions on the wheel, sometimes supplemented with a nice multiplier.

Hot Spot

Hot Spot is a bonus round similar to the Cash Hunt bonus round of Crazy Time. A giant grid of 12 by 9 segments appears on the screen, displaying multipliers. Each participant in the bonus game selects his square on the board, and after the choice time is over, the board reveals the multipliers behind the chosen squares. As an extra winning chance, the host connects two sides of a plug. This causes an electric shock to a certain part of the playing field, increasing prizes in that square.

Monster Mash

In Monster Mash, you build your own Frankenstein. In the studio, the live host stands by a kind of vertical slot machine. The machine has three rows stacked on top of each other. The bottom row features images of legs of the Frankenstein to be built. The middle row has the torso, and the top row has the head. Multipliers are attached to each body part. There are also golden body parts that multiply the multipliers. When the body is complete, all multipliers are added up and applied to your bet.

Battery Charger

In Battery Charger, you enter a virtual factory where batteries are coming off a conveyor belt. Each battery is caught and tested for charge by a small rotating disk. If the battery is charged, you receive the multiplier associated with that battery. There’s also a chance for a 2x to fall in the mix, which multiplies the charge of all batteries with this bonus doubler.

Thunder Ball

The Thunder Ball bonus game takes you to a separate section in the live studio where the live host is waiting. On the screen, you see a giant bin with compartments containing multipliers. Above the bin hangs a basket where the host places a ball. Right below the ball in the bin is a small pointed elevation. By pressing a button, the ball falls out of the basket and onto the pointed elevation, causing the ball to bounce randomly in the bin. Eventually, the ball comes to a stop on a multiplier, which is then multiplied by your bet, giving you your bonus prize.

Lightning Storm

The live dealer takes you to a virtual rooftop of a skyscraper for the Lightning Storm bonus game. On the rooftop stands a gigantic fence with multipliers that will be struck by lightning. When lightning strikes, one or more multipliers will light up, and these are added together.

The possible multipliers are: 50x, 75x, 100x, 150x, 250x, 500x, 1000x, and 2500x. Additionally, separate multipliers of 2x, 3x, and 5x can be added, which then affect the total multiplier. Here, you can really hit big. An extra element of this bonus game is that you can accept or decline the bonus. In total, there are 3 lightning strikes with a certain result. If you find the first strike insufficient, you can reject it and get another one.

Note that you can’t go back to the previous one, so rejecting means you can’t claim that bonus anymore. If the bonus is to your liking, you click on accept and receive that multiplier. Note that other players may choose to continue playing, so you’ll also see the result of subsequent lightning strikes that you can’t claim. All very thrilling and fun.

How to Play Lightning Storm

Lightning Storm Payouts and RTP

If you only play the Evolution Logo (“Leaf”-Bet) you will play with the optimal RTP of 97,44%. But I don’t think anyone will do that. Most people are in this game for the bonuses. Bonuses have an RTP of 96,13%, not too bad for a live casino game.

The maximum payout for all your winnings in a game round is €500,000 (or the equivalent in your local currency).

Betting Category	Number of segments	Winning Chance	Payout	RTP
Evolution Logo	19	48,72%	1:1	97,44%
Hot Spot	4	10,26%	Up to 10,000x	95,13%
Monster mash	5	12,82%	Up to 10,000x	95,13%
Battery Charger	6	15,38%	Up to 10,000x	95,13%
Fireball	4	10,26%	Up to 10,000x	95,13%
Lightning Storm	1	2,56%	Up to 20,000x	95,13%
Total	39 Segments	100%

Tips & Strategy

Although the game is not yet available to play anywhere live, we can confidently say that you should always bet on the bonus games. There are two main reasons for this. First, they are the most enjoyable aspects of the game, and we can imagine it would be quite frustrating to see all the bonus games but not be able to participate in any. Second, the biggest prizes are won with the bonus games. So if you want to make a nice profit with Lightning Storm, make sure to bet on the bonus games.

• Strategy 1: Only Play the “Leaf”-Bet – This is the most boring way to play this game but it’s the strategy with the highest RTP. You’ll receive a payout of 1:1, and with a progressive betting strategy like Martingale, you could be s winner at this game. But you’ll have to sit out every bonus game. That’s not funny. And in the long run, you’ll probably lose your bankroll.
• Strategy 2: Only play Chaser Bets – Betting on the Storm Chaser and the X Chaser will guarantee you that you get the multipliers and the Lightning Storm covered. So you’re in for the big win. But a big disadvantage is that playing Strom Chaser will cost you 2.7x your bet and X Chasre will cost you 7.8x your bet. So your Bankroll will vanish pretty fast. But if you get on a lucky streak, this strategy can be very profitable.
• Strategy 3: Play All Numbers – Place a bet on all numbers (1 – 20). This is a strategy with high cost, but it will give you all the bonus games. You just need a period of playing when the DigiWheel doesn’t stop too frequently on the “Leaf”, because that will result in a loss of all your betting that round. But with a decent streak of numbers, you can make some money with the bonus games,
• Strategy 4: Play All Odd or All Even numbers – The betting grid has two speed buttons which result in a bet on all odd numbers or all even numbers. It’s close to strategy number 3 but will cost you half but it will result in lesser bonus games.
• Strategy 5: Play a Mix – This is probably the strategy that will last the longest in the long run. Choose 5 numbers every game to play and also play the “Leaf”-bet. For example, play 1 unit on 5 numbers and 10 units on the “Leaf”. You can add the Storm Chaser bet, but then I would also increase the “Leaf”-bet to 13.

My Results in Different Sessions Playing

To test the game and the strategies I played 5 sessions of Lightning Storm. All sessions I started with €50 and I would play for max 1 hour, or shorter if my bankroll would be gone. These are the results of my five sessions:

• Session 1
  In the first session, I used strategy 1. I only played the “Leaf”-bet and used a progressive betting system. If I won, I doubled, and I kept on doubling if I would win again up to max 3 times. So I started with €1,00, and after a win that would become €2,00, and after another win it would become €4,00. After 3 wins I would always return to €1,00 and start all over again. After a loss, it’s always a €1,00 bet. So with a bit of luck, you can expand your bankroll, and if you’re unlucky you can at least play for a serious period. The result after 1 hour was a small profit of €2,00, but it was a very boring hour.
• Session 2
  In session 2, I played strategy 2. I played both chaser bets. I played each bet for €0,10, which resulted in a total cost of €1,05 every game. It took a pretty long time to get a bonus with a multiplier. My bankroll was down to €28,95 when I hit the first bonus with a multiplier. That bonus resulted in a win of 50x, which is only €5,00. Shortly after I hit a Lightning Storm and got 45x, still no dream result. After an hour I had a few more bonuses with multiplier but the result was a loss of almost €38 of my bankroll.
• Session 3
  For the third session, I chose strategy 3. To make a long story short, I got a lot of “Leaf” results and that led to a final bankroll of €12,80. Another loss, this time €37,20.
• Session 4 and session 5
  I will combine session 4 and 5 because I decided to play the same strategy: Play a Mix. Every round I played 5 numbers with a bet of 1 unit and the “Leaf”-bet with 10 units, every now and then I added the storm chaser and raised the “leaf”-bet with 3 units as a defense. To be honest both session 4 and 5 were the funniest to play. Bankroll was really steady due to the defensive bet on the “Leaf”. In session 4 I was lucky to hit Lightning Storm twice and in session 5 1 time. In session 4, 1 Lightning Storm was combined with a 5x multiplier. I was so lucky to choose the right strike and I got a 1200x. End results of both sessions were positive. Session 4 ended with a €211 profit and session 5 ended with a €23,00 profit.
• Conclusion
  After only 5 sessions it’s difficult to say what is the best strategy to play Lightning Storm. But what I can say is that playing only “Leaf”-bets is really boring and I will never do that again. The most fun I had with the “Play & Mix” strategy. Both sessions were profitable but mostly because of the Lightning Storm bonus game. If I had chosen the wrong strike one of the sessions would have been a loss.

My Opinion about Lightning Storm

With the right strategy, I like to play Lightning Storm. You get to play a lot of bonuses, but they can be a bit slow. I really love the live hosts and the studio of this game. The DigiWheel that’s used is an awesome Moneywheel. For the player who likes slow games and a lot of small bonuses, this game is perfect. If you’re looking for big wins and lots of thrilling moments, this probably isn’t your cup of tea. But for sure you all have to try this game at least one time so you can decide for yourself. But bet wisely and never gamble with money you can’t afford to lose.

FAQ about Lightning Storm