Lightning Storm Live is an extreme live gameshow by Evolution that uses a 39-segment Digiwheel and Five “electrifying” Bonus rounds to deliver multiplier pay-outs of up to 20,000x.
It’s Evolution’s most expensive and complicated game, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with live entertainment games.
In this review, I’ll explain how to play Lightning Storm, covering the innovative betting options and bonus rounds, and compare it to Crazy Time and other games in this category.
Finally, you can watch me play and see the bonus rounds in my Video review.
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Put simply, Lightning Storm is a big wheel game show that delivers instant wins or guaranteed multiplier payouts from five bonus rounds: Hot Spot, Monster Mash, Battery Charger, Fireball, and Lightning Storm. The game takes its theme from Frankenstein, mixed with movie-style laboratories and the early days of electricity production, creating a visually exciting game.
The Big Wheel, spun by a suitably dressed presenter, determines the results for the instant wins and entry to the bonus rounds.
The results for the bonus rounds, except the Fire Ball, which uses a bouncing ball to pick a winning multiplier, are determined using RNG. Players have an active role in the decision-making process in the Hot Spot and Lightning Storm Bonuses.
Perhaps the game’s most innovative aspect is how the Betting Options are structured. You can read more about this in my Lightning Storm Playing and Betting Strategy article, which focuses on the strategies used to play this game.
One thing is for sure: Lightning Storm will be available at all casinos that offer Evolution Live Games.
If you want to play somewhere new with an excellent reputation with players, pay quickly, and do not require wagering on bonuses, I recommend PlayOjo.
Leo Vegas is a great choice if you prefer a mobile-friendly casino that offers live casino promotions.
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It’s worth explaining how betting on Lightning Storm works because it’s not immediately obvious just how Evolution has structured how you can place your bets.
The only way to guarantee you’ll have a winning bet is to place a bet on the leaf Motif and every number on the wheel. Of course, you don’t have to bet on every number; the fewer you bet, the fewer chances you have of winning a bonus round.
However, to make things slightly more interesting, Evolution has produced two additional ways to bet, which provide some guarantees depending on the result of the big wheel.
The Storm Chaser bet guarantees you’ll have a bet on the number where the Lighting Storm bonus symbol appears.
The X-Chaser bet spot guarantees that any number containing a Bonus Symbol with an additional multiplier is covered by a bet.
These two bets cover the higher payout options for each game, but they don’t guarantee a win; they just cover the bet spot.
It’s a game for everyone, as there are many ways to play.
Lightning Storm suits players who like to bet small amounts for the thrill of winning a big payday from one of the many bonus rounds.
It’s a game for gamblers who like betting on the odds, choosing to ignore the more frequent wins for the less frequent bigger payouts.
High rollers will love the opportunity the game gives to make some money, while the more cautious player can spread their risk to manage their bankroll and extend their playtime.
This is a gambling game. The objective is to bet on where you predict the big wheel will stop once the presenter has spun it.
The betting options are:
NB: If you’ve placed a bet on a number and used the X Chaser Bet, the two amounts will be summed up if the wheel stops on that numbered segment.
Bonus spots may also receive randomly assigned Multipliers between 2x and 50x each game round.
The presenter spins the wheel, and the bonus segments are selected and placed on the wheel.
Multipliers between 2x and 50x are randomly placed on some of the bonus segments, increasing the payout potential for the bonus should it be the winning segment.
The wheel stops. If the result is an instant win, players receive payouts. If it’s a Bonus round, players with an active bet enjoy playing one of the bonus games.
A bonus round is triggered when the wheel stops on one of the segments containing a bonus round. If the segment includes an additional multiplier, this is applied at the start of the game once the initial multiplier payouts are assigned.
There are five bonus rounds – Hot Spot, Monster Mash, Battery Charger, FireBall and Storm Chaser. Each offers a different experience, but on the whole, you’re watching for an outcome, although you do get to make a blind prize selection in the Hot Spot and Lightning Storm rounds.
The Hot Spot Bonus features a giant 9×12 multiplier wall covered in multipliers grouped by value.
The game covers and shuffles the multipliers on the wall. Your job is to pick a tile, hopefully with a big multiplier beneath it.
As the multipliers are revealed, a hot spot covering 3×3 squares travels around the wall, eventually resting over nine multipliers and doubling their value.
The maximum multiplier on Hot Spot is 10,000x!
If the Bonus has a multiplier from the big wheel, all the multipliers on the grid get boosted before the game round starts.
This bonus round delivers a multiplier win; the maximum possible is 10,000x by building your version of Frankenstein.
The round consists of three vertically mounted reels containing various coloured body parts. The top reel contains heads, the middle reel contains torsos, and the bottom reel contains legs.
The Blue body parts receive a random multiplier between 1x and 50x, and the Gold parts get a global multiplier between 4x and 6x.
The presenter pulls a lever to spin the reels until they rest in a Head, Torso, and Leg combination.
The multipliers on each body part are added to the total, giving you your payout amount.
No player interaction is required, and RNG determines the result.
If the Bonus has a multiplier on the big wheel, all the multipliers get boosted before the presenter pulls the lever.
In this Bonus game, ten batteries are lined up on a conveyor belt, waiting to be tested by a battery charger. Nine batteries contain a multiplier, while one contains a global multiplier.
Each battery is connected to the Battery Charger and will be tested to see if it needs a charge. If the selection wheel turns red, the battery explodes, and the subsequent battery on the conveyor belt drops in to be charged. When the wheel turns green, the multiplier on the battery becomes your prize.
If the battery contains a global multiplier, the multipliers on the remaining batteries are multiplied before the next battery gets selected for charging.
The game ends when the charger goes green or only one battery is left on the conveyor belt.
The maximum possible win is 10,000x.
The RNG determines the result. No player participation is required.
If the Bonus has a multiplier on the big wheel, all the multipliers on the conveyor belt get boosted before the game round starts.
The FireBall Bonus game is Lightning Storm’s only “Live” bonus round.
A sophisticated studio contains a floor covered in 149 pockets, each containing either a multiplier or a double.
A ball is dropped from above the grid and bounces around and over the pockets, until it comes to rest in one. If the pocket contains a Double, all multipliers double, and the ball gets dropped again.
The game ends when the ball lands in a pocket containing a multiplier, and everyone playing receives the multiplier value as their payout.
The maximum payout is 10,000x.
If the Bonus has a multiplier on the big wheel, all the multipliers get boosted before the game round starts.
This is the Bonus round most players will want to trigger, as it has the highest maximum payout of 20,000x.
The bonus round is on the roof of the building with a giant billboard containing Eight regular multipliers and three global multipliers.
Your job is to select one of three lightning strikes before they occur. When the lighting strikes, it moves around the billboard, selecting one or more multipliers. The result is either a selection of multipliers or multipliers boosted by the global multipliers on the board.
If the bonus has a multiplier from the big wheel, it is applied to the big grid before the game round begins.
The RNG determines the result, but the players choose which lightning strike to use. The playing interface displays the number of players picking each option in real-time.
| Bet | Payout | RTP |
|---|---|---|
| Leaf | 1:1 | 97.44% |
| Hot Spot | Up to 10,000x | 95.13% |
| Battery Charger | Up to 10,000x | 95.13% |
| Monster Mash | Capped at 10,000x | 95.13% |
| Fireball | Capped at 10,000x | 95.13% |
| Lightning Storm | Capped at 20,000x | 95.13% |
| Numbered Spots 1- 20 | 95.13% | |
| Storm Chaser Bet | Up to £$€500,000 | 95.12% |
| X Chaser bet | 95.13% |
You can track the previous results in the statistics interface, where displaying the past 500 results is possible. The grid shows whether the last result was a Leaf, Number, or Number with a bonus round motif, signifying which of the five bonus rounds was triggered.
Unfortunately, there is no information relating to the bonus round’s result, but if there was a multiplier heading into the round, it’s displayed on the icon within the stats grid.
The results tracker gives you enough information to see whether the result is a leaf, Number, or bonus round and how often the winning bonus round has a multiplier.
In theory, the chances of a leaf or bonus round being the result is about 1 in 2 spins, so you’d expect to see that in the distribution of the results over the long term.
As the game is random, you will see winning streaks occur, which is the nature of randomised games. The results should even out over the long term (millions of games ).
Lightning Storm differs from the more traditional wheel gameshows because the wheel has fewer segments (39) than the average, which is 54.
Games with more segments can traditionally offer more and bigger payouts for wins on the wheel. The more significant payouts in Lightning Storm come in the Bonus rounds. The typical win on the wheel is only 1:1.
The biggest difference is in the number of bonus rounds and the maximum win possible.
The payouts cap at 10,000x, except during the Lightning Storm round, which can pay up to 20,000x. Bigger wins happen when the big wheel spin attaches a multiplier between 2x and 50x to the bonus round, similar to the Top Slot function in Crazy Time.
The only other game show with more Bonus rounds is Travel Fever from OnAir, which has a low max payout and low volatility.
The presentation is what sets this game apart from the others. The high-quality graphics and animations make the theme of the game pop as you traverse the bonus rounds.
Lightning Storm is Evolution’s most expensive game, and there’s no doubting the amount of time and skill put into its development. The presentation and studio design are excellent.
The Digiwheel’s capability adds a new dimension to Big Wheel games, and Evolution demonstrates its innovation by incorporating it into Lightning Storm.
The wheel features twenty fixed betting positions. The remaining nineteen for the bonus rounds get randomly dispersed each game, resulting in a different wheel layout every time.
The betting structure is the most intriguing and perhaps most overlooked part of the game.
Two betting options help the true gambler play bets for the bigger payouts. They can ignore the betting on the grid and use the Storm and X Chaser bets to cover options with better payout potentials. More canny players will use the predefined bets and the betting grid, while cautious players can use the betting grid. I like how even the betting challenges you.
As for the game itself, I’m a bit underwhelmed for two reasons.
Firstly, the bonus rounds occur too frequently, so they are not something special to look forward to. They are like London busses that come along regularly, sometimes two or three in a row. While they have the opportunity to deliver big wins, the norm is they don’t, so you’re left feeling a bit flat, especially when it happens so often.
The second reason is using RNG to deliver all but one of the bonus round results. I want more interaction and live outcomes. However, RNG is used because it’s more cost-effective for licensing and compliance reasons, at the expense of improved playability.
I was secretly hoping for something that would shake these gameshows to the core and give us something different, and while the use of the Digiwheel has done that on one level, the game doesn’t deliver on the next. This game requires no strategy, which some players enjoy figuring out, and is aimed at the mass market rather than being a serious gambling game. It will probably be another cash cow for Evolution, but it just won’t evoke the same emotions that Crazy Time delivers spin after spin after spin.
Evolution streams Lightning Storm from its studios in Riga, Latvia, where it also broadcasts other live entertainment games, Funky Time and Crazy Time.
Free or Demo Play is unavailable, but the game’s minimum bet is low enough for you to play a few rounds for less than 1 £$€. Watching the game is free, although you don’t get the same experience.
The Bonus rounds should occur on average once every two games. The wheel has thirty-nine segments, nineteen of which are bonus segments.
There are strategies for playing and winning. Check out my Lightning Storm Strategy Article for more information.
There is no way to cheat in this game. The easiest hack, which guarantees you’ll get a win (not a profit), is to bet on each segment of the wheel, which you can do by placing Nineteen number bets and one Leaf bet.
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If Lightning Storm has piqued your interest in live entertainment game shows, there is plenty more you can try.
The most popular and played is Crazy Time, also by Evolution. It has four bonus rounds and four instant wins on a 54-segment wheel.
Playtech has produced Adventures Beyond Wonderland, which uses two wheels, the second for one of the bonus rounds.
Pragmatic Play has released a few gameshows, but the pick of the bunch is Sweet Bonanza Candyland. It has arguably the best presentation, making you feel great when playing.
On Air introduced us to Travel Fever, a low-volatile game that guarantees a win on every spin. It sounds better than it plays!
Neil Walker
I’m Neil Walker, and I created this site to provide information on everything related to Live Dealer Games. I do extensive research, play and test all the games, and author all the content. I’ve appeared in the media and presented at conferences—you can read more about me on my About Page. I’ve been doing this full-time since 2014, and I am trusted for my straightforward reviews and honest opinions.
Where you can find me:
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