Stickermania: Slot Overview

Let's get ready to rumble, players, with Blueprint Gaming sibling studio Lucksome Games in the online wrestling-themed slot Stickermania. Just to be clear, we're not talking about Greco-Roman wrestling, where contestants are locked together, grappling and shoving each other like at the Olympics. This is leaping off the top rope, getting clotheslined, elbow dropping, charismatic characters, ahem, fake hitting, wrestling. Fans seem to love the (scripted) drama just as much as haters are confused by the appeal. One of wrestling's big money spinners is merchandising, and Stickermania brings all of this larger-than-life action to its reels in a scatter paying, rockin' rollin', unique bonused, greased up spectacle.

On the topic of merch, Stickermania begins by awarding players two sticker packs. Stickers are used to complete pictures of Wrestlers that unlock certain rewards. Sticker double-ups are also kept, but instead of trading them with your friends, they may be used to trigger a Bonus Wheel. More on these later. For now, why not bask in the sights and sounds of animal wrestler action steeped in earlier-era nostalgia, triggering thoughts of 80s/90s right over-the-top WWF/WWE zaniness.

A 5x5 gaming grid is Stickermania's arena utilising a scatter pays system, creating winning combinations in the base game when 6 or more matching symbols land anywhere on the reels. Stickermania is highly volatile, Lucksome giving this characteristic a 10 out of 10 rating, and the RTP clocks in at 96.23%. Bet selection ranges from 10 c to $/€50 per base game round.

You know those matches where, say, Hulk Hogan takes on 'John Smith', and you just know the superstar is going to shred the no-name guy to pieces? Ten through to Ace card ranks are like those underdog symbols, while the big name stars are its 6 Wrestler symbols. Some are kinda familiar. Is that an animal version of The Undertaker, Big Boss Man, and Macho Man Randy Savage? Scatter combinations of 15+ of a kind are worth 6 to 80 times the bet. Royals need at least 8 OAK to pay, Wrestlers just 6 OAK. Wild symbols actually appear on the reels, substituting for every symbol except the scatter.

Stickermania: Slot Features

Stickermania nutshells its features quite well, putting it like land tokens -> collect stickers -> unlock features -> trigger the Wild Rumble.

Sticker Album

There are 6 Wrestlers in Stickermania, each Wrestler having 3 feature types - Cash Prizes of 5-20x the bet, Cash symbol, and Wild Rumble Free Games. These can be activated by collecting stickers and completing pictures in the Sticker Album. Tokens with numerical values may land on pay symbols. These values are collected by the Progress Meter. If a spin does not land new tokens, the Progress Meter value is halved. When the Meter reaches 20, a sticker pack is awarded. Any value beyond 20 is left on the Meter.

Each sticker pack has 8 random stickers, which are added to the relevant picture. Completed pictures activate the corresponding feature while duplicate stickers (known as Swapsies) are added to the Swapsie Box. At the start of a game, players get 2 sticker packs. One out of the 6 wrestlers is guaranteed to be completed in the Sticker Album, unlocking the Cash symbol for the corresponding Wrestler in the main game.

Bonus Wheel & Cash Symbols

The Bonus Wheel is triggered randomly when a Swapsie from a sticker pack is awarded. The wheel awards cash prizes of 5 to 30 times the bet or Wild Rumble Free Games. After unlocking the Cash symbol of a wrestler from the Sticker Album, the Wrestler symbol may randomly appear on base game spins with a cash value of 0.1 to 20 times the bet. Each scatter in view collects all of the cash values.

Wild Rumble Free Games

Wild Rumble Free Games can be triggered by landing 3 or 4 scatters, in which case 3 or 4 Wrestlers start the round, respectively, or from the Sticker Album of the Bonus Wheel, in which case at least 3 Wrestlers start the feature. The feature has an indefinite number of rounds and ends when there are no more Wrestlers to add, and one last Wrestler remains on the reels.

The feature plays on a grid with Wrestler symbols moving about the place, clashing, collecting bet multiplier values from symbols they land on, and triggering features. Wrestlers start with random multipliers of 1x to x5 and may come in on following rounds, not just the first round. When a symbol's multiplier is collected, the symbol is removed. Wrestlers randomly appear with a single charge ability or a persistent ability. Single charges may be used once unless recharged. During the round, each Wrestler uses his ability (if active) before making a move. After making a move, it follows the instructions of the symbol it lands on. Free games symbols include:

• Speedrun - appears with 5x multipliers either horizontally or vertically. Wrestlers move through all symbols in the highlighted area, collecting multipliers/activations.
• Rope Jump - appears with 10x multipliers in any of the 4 grid corners. A wrestler jumps into a 3x3 reel area.
• Activate - appears with 5x multipliers. Reactivates Wrestler's abilities for the next round.
• Multipliers - appears with a value of 1x to 5x, and 1 of 5 move directions, up, down, left, right, or stop. When a Wrestler lands on a multiplier, he moves one position according to the direction.

If a Wrestler moves to a position with another Wrestler, they clash. Wrestlers with the highest multiplier have higher chances of winning the clash. The winner gets a random multiplier of x5 to x20 and lands on the defeated opponent's position. Defeated Wrestlers are removed from the reels and can appear in the feature once unless resurrected. After each Wrestler has moved, the next round begins. The Wrestlers and their abilities are:

• Guy Polar: Frostquake- adds new symbols to empty positions around his position. Increases multipliers of all symbols around his position.
• Mr Charming: Double Down - doubles the value of up to any 4 symbols in the highlighted area, up to 3 times per symbol.
• Billionaire: Money Traps - up to 4 adder or doubler hot zones, increasing or doubling any symbol multipliers landing within. The value of adder hot zones doubles with each free game.
• Madmuzzle: Metamorph - transforms into another random Wrestler and uses their ability.
• Major Mussels: Line Booster - all multipliers in the highlighted area are boosted by a randomly selected in-view multiplier.
• Grave Dave: Reactivation/Resurrection- charges up a random Wrestler's single charge ability or resurrects any defeated Wrestler, including himself.

Feature Buy

Players are able to leap into the free spins round by buying it for 140x the bet.

Stickermania: Slot Verdict

Professional wrestling is not everyone's idea of a fun time, and neither is Stickermania's particular way of functioning likely to suit all gamblers. The theme might be perceived as a bit silly, the continual sticker pack interruptions a possible annoyance that ruins the flow of the game, or the bonus round may be a bit too out there for those who prefer to just hit winlines. But, for the right player, there are bags of entertainment to be found in Stickermania. One danger when having a radically different bonus round is that it can overshadow the base game to the point it feels irrelevant. Stickermania largely avoids this conundrum in several ways. One is by offering a collection system that leads to more stickers and better potential effects, such as Cash symbols, cash prizes, as well as free games triggers. The scatter wins mechanic is icing on the cake, backed by wild symbol inclusions, though symbol values aren't the greatest.

Stickermania can hit wins as high as 10,000x the bet (or a set cash ceiling value), and you'd think Wild Rumble Free Games is where this is most likely to occur. Actually, it seems only there, really. A very unique feature it is as well, and while free games might seem head-scratching on paper, largely because there are so many rules to absorb, in practice, they're not so confusing, and Lucksome has done a good job of translating the thrills of in-ring battles to a two-dimensional reel based round. Basically, Wrestlers move about the grid, collecting bet multipliers, triggering abilities, clashing with each other, till one is left standing, which awards players its displayed value. During the review, free spins turned out to be quite good fun, not to mention one of a kind.

Unlike other wrestling related games like WWE Clash of the Wilds, WWE Legends Link & Win or WWE Bonus Rumble Gold Blitz, you get the feeling Lucksome enjoyed itself when the team set about to make Stickermania. Like the subject matter, the game is loud, in your face, and struts its stuff without a care for what the haters think, so if that sounds neat, feel free to pull on some neon tights and leap in the ring.