Thunderstruck And Thunderstruck II - A Tale Of Two Legendary Slot Games

Microgamings Thunderstruck series of online slot games are unquestionably two of the most popular online slots every invented. The sheer number of gamers that have played either or both of the Thunderstruck slots is unimaginable, as is the number of wins these two slots have provided players with over the years.

History of the Thunderstruck slot games

Thunderstruck was originally released back in 2005 on Microgaming software and is still widely played today even after seven years from its release. Its sequel, Thunderstruck II, was released five years later on the fourth of May 2010. Since its debut, the second Thunderstruck II game has proved to be not only far more popular than the original, but also one of the most played online slots in existence today.

Aside from the fact that both the Thunderstruck slot machine games rely heavily on Norse mythology in regards to their themes, and of course their names, there is actually very little in common between the two titles.

Paylines and features

The original Thunderstruck slot game is a five reeled, nine pay line slot machine game. It comes with a non-progressive jackpot of six thousand coins. Thunderstruck was also one of the first major online slot machines to come with all the trimmings, being wild cards, scatter symbols, free spin features and multipliers. It did come with a bonus game however, for such things were still by and large, relatively new in online slot machine games at the time.

Thunderstruck design

Heavily relying on high playing card icons to make up most of the imagery, along with some scattered and very simplistic Nordic gods to compensate for the theme, Thunderstruck wasn’t exactly a marvel visually. It was however what one might call the originator of modern multi-pay line, multi-featured online slot machine games. Thunderstruck did have a gamble feature incorporated into it though, which was very common at the time also. This very simple option permitted the gamer to either choose to gamble or collect his or her winnings. If they chose to gamble a winning pay line, a simple suit or colour card guessing game was triggered.

When its successor came out five years after, the online slot game world was taken by storm.

Thunderstruck II is also a five reeled online slot machine game, although unlike its predecessor it comes with two hundred and forty three pay lines. The non-progressive jackpot of Thunderstruck II is fixed at ten thousand coins, larger than the original. Also unlike the original, the sequel does offer a bonus game as one of its features, alongside the wild cards, scatter symbols, multipliers and free spin rounds that were commonplace with the first Thunderstruck slot machine game.

Thunderstruck II looks much better visually, and there is a real Valhalla look about the design of the slot, despite the fact that the high cards continually play a large part in the design of the slot game. The graphics of the gods have been fleshed out a bit more, and it looks far less simplistic than its predecessor.

Wagering

The maximum wagers that could be placed were also greatly reduced for the sequel, which in turn made it very appealing to players on a budget. The excess pay lines and cheap wagering catapulted this sequel into online slot machine game hall of fame from the very moment it was released.

Thunderstruck I is widely available to be played online, often you can play these slot games free in many online casino sites. Thunderstruck II on the other hand continues to be a massively popular online slot, and there are rumours floating about cyber space that suggest that Microgaming may even be considered a third title in the series before long. One can only hope!