A Swedish game studio founded in 2012, Thunderkick presents itself as an independent casino games supplier and a remote gaming server operating from Stockholm and Malta. But gaming enthusiasts know them as a maverick source of creativity in pokie design and development. The company has proven over and over that it is ready to break the rules to create breakthrough play experiences. They are present at plenty of casinos, but with less than a dozen titles currently on offer, it’s not always easy to find their offerings in the crowded marketplace. But what they do is they provide a smaller number of truly original games rather than a regular production line of genetic knock-offs.
Thunderkick stands out with high-end visual and sound production quality, and innovative game mechanics. From concept to execution, their games are well thought and refreshingly original, especially on the media side. When you get your hands on a new creation from these meticulous out-of-the-box Swedes, you know you are in for a treat. They consistently deliver on their promises. These guys clearly love to amuse their players, and anyone with a sense of humor and appreciation for quality will not be disappointed.
A Small but Impressive Portfolio
The entire Thunderkick portfolio comprises just over a dozen titles. Some have achieved considerable notoriety among gaming enthusiasts, such as:
- Birds on a Wire, a clever riff on the game which made their angry cousins famous. The traditional rows and reels of a video slot are replaced with electrical wires on which colorful winged friends fly in and out, occasionally getting electri-fried, accompanied by raucous squawks - by high voltage juice on the loose when they form a win, with the entire scene skittering sideways from spin to spin. Indeed, spin isn’t really the right word: maybe slide, maybe scroll, maybe flock ‘n’ roll. What does come through is a love for multiples, big natural wins, wild birds, and a delight in delivering pleasant shocks to the senses. Let the feathers fly!
- Esqueletos Explosivos – exploding skeletons – takes place, it seems, in a tranquil Mexican village which is celebrating the Night of the Dead. And what better way to celebrate Thunderkick’s initial offering than with a skeletal mariachi band of the dearly departed, apparently called Enrico Mortis and the Boners, with their lantern-illuminated skulls exploding in technicolor from gunfire… or are they firecrackers? Never mind, the traditional reels are replaced by amusingly rendered boney compadres, singing or playing an instrument, living up to – or perhaps dying to deliver on -- their promise of “mucho multipliers” up to 32x. Macabre good fun if you’re in a breaking bad sort of mood.
- Fruit Warp will make you realize how far pokies have come from the days the classic spinning fruit symbol reels. Here a warp in the time-space continuum has apparently sucked bananas, strawberries, oranges, and other species into a vortex that defies traditional slot rules of rows and reels. Instead you are suspended in a universe which scatters the three-dimensional fruit symbols in new configuration which, miraculously, continually rearrange themselves to form wilds, multipliers, and winning combinations. It’s wild, it’s unpredictable and, well, it’s juicy fun!
Bottom Line
Thunderkick brings an off-the-wall quirky sense of humor and playfulness to pokies, setting new bars in slot design. Their games are always a joy and bursting with creativity, matched with the best production values. For now, Thunderkick is a relatively small design studio, but making seriously big waves. We wouldn’t be surprised if they got acquired by one of the bigger players in the near future – and hopefully that won’t tame these maverick developers. In any case, we highly recommend that you give their games a try for some wicked, good fun!