Dead Canary Free Play

Dead Canary pokie draws inspiration from the real-life use of canaries in coal mines to detect dangerous gases. These little birds would fall ill or die when toxic gases were present, signalling miners to clear out sharpish.

The game kicks off with a 3-3-2-2-1-1 layout, but you can expand it to 3-4-3-4-3-4 by landing wins and knocking down barriers. This six-reel pokie offers between 36 and 1,728 ways to win. Like other Nolimit City pokies, it's not your run-of-the-mill game, but it packs a punch with its potential and clever features.

The standout here is the massive 65,000x max win - the stuff of punters' dreams. Sure, you'll need to weather the game's volatility to chase that prize, but it's a tempting prospect.

Dead Canary's bonus features are top-notch, especially the Canary Free Spins. The base game features Wild Mining and xBomb Wild Multiplier, which can lead to some explosive payouts. We'll dive into the additional features and free spin boosters shortly in this review.

Theme and Design

Nolimit City consistently delivers unique themes with fresh twists. This time, they've cooked up a mining theme with an unexpected dash of romance.

The plot revolves around a grumpy miner who's perfected his beer recipe and is now on the hunt for love. Surprisingly, the mines harbour a gorgeous mermaid who might just be his perfect match.

At first glance, Dead Canary's gloomy atmosphere might catch you off guard. The backdrop features a dimly lit mine with a murky lake. While the music starts off eerie, it ramps up during the Free Spins. It's an odd combo, but it works.

Symbols

To win, you'll need to line up matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right. The high-value symbols include the miner, rat, compass, flask, and grappling hook. Snag six matching high-value symbols and you're looking at a payout of 2x to 7.5x your stake.

The low-value symbols are your standard card symbols, paying out 1x to 1.5x your total bet for six of a kind.

Keep an eye out for the xBomb Wild, featuring a bundle of dynamite sticks, and the Scatter symbols - canaries in silver and gold cages.

Miner's mate croaks, dishing out prizes in this underground pokie

If you're familiar with pokies, you'll know the drill. But for those new to the game, here's a quick rundown:

• Hit the big spin button with the curved arrow or tap the space bar to get the reels going.
• The play icon button lets you use autoplay. You can set it for 10 to 1,000 spins, with options to set win and loss limits.
• Want to speed things up? The lightning icon kicks in turbo mode, making the reels spin faster.
• Use the coin button to adjust your bet. You can wager anywhere from $0.20 to $100 per spin.
• Toggle the sound with the loudspeaker icon.
• The three-line menu button opens up the paytable, settings, and game history.
• The paytable shows what each symbol's worth and explains the rules. In settings, you can tweak things like music.

Kiwi Spins: The Top Feature in This Pokie Game, No Doubt

Six ripper bonuses are on deck to help you navigate the dusty mines and score your share of the massive profits. The choice bonuses are Reel Area, Wild Mining, xBomb Wild Multiplier, xBet, Canary Free Spins, and the Nolimit Bonus feature. Let's dive in and check them out.

Reel Area

To kick things off, the reel area starts with 3-3-2-2-1-1 unlocked positions, but it can expand to 3-4-3-4-3-4 by knocking down barriers. Smashing barriers is a piece of cake - just land some wins.

When you hit a win, the winning symbols go boom, and the leftovers tumble down and slide left. Fresh symbols then drop in to fill the gaps.

One win unlocks a row, so three wins on the trot will unlock all the reel positions. An xBomb blast near a barrier or the Wild Mining feature can also do the trick.

The bottom positions house Multipliers that you'll nab if you destroy their matching symbol or if knocking down a barrier reveals a Scatter symbol.

Wild Mining Feature

Land 3 or more matching symbols diagonally without any wins, and you'll trigger the Wild Mining feature. The triggering symbols vanish, and a Wild symbol pops up in the middle of their lineup.

Here's the lowdown on how many wild symbols you might score based on the number of triggering symbols:

• 1 Wild Bomb: 3 symbols
• 2 Wild Bombs: 4 symbols
• 3 Wild Bombs: 5 symbols

The Wild Bombs explode, bumping up the Win Multiplier by 1 for the next collapse. Wild Bomb explosions will blast away all symbols except the xBomb symbols. No worries if a Scatter gets blown away - it'll pop up again in a random spot in the next collapse.

xBomb Wild Multiplier Feature

xBomb Wild symbols can stand in for other symbols, bar the Scatter. The xBomb symbol explodes in a cross pattern, wiping out symbols in its path, except for Scatters or other xBombs. Plus, it'll bump up the Win Multiplier by 1 for the next collapse.

Three Canary Scatters trigger Free Spins in Dead Canary pokie

Trigger the Canary Free Spins feature by landing 3 Scatter symbols in the base game. The reels shift to a 4-3-4-3-4-3-4 layout with four locked vaults in the corners. You'll start with 3 bonus spins, resetting to 3 each time an xBomb symbol appears.

Vaults collect coins and Multipliers from three adjacent spots, with xBomb explosions potentially unlocking them. When the bonus ends, unlocked vaults pay out their collected rewards.

The triggering Scatters stay put while other positions spin to reveal various symbols. Starting at 1x, Scatters can collect coins, upgrades, Multipliers, the rat, and dwarf enhancer. There are two Scatter types:

• Silver Cage Scatter Symbol: Collects everything in an x-shape one position away.
• Gold Cage Scatter Symbol: Collects everything in an x-shape across an entire row.

Scatter wins are only collected when a bird dies. Birds have three hit points and die after three explosions. Nearby xBombs and gas symbols reduce birds' hit points by one. New canaries replace the dead ones.

Keep an eye out for these special symbols:

• Coins: Values range from 1x to 100x, collectible by Scatters.
• Bombs: Explode in an x-shape, affecting neighbouring positions.
• Multipliers: Double or triple values collected by Scatters and vaults.
• Gas: Damages adjacent canaries.
• Dwarf: Special enhancer that collects values of all Scatters each spin until it dies. Adds one hit point to the Scatter.
• Rat: Similar to the dwarf, pays its total value to all Scatters each spin. Adds one hit point.
• Upgrade: Turns Silver Scatters into Gold Scatters and adds one hit point.

xBet Feature

Boost your bet by 40% to guarantee a Scatter symbol and unlock the first barrier. This can help land more wins and trigger the main bonus faster.

Nolimit Bonus Feature

Use this to buy Free Spins. Your options are:

• Canary Free Spins: Free Spins with Silver Cage Scatters for 68x your bet
• Golden Canary Free Spins: Free Spins with Golden Cage Scatters for 500x your bet
• Lucky Draw: Random number of Golden and/or Silver Cage Scatters for 284x your bet

Unlock all rows to access the Multipliers down under

Dead Canary's RTP sits at 96.02%, pretty much on par with the average 96%. Here's how the RTP breaks down for different features:

• xBet Feature: 96.33% RTP
• Canary Free Spins Feature Buy: 96.30%
• Gold Scatter Canary Free Spins Feature Buy: 96.37%
• Lucky Draw Feature Buy: 96.39%

The Lucky Draw feature offers the highest RTP of the lot. Like most free online pokies from Nolimit City, this one's got extreme volatility.

The max win is a whopping 65,000x your bet - one of the biggest payouts you'll find in online pokies.

Discover top features and big wins in the Dead Canary pokie machine

Let's be honest, the Dead Canary pokie is a bit of alright. With a solid storyline and heaps going on in both the base game and Free Spins, it might take a minute to get your head around, but once you do, you'll be hooked. After a few rounds on this beauty, other pokies might start to look a bit naff in comparison.

The Canary Free Spins are a real buzz, especially if you manage to trigger them with Gold Cage Scatters. Sometimes the bonus seems to go on forever, and once those high Multipliers start stacking up, you could be looking at a win worth thousands times your stake.

For better odds and more action, we reckon giving the xBet feature or the Lucky Draw Buy Feature a go is worth a punt. Just keep an eye on your wallet, as this pokie can chew through your funds pretty quickly. Only splash out on buying bonuses if you can afford to do it a few times over.

To wrap up this Dead Canary pokie review, we reckon it's definitely worth a spin. If you're keen to play for real money, you can find some choice welcome bonuses at the top-notch online casinos we recommend here at BETO. Pokies like this one don't come around often, so don't miss out on giving it a crack.