All Star Knockout (Northern Lights Gaming): Overview

The previous time we ran into Northern Lights Gaming was with the slot Rocky’s Gold. There were plenty of entertaining mining-themed releases in 2019; unfortunately, that one didn’t make the cut. Now the Swedish/Mancunian studio has swapped pickaxes for classic retro slot vibes. All Star Knockout is a new fruit-themed slot from Northern Lights Gaming, produced and developed together with the Yggdrasil Masters Program. The title isn’t just for show—it reflects the core mechanic. In other words, you collect stars to set off bonus features. Fruit slots are everywhere, but the hope is that All Star Knockout offers a bit more enjoyment than Rocky’s Gold did. Sigh.

On the visual side, All Star Knockout keeps things simple and on-theme, though the animations move along nicely. The reels sit in front of a plain blue backdrop with a white, blast-like effect. Audio-wise, it follows the usual formula: a jazzy, 70s-leaning, adult-movie-style tune that often turns up in this slot style. The one thing that stands out early is the odd set of symbol and star boxes beside the reels. This collection panel, known as the Award Board, is central to the features we’ll get to in a moment.

Northern Lights has taken the old-school 3×3 idea and stretched it into 5 reels and 4 rows, where you’re aiming for clusters of 3+ matching symbols across the 20 fixed paylines. The 8 standard pay symbols are pure classic slot fare: lemons, plums, oranges, cherries, a blue 7, a white 7, and a red 7. The only outlier is the game logo, which is the top payer at 5 times the stake for a line of five. To keep the setup extra straightforward, Northern Lights appears to have left wilds out entirely.

The interface leans into the retro feel, with stake changes handled via the +/- buttons. Betting flexibility is broad, starting at 20 p/c per spin and reaching $/€400. Under the hood, the math model comes in with an RTP rating of 96.09%. That’s solid, though the low volatility may feel a little underwhelming for more serious players—even if the game still has respectable upside. The trade-off is that wins land fairly regularly, and features also tend to appear often, which is slightly surprising given how they’re triggered.

All Star Knockout (Northern Lights Gaming): Features

There are two key features here: the Random Bonus and the All Star Knockout Bonus. Following a losing spin, the game may trigger the Random Bonus, granting up to 3 win spins. Win spins are free spins that must produce a payout. They’ll keep re-spinning repeatedly until a winning combination hits.

True to the game’s name, the objective is to use stars to knock out symbols. Each time a star symbol appears, it’s collected and randomly assigned beside one of the pay symbols on the Award Board. Once a symbol has 5 stars next to it, the All Star Knockout Bonus activates and awards 5 free spins. During free spins, every win receives a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, or x5. The multiplier is chosen at random.

Stars can still land during free spins. If you manage to gather five stars next to another symbol, 2 additional free spins are added to the total. The more intriguing part is that whenever a symbol reaches five stars, it’s removed entirely from the reels. This can benefit you if lower-paying symbols disappear, but it can also be a drawback if higher-paying symbols get knocked out.

One last detail on the collection mechanic: if you adjust your bet level during play, the star collections reset. However, your progress is stored, so switching back to a previous stake restores the game state from where you left it. The game also lets players attempt a faster route into the free spins round. There’s no direct buy feature, but you can press Gamble to spin a needle and test your luck. The price for doing this varies based on your bet level and how many stars you’ve collected so far.

All Star Knockout (Northern Lights Gaming): Verdict

With straightforward visuals and a well-worn theme, it’s easy to dismiss this as just another average fruit slot. Still, All Star Knockout has a few positives in its corner. Perhaps because expectations weren’t particularly high, it didn’t take much to outperform them. It took some time to get into it due to the familiar, heavily used theme, but there are a couple of ideas here that should appeal to fans of this style.

For starters, the star collection system allows you to build progress beside multiple symbols at the same time. Free spins can be triggered from one symbol, and then two outcomes are possible. Either more symbols reach 5 stars—removing them from the reels and extending the bonus round—or you might land another bonus fairly soon after the last one ends. Nothing is guaranteed, but it can happen. The second hook is the game’s solid max potential of 4,500 times the stake. Reaching anything close will take a ridiculous amount of star collecting, but in theory it’s achievable.

All in all, All Star Knockout is clearly a more put-together experience than Rocky’s Gold. It won’t blow everyone away, but it fills a niche. Retro lovers looking for a fruity-themed slot with a few added twists and decent potential may want to give it a couple of spins.

Still craving games with ‘Knockout’ in the name? Check out Knockout Diamonds from competing developer ELK Studios.