Anderthals (Just For The Win): Overview

No one has ever doubted Swedish studio Just For The Win’s ability to produce attractive-looking games, and judging by the vibe, their intended crowd (soccer moms?) seems happy with what they get. Underneath the surface, though, things haven’t been nearly as compelling, as it often feels like we’re being served an almost recycled mathematical model—and not a very good one at that. Based on the specifications of this newest release, there’s little reason to expect a turnaround. Still, we’ll find out.

This time we’re taken far back in history to meet the charming duo Andy and Annie Anderthal. These club-swinging, animal-skin-wearing troglodytes headline JFTW’s latest slot Anderthals. They’re the friendly sort—keeping dinosaurs as pets and devouring huge slabs of dino ribs by the fire. Yes, it leans heavily into a Flintstones-style vibe. If anything, this world feels even more basic than Fred’s—foot-powered cars haven’t even been dreamed up yet. The Anderthals and the game overall may look cute, but their cheerful antics mask yet another highly volatile Just For The Win slot that doesn’t offer particularly great rewards for taking on the risk. It’s nice to see the developer crank up the intensity on variance; it’s just unfortunate the rest of the package is still way, way behind trying to catch up.

As you might guess, Anderthals is a smartly shortened take on the word Neanderthals—those “cavemen” who lived alongside early humans for generations, possibly interbreeding and leaving traces of their DNA in modern people. For players, that translates into a prehistoric setting filled with volcanoes and dinosaurs. Sure, we all know humans and dinosaurs didn’t actually share the same era, but a little creative freedom never hurt.

As is typical, Just for the Win has delivered a visually polished slot, with a cartoonish, dreamy style that brings to mind the movie The Good Dinosaur. Gameplay runs on a grid of 5 reels, 4 rows and 40 fixed paylines. As noted, a high-volatility math model drives the action and returns an RTP of 96.12%. The game has been heavily tested to reach those figures, which we’ll touch on further in the verdict.

To start the time-travel, players pick a stake from 10 p/c up to $/€100 per spin. The main objective is to land 3 or more matching symbols on a payline to score a win. Standard pay symbols include stone-carved royals (J-A) that look roughly chipped into place, plus three premium icons. Those premiums are Andy, Annie, and the logo, which pays 32 times the stake for five of a kind. Completing the regular lineup is the wild, which substitutes for any paying symbol. It generally appears as a 1×1 tile, though certain features can expand it.

Anderthals (Just For The Win): Features

Anderthals includes a handful of random modifiers along with a free spins round. Positioned above the reels is a horizontal strip of 5 spaces that displays different features/enhancers on each spin. These are known as Feature Spots, and each spot links to the reel directly beneath it. The flaming torch is the Feature Symbol, and when two or more appear in a spin, they activate the Feature Spots above their respective reels. There are multiple Feature Spots, each providing the following individual effects:

• 1x Bet or 2x Bet– once the spin ends, a prize equal to 1x or 2x the bet is paid out respectively.
• Expanding Wilds – any wilds landing under these activated Feature Spots expand to fill the entire reel.
• Extra Wilds – extra wild symbols are inserted onto the reel beneath this active Feature Spot.
• Wild x2 or Wild x3 – converts any wild symbols on active reels into x2 or x3 Wild Multipliers. Wild x2 and Wild x3 cannot occur on the same spin.
• Respins – in the base game, this triggers a respin featuring a spot with Expanding wilds, Wild x2, Wild x3. The respin cannot activate new features, and only one respin can be awarded per spin.
• Free spins – launches the free spins bonus round.

Activating one Free Spins spot grants 8 free spins, and each extra activated free spins spot adds 2 more to the round. In free spins, all feature spots that were active at the moment the bonus was triggered stay active for the entire duration.

Anderthals (Just For The Win): Verdict

Much like their prior release Treasure Skyland, Just for the Win has again caught attention by pushing the variance higher. It’s a shame they didn’t elevate the rest of the game alongside it. For low-rollers, the situation isn’t too terrible, since the setup allows wins of more than 11,000 times the stake when playing at the default 0.10 bet. Highrollers, however, don’t get the same upside, as the game is limited to 2,219 times the stake at max bet.

Reaching either figure is, naturally, extremely improbable, especially considering it occurred across 110 billion simulated spins. Put simply, don’t expect it; another ice age is more likely to show up before a major payout lands. With that in mind, whatever appeal Anderthals initially has fades quickly—much like the dinosaurs did on impact day.

Even so, Just for the Win consistently makes good-looking games, and they understand who they’re making them for. They’ll be counting on Anderthals attracting players across both European and Asian markets. That intention is underlined by the alternative Chinese Logo symbol included in different versions of the game. What may sway some players is the eye-catching cuteness and a couple of mechanics that encourage continued spins. One is the fairly consistent hit rate of roughly 1 in 5 spins. The second is that two scatters should, in theory, appear about once every 25 spins on average. Whenever they do, Feature Spots become active. The problem is that the modifiers aren’t particularly impressive, and they’re unlikely to dramatically change the outcome of a session.

Overall, Anderthals is another visually strong title from Just for the Win that offers more style than depth. Still, with lots of features and a reasonably frequent hit rate, it contains the right ingredients to appeal to their target audience. Otherwise, unless you’re truly captivated by the idea of dinosaurs and humans living side by side, there’s little reason to go out of your way to play Anderthals.