Blazing Mammoth XL: Slot Overview

In prehistoric times, taking down a mammoth would have been a genuine triumph. Forget picking up a bucket of chicken for a Saturday night dinner; one mammoth could have fed plenty of people. And it wasn’t just the meat either – there were other useful materials too, like fur for clothing, bones for tools (or for clobbering enemies), and more. They were enormous creatures, and to pay tribute to that size, Games Global partner Pear Fiction Studios delivers Blazing Mammoth XL, a larger, shaggier follow-up to the 2021 release Blazing Mammoth.

What the original Blazing Mammoth definitely had going for it was visual appeal, with artwork that felt bold and satisfyingly chunky. That style runs through much of Pear Fiction Studios’ catalogue, whether it’s ice-age wildlife or grandmothers battling zombies. The booming presentation helps soften the reality that this is yet another 9 Masks-style game, while the boosted prize values do enough to maintain interest and keep you spinning.

Alongside the instant prizes, the other way to earn money is by landing winning ways. Blazing Mammoth XL uses an expandable grid; in its default state it runs with 5 reels, 3 rows and 243 ways to win. Once expanded to the maximum, it offers up to 7,776 ways to win. There are three RTP setups available, with the standard return set at 96%, and the math model is highly volatile. With five bonus buys on offer, players can wager from 20p/c to $/€50.

The best outcome is a five-of-a-kind way, and when that line-up is made from J, Q, K, or A, it pays 0.6 to 0.8 times the bet. If the five-of-a-kind is wolves, woolly rhinos, bears, or saber-tooth tigers, the payout rises to 2 to 4 times their bet. Wild symbols replace any standard pay symbol, and when wilds contribute to a win in free spins, they reveal a random ways multiplier of up to x100, which is then added to the round’s ways multiplier.

Blazing Mammoth XL: Slot Features

As an XL edition, players should expect tweaks to the gameplay versus the previous title. The core objective is still to land enough mammoth symbols to secure a worthwhile prize, but there are now multiple types of mammoth symbols. Free spins are included as well, along with a buy feature.

Instant Mammoth Jackpots SwiftHits

Next to the reels sits Blazing Mammoth XL’s ladder of prizes. Landing 3 to 12 mammoth SwiftHits symbols pays 1x to 5,000x the bet. This time around there are 3 mammoth symbols – a regular and 2 special ones:

• Respin Mammoth – when this symbol appears, it stays locked, and the chosen reel spins again to drop in new symbols.
• Split Mammoth – when this symbol lands, up to 3 extra symbols are added onto the reel. A single reel can be split up to a total of 6 symbols.

Free Spins

The free spins trigger is the scatter, and landing 3 of them activates a spin of the Free Spin Wheel. The Free Spin Wheel grants a random number of free spins from 8 to 15 and a random ways multiplier of x2 to x8. The awarded ways multiplier counts for every win during free spins, excluding any Instant Mammoth Jackpots. If a win lands in a round that includes a wild, the ways multiplier is increased by the amount shown on that wild. Free spins can be retriggered.

Buy Feature

Blazing Mammoth XL’s buy feature offers 5 buy options. These are random free spins and random multiplier for 53.75x the bet, 8 free spins with an x2 multiplier for 41.25x the bet, 10 free spins with an x3 multiplier for 58.35x the bet, 12 free spins with an x5 multiplier for 84.65x the bet, or 15 free spins with an x8 multiplier for 137.35x the bet.

Blazing Mammoth XL: Slot Verdict

The first Blazing Mammoth was essentially a rework of Pear Fiction Studios’ well-known slot 9 Masks of Fire, and with so many of these games available now, the idea of yet another one didn’t exactly send excitement levels soaring. Even with an XL badge. No disrespect to the team behind Blazing Mammoth XL, but after playing a stack of similar titles, it’s fair to wonder what new ground is left to cover.

That said, Pear Fiction Studios seems well aware of the crowded field and has tried to inject fresh energy into Blazing Mammoth XL. Expanding reels, respins, multiplier mechanics, and a thunderous audiovisual package are all welcome touches that keep things feeling lively. The win multiplier in particular helps balance the experience, so it’s not quite as dependent on instant prizes as is often the case. Build up a strong multiplier and standard free spins wins can end up being unexpectedly rewarding.

Even so, it’s debatable whether the overall package truly earns the XL tag. If Pear Fiction had pushed beyond the max win of 5,000x the bet, the name might have felt more justified. And if you’re chasing huge potential in this style of scatter-driven instant prize slot, there are bigger alternatives out there. 11 Enchanting Relics, Emerald Gold, and Western Gold are three that come to mind as close comparisons.

Of course, bigger isn’t automatically better, and much like Push Gaming’s entry 10 Swords, Blazing Mammoth XL may not be the largest example of the format despite what the title suggests. Still, for players who enjoy instant scatter prize win slots, Pear Fiction Studios deserves credit for delivering one of the more engaging takes on the concept.