Blobsters Clusterbuster: Slot Overview

Just for a bit of fun to start things off, we typed “blobster” into Google to see what popped up. Oddly enough, there were a few results, including a video game called Blobster from a Swedish studio named Divine Robot. That title is more than ten years old now, so whether anyone at Divine Robot will ever take issue with casino developer Red Tiger using a similar word in Blobsters Clusterbuster—the studio’s third release in its Clusterbuster series—remains to be seen. Slots can be a weird world, so we’ll leave that one hanging for now. Either way, if cluster busting sounds like your thing, here’s what this game is all about.

As noted, Blobsters Clusterbuster is Red Tiger’s third entry in this line, arriving after Dragons Clusterbuster (a title that pretty much explains itself) and Good Luck Clusterbuster (the leprechaun-themed instalment). Based on the name alone, Blobsters Clusterbuster is easily the most ambiguous so far. In practice, it’s set in space and packed with cute, blobby, big-eyed alien critters. It’s also a cluster-pay grid slot, so there are a couple of Reactoonz-style vibes in the mix. The gameplay itself is quite different, though—most notably because it runs on a large 9×9 grid, with a 3×3 chunk in the centre called the Clusterbuster (or the UFO), which we’ll get to in a moment. Visually, the backdrop is a swirling cosmic scene of planets, gas clouds, and stars—space doing its thing while you chase those winning clusters.

You can play on pretty much any device and set your stake anywhere from 10 p/c to $/€10 per spin. Hit spin and the grid fills with symbols, with the objective being to land at least five matching symbols connected vertically or horizontally to form a winning cluster. Any winning cluster is removed, allowing new symbols to drop in from above, which can chain into additional wins on the same spin. All of this contributes to a maximum theoretical return of 95.7%.

The paytable in Blobsters Clusterbuster is made up of character symbols and card royals. Specifically, J-A are the lower-value symbols, while the blue, green, red, and yellow aliens are the premiums. A cluster of five pays 0.1 to 1.5 times the bet, while landing a 35+ cluster returns 20 to 250 times the bet.

Blobsters Clusterbuster: Slot Features

Blobsters Clusterbuster’s three modifier extras begin the game locked, so they must be unlocked before they’re able to activate. Whenever a winning cluster hits next to the 3×3 UFO in the middle of the screen, the neighbouring lights turn green. Once all lights on the UFO are green, a feature becomes unlocked.

After a feature is unlocked, Blobby—the little guy inside the UFO—triggers it on the next spin. The lights then reset and switch off, ready to be charged up again on later spins at the same stake. Once unlocked, features can randomly trigger on future spins, and if multiple modifiers are unlocked, more than one can go off on the same spin. There’s also a random moment where, if every light except one has turned green, Blobby might lose it and flip the final light on for you. The three modifiers, in order and with their effects, are:

• Upgrader – Blobby blasts random low-pay symbols that aren’t in clusters, upgrading them into random high-pay symbols. There can be 8-24 symbol upgrades in the normal game or 11-31 in Invader Spins.
• Frenzy – Blobby shoots 5 to 20 symbols on the screen, transforming them into wilds. Wilds substitute for all paying symbols.
• Supersize – Blobby shoots 2-4 random high-pay symbols, growing them to 3×3 Super Symbols. Super Symbols count as 9 regular-sized symbols.

Invader Spins

Once all three modifiers have been unlocked, from that point onward, any time all 8 lights are activated on the UFO, you receive 10 free Invader Spins. In free spins, modifiers are activated at an increased rate. During the round, Blobby’s UFO can also be activated up to three times whenever all lights are lit again. Each activation adds +3 free spins. On top of that, the first, second, and third activation apply a global multiplier of x3, x7, and x12, respectively, for the feature.

Blobsters Clusterbuster: Slot Verdict

Red Tiger clearly found a formula that resonates with a solid chunk of cluster-pay/grid-slot players, since it pushed the Clusterbuster series on to a third release. Compared with the earlier two, Blobsters Clusterbuster shares far more DNA with Dragons Clusterbuster than it does with Good Luck Clusterbuster. The leprechaun entry sat in the middle with its unusual setup of four wilds locked in the base game, then moving around with progressive win multipliers during free spins in a way reminiscent of Jammin’ Jars. Blobsters Clusterbuster, on the other hand, steers things back toward the original Dragon instalment.

That said, it isn’t just a reskin. The unlockable features in Blobsters Clusterbuster have been reworked: the first modifier upgrades symbols instead of removing them, and the third modifier introduces Super Symbols rather than the multipliers used previously. Here, multipliers enter the action during free spins when Blobby’s UFO is activated. It’s a bit of give-and-take, but the overall package in Blobsters Clusterbuster can deliver a higher top-end than Dragons Clusterbuster, with a maximum win of 7,517 times the bet—though it still falls well short of the leprechaun version if you’re chasing the biggest potential of the series.

A higher max win is usually a welcome upgrade in a sequel, but Blobsters Clusterbuster doesn’t dramatically push the series into brand-new technical territory compared to what came before. Still, it doesn’t damage the Clusterbuster reputation or drag it down either, and the bubbly alien theme—plus the gameplay tweaks—may be just enough to tempt fans back for another round of busting.