Carnival Queen 2: Slot Overview

It must have been quite the celebration, because developer Thunderkick left a six-year gap between releasing Carnival Queen in 2019 and rolling out the sequel, Carnival Queen 2. Sure, the years in between included Covid and social distancing, but that’s still a long break between parties. Either way, the wait is over, and Carnival Queen 2 kicks off a street-party vibe with a variable gaming grid, firework wilds, and a whole lot more ways to win, building on the original’s mix of cascades, a climbing multiplier, and free spins.

Even with the carnival theme, the first game sometimes felt like you were watching the action from within the crowd rather than being part of it. In Carnival Queen 2, the players become the spectacle, lining up or dancing through the street while onlookers watch from the buildings on both sides and fireworks burst above. If the atmosphere isn’t fully landing, resizing the window or switching to portrait mode can help sell the party feel. It may not hit full Rio Carnival intensity, but it definitely stays on the festive side.

While the original ran on a fixed 6×4 layout, Carnival Queen 2 plays out on a dynamic 6-reel grid, with up to 7 symbols able to land on each reel. The default setup offers 5,040 ways to win, created by reels land 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 symbols in random order. When it comes to staking, players can bet 10 c to $/€100 on a highly volatile game, and the RTP is set at 94.18%, which sits a little below the return in the first title.

Card ranks in a carnival-style font from 9-A make up the lower-paying symbols, with four characters plus a crown covering the premium end. Royal combinations return up to 1x to 1.5x the bet, while a 6 OAK premium hit pays 2x to 10x their stake. Wins must start from the leftmost reel, and any winning symbols are cleared and replaced via the avalanche mechanic, continuing until no further wins form.

Carnival Queen 2: Slot Features

As you move through Carnival Queen 2’s parade route, you’ll run into mechanics like exploding wild symbols, an unlimited instant multiplier, a bonus game, Bet+ options, and feature buys.

Exploding Wild Symbol

The wild replaces every symbol except the scatter. It always explodes (after any wins, if present), destroying all symbols on its reel and one random symbol on each of the other reels, unless those positions are blocked by winning or protected symbols. The reel containing the exploding wild increases its height by +1 up to 7, which also increasing the ways to win up to 117,649. A maximum of 2 wilds can land.

Instant Multiplier

The multiplier begins at a starting value of x1, and every avalanche increases it by +1. It boosts wins and persists throughout cascades, but resets once the base game spin is complete. There’s no cap on the multiplier’s potential value.

Bonus Game

Landing 3 scatters activates 12 free spins, and each extra scatter adds 4 more spins. Free spins begin using the current multiplier, which does not reset until the feature finishes. During the bonus, 2 scatters award +3 free spins, plus 2 additional spins for every extra scatter beyond that.

Bet+ & Feature Buy

The Bet+ menu includes four stake modifiers. Choose 1.5x or 3x the bet for Bonus Boost or Bonus Boost Plus, making the bonus game 2 or 5 times more likely to trigger per spin, respectively. Bonus Boost Extreme is priced at 10x the bet and triggers the bonus game once every 10 spins on average, while Firework Frenzy costs 5x the bet and guarantees one wild on the initial drop. Via the feature buy, players can start free spins for 100x the bet or purchase the bonus game with a minimum of 10,000 ways for 175x the bet.

Carnival Queen 2: Slot Verdict

Thunderkick is among the bigger studios that still hasn’t fully embraced the Megaways craze. And honestly, there’s little reason to, when a game like Carnival Queen 2 can deliver a very similar experience without paying for a license just to slap the attention-grabbing word “Megaways” into the title. It does have its own twist, since the game starts at a minimum of 5,040 ways to win, but anyone familiar with Megaways slots will recognize the overall similarities quickly.

As a follow-up, Carnival Queen 2 gets most things right, aside from the RTP reduction—though around 94% is now very much in Thunderkick’s usual return-to-player range. Visually, it feels like it goes harder on the party theme than the original, even if the soundtrack could have been more upbeat to really push the celebration. The gameplay is clearly upgraded, though you could argue it might have gone even further. Still, it’s hard to complain about the return of the rising multiplier that stays active in free spins, and the wild “rocket” effect is a solid evolution of the earlier row- and reel-destroying wilds. Notably, the max win isn’t dramatically higher than Carnival Queen’s, sitting at 25,000x the bet, which raises questions about how attainable the first game’s top prize really was. It also makes you wonder how realistic Carnival Queen 2’s max win is, too.

Overall, most of the differences between Carnival Queen and the sequel are improvements. That said, the Megaways-style feel is a bit unexpected, and some players may have hoped for an even bigger, more explosive sequel considering how long it took to arrive.