Holy Hand Grenade: Slot Overview

‘And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, ‘O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.’ And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large chulapas.’ Thus goes the tale of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch from the Book of Armaments, chapter 2, verses 9-21. If it reads a touch absurd, that’s because it springs from the fertile imagination of British surreal comedy troupe Monty Python, and it may (or may not) have helped spark the idea for a medieval online slot packed with jokes and detonations, dreamed up by Print Studios.

Before you venture into Holy Hand Grenade, make sure your tunic and cloak are properly fastened, because Print Studios has spun the dial back to ye olde Medieval times. The weird journey kicks off outside a solid stone building, then shifts indoors for the bonus round where bombs, fire, and goats(?) are seemingly everywhere… Until then, pause to enjoy a slice of the long-gone era before roads, suburbs, and malls flattened the natural world into compliance. A strong period-style soundtrack, peppered with goat bleats and shouted ‘Hallelujahs’, helps sell the fantasy.

Driven by a highly volatile math model, Holy Hand Grenade offers three return-to-player figures depending on your chosen setup. In standard play, with stakes from 10 p/c to $/€60 per spin, RTP is 96.45%. Switch on Scatter Boost to get more scatters at an extra 50% cost, and RTP becomes 96.64%. Alternatively, purchasing free spins for 95x the bet carries an RTP of 96.82%. As always, these are theoretical values, and Holy Hand Grenade can be played on any device.

The base game uses a 5-reel, 4-row layout, which grows to 6-reels, 5-rows during the free spins bonus. On the smaller grid there are 26 paylines, rising to 52 for free spins. Standard symbol wins pay left to right on adjacent reels, beginning from reel 1. A 5-of-a-kind line returns from 1 to 20 times the bet for the diamond, spade, heart, club, bag, candles, woman, man, and bishop icons, while rewards increase to 2x to 50x the bet for a 6 OAK when the sixth reel is added. Despite all the humour, chaos, and blasts, Holy Hand Grenade does not have a wild symbol.

Holy Hand Grenade: Slot Features

Instead, it comes equipped with Superspinners (a Holy Hand Grenade feature) and free spins.

SuperSpinners

SuperSpinners are the small markers positioned between the reels. At times a SuperSpinner shows a number, and at other times it appears blank. When a winning line passes through a numbered SuperSpinner, that value multiplies the win. If a win travels through multiple SuperSpinners, each one applies its multiplier to the payout one after the other.

Holy Hand Grenade Feature

Whenever a Holy Hand Grenade hits, it explodes after any win checks are completed and transforms a random number of connected adjacent symbols into the same random symbol. Once the symbols have changed, the game can run another win evaluation.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 goat-adorned scatter symbols grants players 7, 9, or 11 free spins, respectively. As noted, the free spins round expands the grid expands to 6×5, with 52 winlines. During free spins, when a Holy Hand Grenade symbol lands, it frames its spot for the full duration of the feature. If a Holy Hand Grenade impacts a framed position, an extra Holy Hand Grenade is triggered from that matching location. If a Holy Hand Grenade lands directly in a framed position, it causes a bigger explosion. Every Holy Hand Grenade that lands also adds +2 free spins.

Holy Hand Grenade: Slot Verdict

In typical Print Studios fashion, Holy Hand Grenade arrives from nowhere, feeling like a genuinely fresh creative swing. This is a developer that’s great at taking players somewhere unusual, showing them things they may not have encountered before, and pairing that with engaging mechanics. It isn’t always gentle, so those who enjoy a tougher ride may be the best fit. Still, Holy Hand Grenade’s distinctive entertainment factor makes it worth a spin whether you like things relaxed or more intense.

With weapons, the rule is usually that more and bigger is better, and that idea carries straight into Holy Hand Grenade’s bonus round. Free spins, for one, can be massively hit-or-miss. During testing, a couple of underwhelming bonus buys in a row followed by a 1500x+ return showed just how swingy the feature can be. The deciding factor was the Holy Hand Grenade symbol. Getting several onto the grid early to create framed positions could set up satisfying snowball-style chain blasts later on, while also stacking extra free spins. Snowball explosions, did we say? When Holy Hand Grenade starts dropping explosives across the screen, the grid lights up like a carpet-bombing run. Horrific in reality, but a lot of fun when it happens in Holy Hand Grenade. Get those destructive chain reactions rolling, and the game can deliver wins up to 20,000x the bet.

Honestly, when getting out of bed this morning, who would’ve guessed a slot review involving ‘holy hand grenades’ would make the list? Then again, Holy Hand Grenade comes from the same team that gave us slots about taters, golems, and pachinko, so oddball experiences and discovering things you didn’t know existed is basically the Print Studios blueprint at this point. Long may it continue, because iGaming is better off with designers like Print Studios who won’t bend to tradition, convention, or the crowd.