Max Elements: Slot Overview

Editor’s note: Max Elements is still under development, and both features and audiovisuals may change. If necessary, we plan on revisiting Max Elements once it gets a full release.

Software provider Yggdrasil Gaming has joined forces with online streaming site CasinoGrounds, combining their ideas to appeal to slot fans. The result is Max Elements, a game built around Gigablox symbols and plenty of additional mechanics. The partnership has paired those oversized icons with a scatter-paying format, something we also encountered not long ago when reviewing Yggdrasil’s Lucky Apocalypse. And while leprechauns come with their own brand of magic, Max Elements has its own spellcaster at the center, capable of pulling off clever moves with Feature Runes, Mystery symbols, and various other effects.

The action takes place in a charming pocket of woodland. The backdrop features attractive stone details, Max the Elemental Wizard looks like a friendly guide, and the soundtrack blends calm vibes with a hint of enchantment. Visually it’s bright and inviting, and with nods to titles like Water Blox and Monster Blox, everything is in place for a properly mystical ride. Hopefully, it delivers.

Max casts his spells across a 5×6 gaming grid, where a win is formed when 8 or more matching pay symbols appear anywhere. Every hit sets off an avalanche sequence, giving spins the potential to pay more than once. With high volatility in play, there are two RTP configurations available, with the best option coming in at 96%. That same RTP figure seems to apply across standard play, wagering 10 c to $/€20 per spin, purchasing free spins, or using the Golden Bet (covered later).

On the reels, Max Elements uses low-paying clouds, leaves, water, and fire symbols, a golden symbol, higher-paying versions of clouds, leaves, water, and fire, and then Max himself. Scatter wins of 8-9 OAK pay 0.1 to 0.5 times the bet, rising to 5x to 100x for a 25+ OAK result. As is typical for scatter pay slots, there are no wilds, though the game compensates with a range of special symbols.

Max Elements: Slot Features

Max Elements comes with a hefty feature set, such as avalanche payouts, Gigablox, Feature Runes, Mystery Stones, free spins, super free spins, and bonus buys.

Summon Gigablox

Gigablox are clusters of 1×1 symbols combined into a larger 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, or 5×5 symbol. For payout checks, they count as the total number of 1×1 symbols that make them up. In both the base game and free spins, after a win lands but before the avalanche triggers, there is a chance to summon a Gigablox. A random Gigablox can drop in, removing symbols along its route. It comes to rest once it’s fully visible and there are no empty spaces beneath it.

Feature Runes

The game includes four Feature Rune modifiers that trigger right before they vanish and set off an avalanche:

• Transform Rune – a landed Transform Rune randomly selects 1, 2, or 3 low-pay symbol types and transforms them into a single type of high-pay symbol. Only 1 Transform Rune can land at once, and there is a chance the low-paying symbols transform into Mystery Stones.
• Delete Rune – after a Delete Rune lands, all regular pay symbol types that have less than 6 instances on the reels are deleted. Only 1 Delete Rune can land at once.
• Multiply Rune – a landed Multiplier Rune increases the Global Multiplier. The 2×2 Gigablox variant multiplies the multiplier by 3. The 1×1 variant multiplies the multiplier by 2. The Multiply Rune cannot land when the Global Multiplier is less than x2.
• Add Rune – a landed Add Rune adds a random value to the Global Multiplier. The 2×2 Gigablox variant adds 5 to 100 to the multiplier. The 1×1 variant adds 1-4 to the multiplier.

Mystery Stone

Mystery Stones may appear in the base game and the bonus round in either 1×1 size or as Gigablox. Whenever an avalanche happens, the Mystery Stones transform into a random pay symbol. Mystery Stones persist throughout an avalanche chain. If Mystery Stones are already present on the reels, only 1×1 Mystery Stone symbols are able to land.

Free Spins & Super Free Spins

Hitting 3 scatter symbols awards 6 free spins. Players then choose between Mystery Stone Free Spins, which guarantees at least one 2×2 or larger Mystery Stone symbol on every spin, or Runic Free Spins, which ensures at least one Feature Rune each spin. A Super Scatter can land during free spins; when it does, the feature upgrades to super free spins and awards +2 free spins. In Super free spins, each spin includes at least one 2×2 or larger Mystery Stone and at least one Feature Spin. During free spins and super free spins, a +1 symbol can also land, with each one granting an extra free spin.

Multiplier

In the base game, the multiplier can be increased only by Feature Runes, and the multiplier resets to 1 at the end of an avalanche session. In free spins, the multiplier persists till the round ends. In addition, the multiplier increases by +1 on each avalanche. Furthermore, after reaching x10, each avalanche adds +2 per win; after reaching x30, each avalanche adds +3 per win; after reaching x60, each avalanche adds +4 per win; after reaching x100, each avalanche adds +5 per win. Reaching each multiplier threshold also awards +1 free spin.

Bonus Buy and Golden Bet

Players can purchase standard free spins for 100x the bet or super free spins for 300x the bet. The Golden Bet offers 2 betting choices: Star Spins boost the odds of triggering free spins for 3x the bet, while Runic Spins guarantee at least one Mystery Stone and Feature Rune per spin for 6x the bet. Runic Spins also grants the Global Multiplier progress on each avalanche in the base game.

Max Elements: Slot Verdict

Lucky Apocalypse got a mention earlier, and at first glance Gigablox and scatter pays aren’t mechanics that naturally depend on one another. In Max Elements, though, the developer blends them smoothly, arguably with even better results than the leprechaun-themed slot managed. There are several factors behind that. For one, the captivating setting—evoking those Peter & Sons titles referenced above, along with NetEnt’s classic Secret of the Stones—does a great job of drawing players in. From there, a notably generous feature lineup reinforces the game’s magical identity.

Surprisingly, the Mystery symbols ended up being one of the highlights. Often, Mystery symbols simply reveal a result and then disappear, but that’s not the case here: they can remain on the grid, transforming again and again until the avalanche chain finally stops. That persistence pairs nicely with the climbing multiplier, and overall Max Elements does a strong job of making its mechanics feel connected. There are plenty of different effects at work as well, each adding something beneficial to the mix. Sessions can be rough at times, yet you could feel the high volatility swing in and set the features in motion. The multiplier, for instance, once it pushed beyond x100, had the potential to be brutal. Also, with CasinoGrounds involved, it’s less shocking to see powerful—and fairly expensive—ante-style options than it might have been in a purely Yggdrasil release.

Overall, Max Elements looks like a successful collaboration between Yggdrasil Gaming and CasinoGrounds. With features that link together neatly and a win cap of 25,000x, Max the Elemental Wizard has effectively fused Gigablox and scatter pays into a compelling set of winning tricks.