Skulls UP (Quickspin): Overview

Life as a pirate was the textbook definition of volatility, particularly when it came to fame and fortune. You either struck it rich or ended up with nothing. Despite the danger, brutality, and the constant threat of being hunted by foreign authorities, piracy appealed to a certain kind of (mostly) man. Fast money and instant renown were on the table—you just had to go and take them. Men of the time could stay at home and fade into routine, or sail the open seas, reach far-off places, and seize treasure. Is it a stretch to compare that to playing slots? Not really—let’s go with it. There must be something to the connection, because pirate-themed slots keep appearing, and the latest is Skulls UP from Quickspin.

Much like the recent Golden Glyph, Skulls UP has Quickspin tweaking a familiar format. While Golden Glyph ran on a 7×7 grid, Skulls UP uses reels that can expand when specific symbols land. Visually, it’s classic Quickspin, complete with the recognisable orange interface and a 5×3 reel setup. With the added mechanics, that layout can shift quickly, and we’ll explain exactly how in the features section. Pirate slots usually lean into one of two styles—light, cartoonish fun or darker, nastier pirates. Quickspin has gone with the former, delivering a bright mix of grinning pirates and adorable animals.

That cheerful presentation can be misleading, though. This is a highly volatile game (4.5/5), so expect stretches of quiet play punctuated by bursts of excitement, depending on how luck falls. Exactly how much excitement you can ultimately get is a bit contentious, and we’ll cover that when we close. As is typical for Quickspin, the RTP is solid at 96.26%, so there’s little to criticise there. Bets begin at 10 p/c per spin and can be pushed up to $/€100. In the base game, the standard 5×3 layout offers 243 win ways. Wins land by hitting at least three matching symbols adjacent from reel 1 on any row. Thanks to expanding rows, the win ways can climb to 1,944 when fully extended.

Symbol-wise, Quickspin largely sticks to the theme, aside from the ever-present 10 – A card royals at the lower end. At the top end, it’s full-on swashbuckling, featuring parrots, monkeys, an eye-patched pirate, and a female pirate captain. The captain pays the most, worth 20 times the stake for five of a kind. Overall, payouts are fairly average—neither particularly impressive nor disappointing. The paytable is completed by two separate wilds that can appear on reels 2, 3, and 4. There’s also a scatter symbol that teams up with the wilds to trigger the game’s standout action.

Skulls UP (Quickspin): Features

Anyone who enjoys a bit of mayhem will feel at home in Skulls UP, since the main mechanics are all about setting things alight. First up is Flaming Respins, which is tied to the Flaming Skull Wilds. The regular (non-flaming) Skull Wild acts like a normal wild, substituting for any standard paying symbol. When a Flaming Skull Wild lands, however, it activates the Flaming Respins feature.

Before the reels respin, every Flaming Skull Wild or Skull Wild adds one extra symbol position directly above where it lands. The three middle reels can grow to a maximum of 6 rows, and if there’s no space left above, the wilds simply remain where they are. During a respin, if a win is formed that includes a Flaming Skull Wild, its flame goes out and it becomes a standard Skull Wild. Respins keep repeating for as long as Flaming Skull Wilds are still present on the reels. All wins are accumulated, and once respins stop, the reels return to their normal height.

The scatter is represented by the treasure chest. Hit three of them to receive 8 Flaming Free Spins. The base-game rules carry into the free spins round, including Flaming Respins, with two extra twists. First, whenever a reel reaches 6 symbols tall, 2 additional free spins are awarded. Second, when Flaming Respins trigger during free spins, any increase in reel height becomes permanent for the remainder of the feature. In other words, reels don’t shrink back to normal after a Flaming Respin ends.

Skulls UP (Quickspin): Verdict

Skulls UP is a solid release from Quickspin with plenty of fun along the way. It’s always positive to see a studio experimenting, although even with the seafaring theme it doesn’t go quite as far as Golden Glyph did. The game benefits from the fact that features can start whenever a Flaming Wild Skull symbol appears, which helps keep the pace moving. Expanding rows aren’t a new concept, but Quickspin has blended them neatly with the pirate flavour here. As expected, the best moments arrive when multiple mechanics overlap—particularly in Flaming Free Spins, where expanded rows remain after a Flaming Respin.

The main downside is the maximum potential, which at 3,650 times the bet doesn’t exactly feel like a legendary haul rolling into port. It’s not terrible, but given the theme, the expanding-reels approach, and the high volatility, a bigger top end would have felt more fitting. Even so, players who enjoy pirate slots or expanding reels should find plenty to like in what Quickspin has delivered. Catch Skulls UP at the right time, and it can produce some genuinely rewarding sessions.