Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase: Slot Overview

With Boomerang‘s second entry in the Lightning Chase series, the developer swaps the swords-and-spells vibe of Lady Merlin for a humid, perilous jungle setting. As with the debut title, Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase plays with the usual adventure tropes, following two furry explorers hunting down priceless relics destined for display in a British museum. On the journey, players can tap into a Lightning Chase Hold and Respin mechanic, along with free spins that introduce extra wilds.

As an aside, the real British Museum has faced criticism in the past regarding certain pieces in its collection. Some argue various treasures should be returned to the places they were ‘liberated’ from. It’s easy to imagine any museum taking deliveries from this story’s duo—Tyrus Tiggs and Jack Macaque—could be inviting trouble too. The jungle backdrop leans slightly cretaceous, packed with vines, creeper-covered trees, smoking volcanoes, and rolling mist. You can almost picture a dinosaur peeking around the 5-reel, 4-row grid to see what’s going on.

Temple Frenzy feels far more lively than Lady Merlin, and better still, Boomerang has ditched the Boom+ mechanic from the earlier game. In case you missed it, that system required players to pay extra to unlock features such as free spins. Here, everyone chooses from a single betting range, 25 p/c – $/€14, with full access to all features included. It also results in one set RTP value of 95.91%, while volatility is listed as medium.

Wins are formed when matching symbols land next to each other from left to right, connecting horizontally or diagonally. This is called Connecta Ways and it delivers 178 ways to win. The lower-paying symbols are artefacts—chalices, cups, daggers, and bracelets—paying up to 2x the bet for five of a kind. Higher-value icons feature jungle life, including mosquitos, carnivorous plants, a purple frog, a yellow frog, and Jack Macaque, paying 4 to 8 times the stake for five of a kind. Tyrus Tiggs acts as the wild, appearing on the middle three reels and substituting for any paying symbol. There are also a couple of additional special symbols, explained below.

Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase: Slot Features

Temple Frenzy offers two main routes to potentially landing a sizeable payout – The Lightning Chase Hold & Respin feature, plus a free spins round that comes with extra wilds.

The Tiki mask style symbols are the gateway to the hold & respin bonus round. When 6 or more drop in on the same spin, players receive 3 respins. The masks that triggered the feature stay held in position while the remaining spaces continue to spin. Each time additional mask symbols land, the respins count is reset back to 3. In terms of prizes, the prize values attached to mask symbols range from 1 and 888 times the total bet. If a golden collect symbol lands during the feature, all visible mask values are immediately awarded, after which the masks are removed from the grid. In this case, the counter resets as well, giving more opportunities to build up further mask symbols.

After that comes the free spins feature, activated when 3 or more scatter symbols appear on the middle reels, awarding 12 free spins – and it can be retriggered with no limit. During this special round, an additional wild symbol is added to reels 2, 3, or 4 on every free spin, boosting the likelihood of them landing stacked. In total, players can have up to an extra 36 wilds cycling onto the reels this way. The Lightning Chase Hold & Respin feature can still be triggered while in free spins.

On top of being triggered by scatter symbols, free spins may also be granted randomly after any paid spin.

Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase: Slot Verdict

In a number of respects, Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase improves on Lady Merlin, and oddly enough, that’s less about what Boomerang introduced and more about what they removed. The arguably questionable Boom+ option from the first game is thankfully gone, meaning anyone who plays Temple Frenzy has a fair shot at reaching its max win. What remains is a bright, action-packed jungle adventure that should suit players who enjoy the hold & respin trend, which shows no sign of fading.

At the time this was reviewed, the market was overflowing with this type of mechanic, and as expected, some studios execute it far better than others. On one side you’ve got names like Nolimit City and Relax Gaming making waves, while plenty of hold & win copycats fill out the lower end. No need to single anyone out. Temple Frenzy lands somewhere in the middle, without bringing anything especially fresh to the category. Where it does stand out is that its money symbols can carry unusually large values—up to 888x each. You shouldn’t expect to see prizes that high regularly, but the potential is there for a pleasant shock.

As noted, losing Boom+ isn’t much of a sacrifice. Having betting options is fine, but locking away free spins and the maximum potential unless you pay extra can feel a bit misleading. That’s not an issue in Temple Frenzy, where every player spins with the same max win of 17,760 times their stake. The less exciting change is the removal of the wild multiplier, though it arguably makes sense as a trade-off for keeping things equal for everyone, not only high rollers willing to ante up.

The ceiling may not be quite as jaw-dropping as Lady Merlin, but Temple Frenzy is the stronger game in almost every other way. It’s loud and colourful enough to keep casual hold & win fans entertained, although players looking for a bigger punch might find it not quite frenzied enough.