Fire In The Hole 3: Slot Overview

Mining, it’s something a huge number of casino game makers have had a go at, with varying degrees of success and thematic genericism. One studio that has really made the subterranean realms its own is software provider Nolimit City. This the studio has done via some of the most original, durably designed mining slots on the market, such as Dead Canary and Misery Mining. The team has uncovered further success in its Fire In The Hole series of slots, starting in 2021 with Fire In The Hole xBomb and continuing here in Fire In The Hole 3.

Brrr, it’s a chilly one this time, and the reason why Fire In The Hole 3 looks cold is because so much time has passed since the dwarf character last showed up that the entrance to his mine has apparently frozen shut, or so the story goes. There are now two dwarves to contend with this time – the regular orange-bearded chap and an evil one. Or is it the same guy driven to Gollum levels of split personality after being locked away underground with nothing but a pickaxe and whiskey for company? Despite the new character and more ice, Fire In The Hole 3 remains every bit the clanking, chugging-tuned, heavy-duty beast of a mining machine its forebears were.

Each spin on the 6-reel grid starts with 3 active rows, and each collapse adds an extra row up to a maximum of 6. A collapse is triggered by a winning combination, an xBomb exploding, the Wild Mining feature activating, or the xHole triggering. Ways to win max out at 46,656. Winning symbols pay and are removed before triggering the next collapse, causing symbols to fall downwards to fill empty spaces. Fire In The Hole 3 is an extremely volatile slot (rated 10 out of 10) with a maximum RTP of 96.05% whilst bets range from $/€0.20 to $/€100 per spin.

Its pay symbols are 10-A card ranks, a cooked bird, a lamp, boots, a wheelbarrow full of gold, and a bottle. Six-of-a-kind winning combinations pay 1-1.5 times the bet when made of royals or 1.75-7.5 times the bet for matching premium symbols.

Fire In The Hole 3: Slot Features

Deep breathe, players, as there is a lot to cover in this section, from base game features, Lucky Wagon Spins, and a minecart brimming with betting options.

xBomb Wild Multiplier

xBomb Wilds substitute for any symbols except scatters. They explode before the next collapse (except when Wild Mining is triggered), removing adjacent symbols except scatters, and increasing the win multiplier by its value for the next collapse.

Wild Mining

Wild Mining is triggered in the main game when 3 to 6 matching symbols align horizontally or vertically, and there are no wins, active xHoles, or active xBomb Wilds. The 3, 4, 5, or 6 symbols are removed, creating 1, 2, 3, or 4 wilds, respectively, in the middle positions. All positions above the bar, except scatters and Ice Buried symbols, explode, causing a collapse. Ice Buried symbols get revealed and become active with the collapse.

Buried Features

In the main game, Ice symbols may contain wilds, xSplits, Win Multiplier, xHole, scatters, or a Max symbol. Feature symbols in ice are inactive till the ice block they’re in is removed by an exploding xBomb Wild. Symbols (except win multipliers) can also be revealed by xSplit splits. Empty Ice blocks and Ice blocks containing win multipliers affected by a split are removed if there is a collapse. Win multiplier values range from x2 to x100. A Max symbol is a 2×2 symbol in Ice. Clear all ice from it, and the max win is awarded.

xHole

The xHole activates when it appears on the reel, drawing in regular paying symbols, then scattering them back to random positions with split symbols of size 1 to 3. The xHole then vanishes, causing a collapse. Winning symbols are paid and are removed before an xHole triggers, and landing multiple xHoles causes the symbol size to increase.

xSplit

An xSplit symbol splits all other symbols on its reel, doubling them, except for scatters, xSplit, or xHoles. Once all xSplits have activated, they transform into regular symbols. Ice blocks affected by a split are removed if there is a collapse.

Lucky Wagon Spins

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers Lucky Wagon Spins with 2, 3, or 4 rows, respectively, opened. A total of 3 spins are awarded, which reset back to 3 each time a Coin lands in the reel area. Hitting 6 scatters in the base game triggers Lucky Wagon Spins with a Persistent Dwarf on the first spin and 4 rows open. xHole, Dynamite, and Persistent Dynamites can be triggered from Ice blocks. During the feature, the top row reveals enhancers for each spin, which are activated when a Coin lands on the reel below an enhancer:

• Coin values – sets the value of the Coin.
• Multipliers – multiply the value of Coins, Persistent Dwarf and the value of Persistent Dynamite on the reel below.
• Dynamite – adds the Dynamite count to the triggering Coin, then throws as many Dynamites as its count on reel positions. Depending on what it lands on, Dynamite removes Ice blocks, doubles Coin values, activates Chests, reveals symbols from Ice containing a symbol, doubles the Coin value of Dynamite/Persistent Dynamite, and doubles the Coin value of a Persistent Dwarf.
• Persistent Dynamite – drops a number of Dynamites equal to its count on each spin.
• Persistent Dwarf – collects all values in the reel area on each spin.
• Evil Dwarf – triggers a Golden Spin, which reactivates all Coins in the reel area. Coins trigger their respective enhancers, boosting their existing values.
• xHole – triggers 3 Frozen Wagon Spins where the top enhancer row only contains Coins. All existing Coins in the reel area collect the Coin values from enhancers. xHole transforms into a 1x Coin, and after Frozen Wagon Spins, Lucky Wagon Spins resume from a count of 3.
• Collect Chests – the bottom row of Collect Chests can be activated by Dynamites. When activated, Collect Chests collect the values on the reel above them on every spin. When the reel area is full, normal Coins with values are removed, adding their values to the bottom Coins of their reels.

Nolimit Boosters and Buys

Booster 1 costs 2x the bet and guarantees a scatter on the second reel, while Booster 2 costs 5x the bet to guarantee at least 3 scatters in Ice blocks. For 5 times the bet, Booster 3 activates all 6 rows. At 7,000x the bet, players can guarantee to land the Max win symbol in an Ice block (Gamble is not available). Win at least 5x in the base game, and players can gamble the amount for a chance to win Lucky Wagon Spins. The gamble feature can be disabled.

Players can buy Lucky Wagon Spins triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters for 60x, 200x, or 500x, respectively or a lucky draw for 240x. It doesn’t stop there, though. It is also possible to buy Lucky Wagon Spins triggered by 6 scatters for 4,000x, or Lucky Wagon Spins triggered by 3 scatters and a guaranteed Evil Dwarf on each spin for 700x, or a lucky draw of the two for 2,350x the bet.

Fire In The Hole 3: Slot Verdict

By the time you read all that, the ice over the dwarf’s mine will have melted, and he’s free to leave. But, you get the impression the guy would prefer to keep tapping away in a mine, attempting to reveal riches rather than being above ground, so being trapped is a convenient excuse to just stay there. You also get the impression that Nolimit City threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Fire In The Hole 3. The previous two slots were feature-rich games already, but this one takes everything to the next level. This includes winning potential, which now tips the scales at 70,000x, a relatively cautious increase since the first slot was released, perhaps, but the win dial continues to creep upwards.

Not so the feature list, which has exploded, and while the core gameplay has remained relatively consistent, the add-ons have been significantly added on, especially the optional betting methods. There is something for practically all gambling preferences here, from vanilla wagering to boosters, buys, and more. Smothering players with betting options is a path Nolimit City has been on for a while, and Fire In The Hole 3 is a classic example. Then again, perhaps the feeling there were a lot of ways to bet was exacerbated by the way the game has so many features in general. Long-time stalwarts like xSplits or xBombs are joined by the xHole, and Ice blocks contain more variety than dirt symbols. To nutshell the situation, Fire In The Hole 3 just has a whole lot more to unearth than its predecessors ever did.

That might not automatically make Fire In The Hole 3 a better game, but it’s definitely a fuller one and easily as thrilling as before, if not more so. The base game has bulked up, the bonus round fleshed out, there are more ways to gamble than ever, the max win has ticked upwards, and as a corollary, fans of Nolimit City’s juggernaut mining slots should be all over this.