Alice Time Rift

Alice Time Rift: Slot Overview

Lewis Carroll's classic novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been blowing minds since it was published in 1865, but the fact that it has become such a popular theme in online slots is perhaps one of the most mind-blowing of all. Relax Gaming's Plunderland and Big Time Gaming's White Rabbit Megaways are two playable examples that immerse gamblers in the Wonderland experience, while the game on review here does something a little different. Titled Alice Time Rift, its Swedish maker Thunderkick has modernised the tale, updating the visuals and vibe, while at the same time making mechanical updates to features based on sticky respins and an expanding pay anywhere symbol during free spins, aka the 'book of' special.

There are no tea parties, mushrooms, castles, or fantasy forests in this tale. Instead, the Alice story has had a modernising update, and now takes place in a gritty urban downtown space, where the central characters have been transformed. The Cheshire Cat looks like Arcane's impulsively volatile Jinx, the Mad Hatter has had a steampunk gangster makeover, the Queen of Hearts could be the ruler of an alien planet, while Alice is a thoroughly modern heroine, all bared washboard abs and all. When free spins are active, the time rifting occurs, in what is an intriguingly reinterpreted version of such a well-known topic, in slots and out.

Scrolling up and down in the bet section is where players can choose a stake from a low of $/€0.10 to a high of $/€100 per base game round. Thunderkick has set the volatility to a high setting, and the game has a single RTP of 94.1%. Played on a 5x3 matrix, there are 10 paylines awarding wins when matching symbols land in adjacent reels from the leftmost side, or in any reels when made up of the Selected symbol.

The regular pay symbols are divided into 10-A playing card royals, and five cleverly updated character symbols from the story, including Alice as the most valuable. Hitting 5 matching symbols awards 2.5x-3x the bet, or 10x-50x is paid when five matching character symbols create a win. Time Rift symbols also pay 50x if five of them create a winning line.

Alice Time Rift: Slot Features

Bursting from the rift is the Time Rift symbol, sticky respins, free spins with a special Selected symbol, Bet+ and feature buys.

Time Rift Symbol

The Time Rift symbol is both wild and scatter. Sticky Respins trigger when Time Rift symbols are part of a payline win, or when a Time Rift symbol is present, and Selected symbols form an Expanding win in the bonus round.

Sticky Respins

When Sticky Respins trigger, a respin is awarded. During the respin, winning symbols and any Time Rift symbols are locked in place while the rest respin. After each respin, any new Time Rift symbols or symbols in a new or increased payline win also become locked. Sticky Respins continue as long as Time Rift symbols hit or a payline win is created or increased. During the bonus round, Selected symbols are also locked after each respin, and Sticky Respins continue when new Selected symbols land.

Bonus Game

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers (or retriggers during the bonus round) 8, 10, or 12 free spins, respectively. For free spins, one symbol is randomly chosen to be the Selected symbol. When triggered by 3 scatters, any symbol can be chosen; with 4 scatters, only character symbols may be chosen, or with 5 scatters, the chosen symbol will be Alice.

Expanding Wins may occur only in the bonus game. An Expanding win is awarded when a Selected symbol lands on 3 or more reels. Time Rift symbols substitute for Selected symbols for Expanding win evaluations and reel expansion. At the end of each free spin, any reel with a Selected symbol expands to cover the whole reel before Expanding wins are calculated, ignoring any gaps between them. If 2 or 3 Selected symbols land on the same reel, an x2 or x3 multiplier appears for that reel (max x3), which applies to Expanding wins. If Sticky Respins occur, at the end of the sequence, all Time Rift symbols transform into the Selected symbol before the payout is calculated.

Bet+ & Feature Buys

The two Bet+ options are Bonus Boost at 1.5x or Bonus Boost Plus at 2.5x, which make each spin 2x or 5x more likely to trigger the bonus game, respectively. The bonus buy options are free spins triggered by 3+, 4+, or 5 scatters costing 100x, 200x, and 500x the stake, respectively.

Alice Time Rift: Slot Verdict

Thunderkick has a talent for retelling classic tales through high-powered, punchy slots such as Midas Golden Touch, Sword of Arthur, and Dionysus Golden Feast. Now, it's turned its focus on the Alice in Wonderland story, bringing it kicking and screaming into the modern era. What's interesting is the way Thunderkick has kept one finger in the old while plunging one in the new when making Alice Time Rift, meaning players can expect to find hints of the past mixed in with visions of the future, or the present at least. In this instance, we've got a 'book of' expanding mechanic alongside sticky respins and a spot of multiplying.

Taken from a high view, Alice Time Rift delivers classic 'book of' action, picking a special symbol and expanding it in free spins. Zoom in closer, and details emerge that set Alice Time Rift apart from classics in the genre, such as Book of Dead, let's say. Pay symbols for one are significantly less in this game, so chasing after that one full screen of premium symbols isn't as all or nothing as it can be elsewhere. In fact, a full screen of Alice symbols is worth a 'mere' 500x by comparison. Tipping the scales the other way, expanding Alice symbols could land quite frequently, on up to four reels at least, and there is a chance of bringing multipliers to the tea party if two or more Selected symbols land on the same reel. It is possible to win 7,500x from Alice Time Rift, which is higher than the regular 'book' figure. Sticky respins did seem a little out of place to start with, but they do add variety to the base game, and may be good for bringing Time Rift symbols or Selected symbols to the reels in free spins.

In Alice Time Rift, Thunderkick has torn away the whimsy of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and replaced it with a sleek Steampunk edge. The theme shake-up makes Alice feel more like a high-stakes heist in time than a trip down a rabbit hole, creating an environment that is part old and new. The same goes for the gameplay, which brings together familiar, some may say overdone, features, with several twists to freshen up the experience. All in all, the RTP is the weakest point here, so if you can see past that, Alice Time Rift takes the puzzling nature of past, present, and future and shows how we can experience multiple phases at the same time in an entertaining 'book of' variant.