Aloha! Cluster Pays Free Play in Demo Mode by NetEnt

Aloha! Cluster Pays Review

Aloha! Cluster Pays (or simply just Aloha) is a popular slot machine created by NetEnt. Unlike the majority of slot machines, Aloha doesn’t have classic winlines. The wins depend on how many of the same symbols are clustered together instead. This game mechanics, combined with two interesting special features and colorful imagery, makes playing the Aloha slot machine a very enjoyable experience.

Theme, graphics and animations

Everybody should be able to guess the theme of this game just by looking at its name. Yes, it’s related to Hawaii and Hawaiian culture. Almost all of the symbols (with the exception of the wild symbol) have something to do with Hawaii, ranging from flowers, pineapples, coconuts and shells all the way to colorful totems – the highest paying symbols in the game.

The game’s graphics and sounds stay true to its theme. Bright colors, smooth animations and great choice of music and sound effects really make Aloha! Cluster Pays a fun video slot game to play.

Aloha! Cluster Pays gameplay and special features

Aloha! Cluster Pays features six reels with five symbols each, but there are no winlines. Winning combinations are created by creating clusters of the same symbols on the reels, with the minimum number of symbols needed to win something being nine.

The Aloha slot machine wouldn’t be the same and nearly as enjoyable without its two special features:

• Sticky Win Re-Spins
• Free Spins

Sticky Win Re-Spins

Sticky Win Re-Spins is a feature you will encounter quite often when playing Aloha! Cluster Pays. It can be randomly triggered after creating any winning combination.

This feature locks in the winning symbols and spins the rest of the reels again. If new symbols are added to the winning combination, it happens again. This keeps happening until no new symbols are added to the winning combination during a re-spin, which marks the end of the feature and the game round itself.

Take a look at the video below to see what the Sticky Win Re-Spins feature looks like in the game itself.

Aloha! Cluster Pays Free Spins

To launch free spins, you must get at least three Free Spins symbols anywhere on the reels. You get nine free spins for three of these symbols, as well as one more for each additional symbol, all the way up to 12 free spins for six Free Spins symbol.

The free spins in Aloha can be retriggered (1 spin for 3 symbols, 2 spins for 4 symbols, 3 spins for 5 symbols, 4 spins for 6 symbols). You are only awarded a small number of additional spins, but those are extremely valuable, because of a special characteristic of the free spins feature.

The Free Spins feature in Aloha! Cluster Pays doesn’t just give you a certain number of free spins. First couple of spins are just like the spins during the regular gameplay, but then things start getting more interesting:

• After two spins, all flower symbols are removed from the reels.
• After four spins, all shell symbols are removed from the reels.
• After six spins, all coconut symbols are removed from the reels.
• After eight spins, all pineapple symbols are removed from the reels.

So, there are only the premium totem symbols left on the reels after eight spins, which is precisely why the few extra spins you can earn thanks to retriggers can be extremely valuable. Without the worse-paying symbols "blocking the way", the premium symbols can form big clusters that can award you with really nice wins.

And one more thing… The game designers at NetEnt probably didn’t want the players to exit the Free Spin feature with a frown on their faces, which might be why they decided to include one extra feature. If your last free spin ends up without a win, you’ll get one more spin. This keeps happening until you actually hit something, but it shouldn’t take too long. With only three types of symbols remaining on the reels, you usually hit at least something in the last spin.

Aloha! Cluster Pays RTP and volatility

The RTP of this video slot is 96.42%, which makes it a rather average game in terms of the payout ratio, or possibly a bit better than the average which is somewhere around the 96% mark according to most sources.

When it comes to the frequency of winning spins and the sizes of individual spins, I consider Aloha! Cluster Pays to have a low to medium volatility (variance). Although the game can hit quite big, the individual wins generally stay smaller and only get really big thanks to the Aloha’s special features.

Conclusion

Aloha! Cluster Pays is another great NetEnt video slot game, which is mostly popular for its great graphics, animations, music and the overall feel, at least in my opinion. That being said, the game’s special features make Aloha really thrilling and enjoyable to play. The Free Spin feature has a great special element to it, thanks to which you always win at least something after triggering it.

To get a better idea about the game, feel free to play Aloha! Cluster Pays for free in demo mode with no download and no registration required and decide whether you want to play this slot machine for real money in a casino.