This is the time when all major iGaming industry software providers are looking for unique game mechanics that will make them stand out from the crowd. BTG has its Megaways and Megaclusters, and there are plenty of other trademark game mechanics you came across at a certain point, including Nobleways, Foxify, Megaclusters, Hyperspins, and Megaquads.

Nolimit City has not one, but four different game mechanics. In 2018, the Hot Nudge video slot was introduced, with innovative xNudge mechanics. The year 2019 was reserved for Pixies vs Pirates, combining both xNudge and xWays mechanics. As for the xPays mechanics, it came in 2020 with Monkey’s Gold xPays. In 2021, the good people of Nolimit City decided to test their xBomb mechanics with Fire in the Hole xBomb.

Now, we will try to explain all four of these mechanics and put in some examples directly from the games that operate on either xBomb, xNudge, xPays, or xWays game mechanics.

The xNudge Mechanics Start With Hot Nudge

The Hot Nudge video slot was the first game ever to offer the xNudge mechanics. Up until now, there are more than 12 xNudge video slots, but some of them also operate on other mechanics. Try out xNudge in Tombstone, Pixies vs Pirates, Dragon Tribe, Barbarian Fury, Gaelic Gold, Harlequin Carnival, Deadwood, Warrior Graveyard, East Coast vs West Coast, Bushido Ways, and El Paso Gunfight.

Basically, in the xNudge feature, the Wild is stacked and covers the entire reel. If the Wild appears only partially on reels, it will nudge and cover the entire reel. As he nudges, the win multiplier attached to the Wild usually goes up by 1x with each nudge.

How big the win multiplier gets, usually depends on the size of the reel grid. For example, in El Paso Gunfight, the Marshall Wild appears on the central reels. The Wild will begin with a 1x win multiplier, and each nudge will increase it by 1x. Due to the fact that the most number of nudges is 3, the top win multiplier cannot go over 3x. That is also the case with the Harlequin Wild in Harlequin Carnival.

Now, in Deadwood, the central reels come with 4 cells. Once the Wild hits the reel grid, the multiplier starts at 1x. Each nudge increases the multiplier, up to a maximum of 4x (thanks to 4 cells on the central reels). The best thing about the xNudge feature is that all stacked Wilds come with their own win multipliers, which can be combined. Include Wilds in the same winning combo, and you are in for a real treat.

The xWays Feature Splits Symbols

It was pretty obvious from the very beginning that the xNudge feature is destined for success. Nolimit City did not want to spot there, so in 2019, they introduced a new game mechanics called xWays, and they did not make a mistake by doing so.

They probably wanted to play it safe, so the first game, Pixies vs. Pirates came both with xNudge and xWays. After Pixies vs. Pirates came other video slots, such as Dragon Tribe, Punk Rocker, San Quentin, East Coast vs West Coast, and the latest addition is the Infectious 5 video slot.

The main role of the xWays game mechanics is to increase the size of the reel grid, thus increasing the number of ways to win. All xWays symbols that appear on the reels will transform into a randomly chosen regular icon. Once that happens, the selected symbols will transform into 2, 3, 4 identical symbols.

This will increase your winning chances easily. The xWays symbols usually transform only into regular icons, but there are cases when they can turn into Wilds as well. One thing is certain, they will not transform into Scatters. So, with turning into regular symbols, and boosting the number of symbols on that particular spin, xWays gives you more winning ways.

For example, in San Quentin, an entire reel can be covered in xWays symbols, and deliver up to 8 identical icons in a single reel. those of you who want to enjoy both xNudge and xWays at the same time, play Pixies vs. Pirates, Dragon Tribe, and East Coast vs West Coast.

The xPays Feature as a Reversed Avalanche

We all know how the Cascading Reels, or the Avalanche feature functions. Winning symbols disappear, and new icons are placed on the vacant cells, hopefully, to create a new winning combo. With the xPays game engine, everything functions in an opposite manner. Winning symbols are kept on the grid, and non-winning icons disappear from the reels.

To start the xPays feature, you need to land at least three matching symbols on successive reels, beginning from the leftmost reel. Also, all instances of the winning symbols remain on the reels. Non-winning icons disappear from the reels, and new ones land to fill the vacant positions. If there are new icons that match the winning symbols, they will stay on the grid, and the feature continues.

The xPays feature ends when there are no more new matching symbols. It does not matter if the symbols are connected or not in the end, they all pay out. In Monkey’s Gold video slot, there is something called Symbol Upgrade. When you fill an entire row in the xPays feature, all symbols that are on that row are upgraded into higher-paying icons.

Fire in the Hole Brings Us XBomb

We are yet to see whether the xBomb mechanics will be a huge success as its famous predecessors. The only game that offers this particular feature is Fire in the Hole. it all comes down to the Exploding Wild, which explodes and removes adjacent symbols. That is not all, because the Wild will explode and remove up to 9 icons surrounding him. It will happen regardless to the fact whether the Wild is a part of the winning combo or not.

Wilds also increase the win multiplier, with +1x for every explosion. These explosions increase the size of the reel grid and also increase the number of ways to win. Non-wining spins reset the size of the reels, but if you land successive winning combos, you can enjoy up to 46,656 ways to win.