Grand Junction: Mountain Express Slot by Playtech

Two scatters, two different doors, and that split is the first thing to get straight. The stone railway tunnel is one scatter; land three or more and it opens 11 Free Games. The Grand Junction symbol is the other, and it fires the Hold & Spin bonus instead. Most slots route every scatter to one place. Here the tunnel and the junction never overlap, so you're effectively chasing two separate bonuses off the same board.

The Free Games run automatically at the triggering bet. What changes during them is the reels: the diesel locomotive and the moustached train driver, the one leaning out of his cab with a thumbs-up, can now land in full stacks, which is where a fat multi-line spin comes from. Three tunnels again adds another 11 games on top. And the Hold & Spin can still trigger from inside the free games, so the two features aren't fully walled off after all.

The Hold & Spin is the part worth understanding. It's 9 respins, and two symbol types lock. Every orange "777" coin that lands sticks for the rest of the round carrying a cash value of 1x, 2x, 3x or 5x total bet. Every train car that lands locks too. A conductor doesn't lock, but he hands you 3 extra spins when he shows. When the respins run out, every held coin value is totted up and paid at once. Collect three or more trains along the way and you roll into the Bonus Game, which drops one of four fixed prizes: Mini 10x, Minor 25x, Major 50x or Grand 130x total bet.

Be clear-eyed about those jackpots, though. A 130x Grand is modest for a game whose ceiling sits near 2,000x, and you don't get there by climbing the ladder. The big scores come from packing the board with high-value coins in the Hold & Spin and letting them add up. The jackpot is a side reward for the trains, not the main prize. No buy button and no ante bet, so both bonuses have to come the slow way.

The setting is storybook narrow-gauge railway: reels in a glossy green-and-gold border between snow-capped peaks, pine forest and a flower meadow, with a brass pressure gauge, a sticker-covered red suitcase and green "ALL ABOARD 1st Class" tickets filling out the paytable under Art-Nouveau royals.