NJ Online Slot of the Week: Finn and the Swirly Spin

Looking for a decidedly different New Jersey online slot to play over the weekend? Prepare yourself for head-spinning winnings as we explore the one-of-a-kind slot, Finn and the Swirly Spin, which combines an Irish luck theme with a completely unique setup that you won’t find anywhere else!

The Basics

Finn and the Swirly Spin is a unique Irish-themed slot by world-renowned games developer NetEnt. Released in November 2017, this popular slot is actually the first of two featuring the lovably plump Irish character, with Finn’s Golden Tavern launched just a couple of years later.

Back to the Swirly Spin, the name comes from the slot’s one-of-a-kind design, with symbols moving towards the center of a spiral-shaped 5×5 grid, rather than spinning into place on separate reels. It seems the unique approach was a good move as the slot has become one of the most played at NJ online casinos and around the world!

First Impressions

Finn and the Swirly Spin is set in a lush and very vibrant green meadow on a beautifully sunny day, with a gentle breeze propelling spiral-shaped clouds across the sky and swaying the uniquely designed spiral effect trees. There’s even a rainbow arcing over the head of the stereotypically green-clad star of this slot show, Finn, as he sits next to the play grid tootling on his whistle, the result of which is the game’s relaxing soundtrack tune.

In the center of the slot’s game screen, you’ll notice a large dark gray stone play grid containing various symbols on which the action takes place. Clicking the spiral spin button at the bottom center clears the play grid and a new set of symbols filters in from the bottom left and makes its way around the spiral grid towards the center. Once the symbols have come to rest, any vertical or horizontal row of three or more matching symbols is classed as a win, resulting in a payout. As we’ll explore in more detail shortly, each win can trigger additional symbol matches, resulting in a chain reaction of wins that results in Finn’s whistle playing becoming even more frenzied and excited as your bankroll expands!

Slot Symbols

You won’t be at all surprised to find tokens of Irish luck scattered throughout the play grid in Finn and the Swirly Spin, with bulging four-leaf clovers and golden horseshoes maintaining the stereotyping. However, far from feeling lackluster and tacky, the symbols are actually nicely designed and fit well with the overall theme without being over the top. Other symbols on the spiral grid include golden acorns, sparkly red gems, brown wooden hearts, and gray wooden clubs.

In addition, there are a couple more symbols that you’ll see during your gaming session on this slot — the gold star and the gold key locked in a block of ice — with each playing a special role in the game.

The gold star is the game’s wild symbol, meaning it will substitute for any other symbol in the game, but it only appears in the base game when you land three or more matching symbols.

The gold key locked in a block of ice occupies the bottom left position at the start of every spin. This symbol is definitely one to watch as it is literally the key to the slot’s free spins features, as you’ll see shortly.

Finn and the Swirly Spin Features

Finn and the Swirly Spin is more than just a uniquely shaped slot game; it’s packed to the rafters with special features and bonus rounds, making it very captivating to play! Thanks to the game’s unique setup, a single spin can result in not only a chain reaction of wins, but also the triggering of the free spins features for an even bigger payout. Next we’ll walk you through each of the game’s features in turn.

Avalanches

If you haven’t come across the concept of avalanches in slots before, don’t worry, we’ll explain it all in detail. Each time you hit that spin button, the symbols file onto the spiral-shaped play grid from the bottom left and make their way towards the center as described above. Once they come to rest, any horizontal or vertical matches of three or more symbols result in a win, which triggers two actions: the creation of a gold star wild symbol and the disappearance of all other symbols in that winning line. The symbols that disappear leave gaps in the grid, which are filled by adjacent symbols as they file towards the center to replace them. This in turn can trigger more winning lines, which is what’s referred to as an avalanche.

Avalanches are not only fun to watch, but they can also send your winnings soaring, especially with the additional matching power of newly created wild symbols! Plus, as those winning symbols disappear, that ice-locked key symbol starts to move towards the center of the spiral, which, as you’ll soon see, is exactly what you want!

Wilds

The cute-eyed gold star symbol is a special one as it stands in for all other symbols to help you make up winning lines. You won’t find this one filing onto the spiral play grid though as it only appears when you get a winning line. However, when it does, there is an additional special effect this little guy imparts if you’re lucky enough to land him in a winning line. Not only do all the involved symbols in the winning line disappear, so do any symbols that are directly adjacent to the little star wild, clearing more symbols out of the way and pushing that frozen key closer to the center spot!

Random Features

Yes, you’re desperate to learn more about that ice-locked key symbol, right? But before we get onto that, there are four randomly awarded features that can strike the base game at any point after any spin that you should know about:

• Starfall Wilds: 2 or more gold star wild symbols are added to the play grid at random
• Dragon Destroy: A random number of symbols are destroyed, triggering an avalanche with a guaranteed win
• Irish Luck: A horizontal or vertical line of the same symbol is added to the play grid for a guaranteed win
• Magic Transform: All spade and heart symbols are transformed into a higher paying symbol, either the same or different to each other

Free Spins Features

Ok, so what actually happens when that iced-up gold key makes it to the center of the spiral? This is where the magic happens! At this point, Finn will be doing a little jig as a bright spiral starts to emanate from the center of the play grid and grows in size before sucking the Irishman into it! You’ll see the ginger-haired character flying through a tunnel of clouds before emerging into a clearing in the sky with four different floating islands. These four islands represent the game’s four free spins features.

As you can see in the image, only one of the four features will be available to you at first. Each time you get that frozen key to the center of the spiral, it will be added to your key total as shown at the bottom right of the play grid during the base game. The more keys you collect, the more free spins features you’ll get to choose from.

Here are each of those free spins features in order, along with how many keys are needed to unlock them:

• Starbar: 7 free spins with the random Starfall Wilds feature. Unlocks with 1 key.
• Lava Lair: 3 free spins with the random Dragon Destroy feature and a special gold coin sticky wild symbol in place of the frozen key. Unlocks with 4 keys.
• Lucky Mug: 4 free spins with the random Irish Luck feature. Unlocks with 9 keys.
• Golden Pot: 2 free spins with the random Magic Transform feature. Unlocks with 16 keys.

So collecting those keys is your aim if you want to unlock those higher value free spins features. What’s even better is that you won’t lose your collected keys when you leave the game; they’ll all still be waiting there for you when you start playing again!

Finn and the Swirly Spin Payouts

Finn and the Swirly Spin payouts are based on how much your stake is per spin and how many matching symbols you’ve lined up:

Symbol	3x	4x	5x
Hearts/Spades	1x bet	10x bet	40x bet
Four-Leaf Clovers	10x bet	30x bet	80x bet
Golden Horseshoes	10x bet	40x bet	100x bet
Gold Acorns	10x bet	50x bet	120x bet
Red Gems	20x bet	100x bet	500x bet

Of course, thanks to the wilds, avalanches, random features, and free spins features, you could quickly see those winnings stacking up even higher!

Finn and the Swirly Spin RTP and Volatility

How does this game compare to others when it comes to its Return to Player (RTP) and volatility?

NetEnt states the theoretical RTP of Finn and the Swirly Spin as 96.62% (ie. house edge of 3.38%), which places it as just about average in terms of payout over the long term for the industry, making it quite an attractive slot to play.

Regarding volatility (or variance), Finn and the Swirly Spin is classed as a low to medium slot. That means you can expect to get slightly more small, frequent payouts compared to larger, infrequent payouts, which means it’s a good choice for beginners.

Ready to Swirl with Finn?

Finn and the Swirly Spin is a lot of fun to play thanks to its really unique spiral setup, wilds creation, avalanches, random features, and unlockable free spins features. There’s a lot of character built into this slot that also gives it plenty of entertainment value without being overly cliché. You’ll no doubt be on the edge of your seat as you will that iced-up key around the spiral towards the center to unlock those free spins, while your saved keys will certainly have you back again soon to see what the next free spins feature has in store for you!

You’ll find Finn and the Swirly Spin at all of the best New Jersey online casinos, including Golden Nugget, Virgin Casino, SugarHouse, and Unibet Casino.