Thunderkick slots

Who makes Thunderkick slots?

Thunderkick is a Swedish game studio set up in 2012 and headquartered in Stockholm. It operates through two licensed companies, Thunderkick AB and Thunderkick Malta Ltd, and stays independent rather than belonging to one of the large casino-supply groups. Reference listings put its catalogue at roughly 110 games, which is small next to the several hundred titles of the bigger names in our online slot providers hub.

Two things define the studio. First, it has never released a branded game: no film tie-ins, no TV shows, no bands. Every theme is an original idea, which is the opposite of the approach covered in our guide to branded slot machines. Second, it reaches many casinos as a Powered By partner of Relax Gaming, which means Relax distributes Thunderkick titles through its own platform alongside Relax’s in-house games.

For a player, the practical upshot is simple. Thunderkick does not run casinos and does not take bets from the public. It builds the game software, a slot provider in industry terms, and licensed casinos then offer those games under their own accounts.

Best-known Thunderkick slots and their published figures

The table below lists the Thunderkick slots for which we hold checked specifications. Where a cell is blank in the published data we say so rather than guess; the game’s own help screen is the place to confirm anything missing.

Our individual pages go further: Esqueleto Explosivo, its sequel Esqueleto Explosivo 2, Birds On A Wire, Pink Elephants 2 and Midas Golden Touch, released in 2019. The studio’s own list of best-known titles also includes 1429 Uncharted Seas; we don’t hold verified figures for that game, so check its help screen for the RTP and maximum payout.

The Esqueleto Explosivo series: one theme, two maths models

The Day of the Dead skeleton band is Thunderkick’s signature, and the two games in the series show how a studio can keep the look while changing the engine underneath. The original pays across 17 fixed paylines and is rated low volatility. Winning symbols explode and new ones fall into the gaps, the idea explained in our page on cascading reels, and each chain of wins can raise a running multiplier.

The sequel moves to 99 pay ways and medium volatility, and its maximum payout climbs from 700× to 5,000× the stake. That jump is the clearest sign of a shift in risk: a game that can pay seven times more at the top has to fund those rare payouts from somewhere, usually by paying smaller wins a little less often in the base game.

What the change means for a £10 session

Take 50 spins at 20p, which is £10 staked. At the original’s 96.0% RTP the long-run average cost of that stake is 40p; at the sequel’s 96.13% it is about 39p. The averages are almost identical, so the difference you would notice is the shape of the results: the low-volatility original tends to return small amounts more steadily, while the sequel is more likely to leave a session flat and then pay a larger amount occasionally.

Thunderkick RTP and volatility habits

Across the five games in our checked data, published RTPs run from 96.0% to 96.13%. That is a narrow band, and it sits around the level most UK players see on mainstream online slots. If you want the theory behind those numbers, our explainers on RTP and volatility set it out step by step.

What varies far more is volatility. Thunderkick’s range covers a low-volatility game capped at 700× and a high-volatility 4,096-ways game capped at 10,000×. The table converts each published RTP into the average cost of 100 spins.

These are long-run averages across millions of spins. A single session of 100 spins can lose the whole stake or return far more than it cost; every spin is decided independently by the random number generator.

Thunderkick max wins at UK stake limits

A max win is a cap written as a multiple of the stake, so its value in pounds depends on what you bet. Online slots in Great Britain are limited to £5 a spin for players aged 25 and over (from 9 April 2025) and £2 a spin for those aged 18 to 24 (from 21 May 2025), as set out in the Gambling Commission’s online slots stake limit guidance (opens in a new tab) and our page on the £2 limit for 18 to 24s.

These are ceilings, not targets. The top payout on a high-volatility game is a rare outcome, and most sessions end nowhere near it.

How a Thunderkick slot machine works under the hood

Behind the art, a Thunderkick game works like any modern online slot. When you press spin, the casino’s server asks the game’s random number generator for a result, the result is mapped to symbol positions on virtual reel strips, and the paytable decides what that arrangement is worth. The animation that follows simply shows an outcome that has already been fixed.

Features change how wins are counted, not whether the RNG is fair. Midas Golden Touch, for example, uses sticky re-spins that lock winning symbols while the other reels spin again, a variation on the respins idea. Pink Elephants 2 uses 4,096 ways, so matching symbols on adjacent reels pay anywhere in a column, which our guide to ways-to-win slots explains with worked grids.

The Gambling Commission requires outcomes to be genuinely random; its RTS 7 standard on the generation of random outcomes (opens in a new tab) is the rule book that testing checks against.

Thunderkick’s UK licence and the rules its games follow

Thunderkick holds Gambling Commission accounts 40165 and 41752. You can look up both numbers on the Gambling Commission’s register of gambling businesses (opens in a new tab), which shows what each licence covers and any regulatory action.

Because the games are supplied to Great Britain, the UK version of every Thunderkick slot must follow the online game design rules that have applied since 31 October 2021: no autoplay, at least 2.5 seconds between the start of one spin and the next (the spin speed rule), no turbo or slam-stop, no celebration when a win is equal to or less than the stake, and a constant display of your balance and net position. Bonus buy options seen in some other markets are not offered in the versions supplied to Great Britain; our page on bonus buy in the UK explains why.

How to check a Thunderkick slot’s RTP before you play

Some casinos run lower-RTP settings of the same game, a practice covered in our guide to RTP variants. The only figure that applies to you is the one the game shows at that casino. Here is how to find it.

1. Open the slot at the casino and let it load fully; demo play needs age verification first in Great Britain.
2. Tap the menu or the ‘i’ icon to open the game help screen.
3. Scroll to the section headed game rules or return to player, usually near the bottom.
4. Note the RTP shown and compare it with the published figure in the table above.
5. If the number is lower, the casino is running a different setting; it is the same game with a higher average cost per spin.

Thunderkick slot myths and the facts

• Myth: a low-volatility game like Esqueleto Explosivo is a safer way to make money. Fact: lower volatility only smooths results. At 96.0% RTP it still costs about £4 per £100 staked on average.
• Myth: small studios set looser games. Fact: Thunderkick’s published RTPs sit in the same 96% band as larger studios, and ‘loose’ is not a setting you can spot from the reels.
• Myth: a run of losing spins means a win is due. Fact: each spin is independent; the game does not track past results, as our page on whether slot machines remember past spins explains.
• Myth: the colourful cartoon style means the games are lighter on risk. Fact: art style says nothing about maths; Pink Elephants 2 is rated high volatility.

More of the common misunderstandings are covered in our wider guide to slot machine myths.

Are Thunderkick slots worth it? Who they suit

If you prefer steady, small returns, the original Esqueleto Explosivo fits that profile on paper. If you accept long dry spells in exchange for a higher ceiling, Pink Elephants 2 or Birds On A Wire are closer matches. Whatever you choose, set a budget first; our responsible gambling page covers limits and free support.

Where to play Thunderkick slots online in the UK

Thunderkick titles turn up in plenty of British casino lobbies, though the line-up at any single site shifts over time and we don’t track it. Use the search box at Coral, Ladbrokes or PlayOJO to see what is live today.

The offers shown below are not Thunderkick promotions. Coral’s bet £10 on slots, get 100 free spins and Ladbrokes’ play £10, get up to 500 free spins (50 a day for 10 days) both pay spins worth 10p on selected games chosen by the casino. PlayOJO’s 80 no-wagering free spins need a first deposit of at least £10 and are played on Big Bass Bonanza. All are for new customers aged 18 or over, and full terms apply.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: plan a slot budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.