Skeleton Key

Skeleton Key Review

Skeleton Key is a spooky-themed slot game from industry leader IGT with above-average RTP, plenty of ways to win and great graphics to keep players engaged for hours. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced online slot player, this game will satisfy your needs. Most notably in Skeleton Key is the expanding reels feature, which offers up to 7,776 ways to when when fully expanded. It’s a five-reel game with medium-high volatility and carries a massive top payout: 83,333x your bet. With wilds and free spins, players will try to unlock massive winnings.

Read through our team of experts review of Skeleton Key below for more details!

How we tested Skeleton Key

Our team of experts at AmericanCasinoGuide.com weighs every aspect of a game when we do our reviews. Here’s a list of all the steps we take into consideration: 

1. We look at RTP and volatility: The Return To Player and Volatility should always be the first thing a player looks at in a game. The RTP tells you how often you can expect to win while spinning the reels. 
2. We actually play the games: Unlike many reviews you find online, we take the time to play the games to understand how they work. We’ll tell you our honest opinion on if we enjoyed the game or not.
3. We find out minimum and maximum wagers: A good game should be accessible to all types of players, including those that like to wager small bets to high rollers. We provide this information in all of our reviews.
4. We focus on the theme: All good games should have an appealing theme. While most themes are apparent, we like to detail how well the game truly envelops its overall concept.
5. We listen to the audio and pay attention to graphics: Players want games with HD graphics and engaging audio to enjoy while playing. We have all that information and more below.
6. We calculate the jackpot and maximum win: We play games for fun, but we also play to win. We’ll tell you the full potential win of a game and explain what that means.
7. We explain the symbols and paytables: To play well, you need to understand the game’s rules. While the “how-to” of online slots is simple, it’s essential to know what the symbols mean on the reels to understand your spin’s total value.

Play Skeleton Key with the best bonus

Make sure to read our comprehensive online casino reviews to find the best welcome bonus for you. There are many ways to get the best value from joining an online casino, from free spins to first deposit matches and low wagering requirements.

Skeleton Key is available at multiple USA online casinos including Golden Nugget New Jersey, which offers one of the most competitive welcome bonuses in the country. New players who register for an account can receive a $20 no deposit bonus and 200 free spins on the 88 Fortunes Megaways online slot game. 

Additionally, Golden Nugget offers new players 100% of an initial match bonus of $1,000. Players must deposit a minimum of $30 to qualify for the offer.

Skeleton Key Symbols & Payouts

Skeleton Key is another great addition to the IGT online slot game collection. With wilds, expanding reels, over 7,000 ways to win and a maximum payout of over 80,000x your bet, this is a game that can produce hours of entertainment–and big winnings.

Here, we will take a look at the symbols in the game, their payouts, and how they’re deployed in the game:

The symbols

The symbols in Skeleton Key are a combination of primary and secondary symbols. There are 10 total symbols in this game. The secondary symbols are similar to many other slot games, using the royal face cards, Ace to Jack.

The primary symbols are where you’ll find the most winnings. These symbols are customized for Skeleton Key and adds to the theme of the game: Green, red and purple gems and teacups, spellbooks and treasure chests.

The highest-paying symbol in Skeleton Key is the treasure chest, which carries a 50x multiplier when you land five-in-a reel. 

There is also a wild symbol, which will replace regular symbols (either primary or secondary) to help produce more winning combinations. But with IGT games, they usually try to pack as much into the games as possible, so there are additional symbols: The mystery symbol, which is a question mark, and a scatter symbol, which is a turquoise padlock. 

The mystery and scatter symbols are key to winning the maximum payout: When you land these symbols, the bonus features are triggered.

Here are the symbols in Skeleton Key: 

• Jack
• Queen
• King
• Ace
• Green gem
• Red gem
• Purple gem
• Chalice
• Spellbook
• Treasure chest
• Question mark (Wild)
• Padlock (Scatter)

Paytable

Min/max bet

The minimum bet for Skeleton Key is $0.10. The maximum bet is $300.

RTP

With an RTP of 96%, Skeleton Key is above-average in this category. The average RTP for online slot games is between 90-95%. RTP is the average percentage taken from a wide number of spins–thousands, even millions. This offers a good barometer for a game’s overall value but it’s not to be confused with a guarantee.

Volatility & hit frequency

Skeleton Key is a bit of a hybrid game in terms of volatility. While it can register as a medium volatility slot, our team of experts is ranking it as more of a medium-to-high volatility slot. With 243 paylines and the expanding reels leading to 7,776 ways to win, it’s hard to categorize it simply as medium. 

Because of its features and high maximum payout, Skeleton Key is a game that both conservative and aggressive players can enjoy: Its features keep it compelling and interesting for hours, the above-average RTP points to continual winnings and the maximum payout is substantial for an online slot game of this type. 

While the exact hit frequency percentage of Skeleton Key is unknown, typically online slot games have an average hit frequency of 20-30%. IGT, one of the biggest providers in the business, are known to have favorable hit frequencies. Of note: Hit frequency is different than volatility, which balances how often a winning combination comes up in relation to the maximum payout of a game.

Jackpot and/or maximum win

As a medium-high volatility game, Skeleton Key has a healthy selection of strong wins. This begins with the paylines, which, fully expanded, can reach up to 7,776 ways to win. It’s played on a five-reel game with 243 paylines. 

But where this game really stands out in terms of winnings is the maximum win: Players can receive 83,333x their bet by winning the maximum payout available. Assuming a maximum bid, the top payout of this game is over $24 million. 

Game Features

The features in Skeleton include expanding reels, wilds, scatters, and free spins. Like most IGT games, there are certainly sufficient features but the emphasis appears to be the professional presentation of the game: Overall, it’s solid by the metrics and the layout. 

Here’s a look at the features in Skeleton Key:

Skeleton Key Expanding Reels

To expand reels in Skeleton Key, players need to land the Key symbols on the reel. When one Key symbol is landed, the column it’s in will expand. Landing between three and six Key symbols on the reel is the best way to get the inside track for a big win. 

During gameplay, the Key disappears and different symbols drop from the top, filling the empty spots. When the entire reel is filled with Key symbols, the maximum amount of ways to win will be available. 

As you keep spinning, the reels will eventually revert to normal size. With every spin that doesn’t land a winning combination, a symbol disappears. But for an added bet, players can delay the reels reverting for a certain number of spins.

The wild symbol in Skeleton Key replaces symbols to help form better winning combinations. 

There is an additional multiplier players can receive: When landing the mystery symbol (question mark), that symbol can turn into a key symbol. This boosts the multiplier to 1x on the remainder of your spins in the round.

Skeleton Key free spins

A staple of any great online slot game is a Free Spins feature–and Skeleton Key has it.

The way to get Free Spins in this game is by landing the scatter symbol (padlock). To unlock free spins, players must land between 3-5 padlocks on the screen. Keep in mind: These symbols do not need to fill up the same reel; they can be anywhere on the screen.

Skeleton Key doesn’t just give a few free spins, either. Here is the breakdown for Free Spins:

• Receive 10 free spins for three scatter symbols
• Receive 20 free spins for four scatter symbols
• Receive 30 free spins for five scatter symbols

Skeleton Key Graphics & Sound 

IGT is one of the unquestioned leaders in the industry in terms of developing visually and audibly enticing games and Skeleton Key is no different. While this online slot game debuted in November 2020, you won’t find many games released after that with the kind of precision touch of clean, exciting graphics.

Overall, Skeleton Key sticks to the theme: Without being too demanding on the spooky side of things, the skeleton and graphics provide a light feel to the game. Something that really stands out when taking spins is the green smoke that seems to envelop the game reel. The main screen is dark-set and the symbols on the reel provide more than enough color. You’ll know exactly what game you’re playing when you spin through the background music, which seems taken from a horror film that doesn’t take itself quite seriously enough. 

Solutions if you have some issues with a game

If the game is interrupted during play, players can replay the game round after restarting the game. If the player chooses to skip the replay, their win will be added to their balance immediately.

In any situation where the replay-functionality is not sufficient, you can contact the gaming website’s support team.

In the event of a gaming hardware/software malfunction, all affected game bets and payouts are rendered void, and all affected bets are refunded.

Verdict

Though there have been similarly themed titles in recent years, Skeleton Key brings out the best in IGT’s development. What we liked best about this online slot game is its ability to appeal to players of all experience levels: With a simple gameplay format, solid metrics (96% RTP, medium-high volatility), multiple features, and a major payday waiting, Skeleton Key checks off all the boxes. Sure, these factors could be tweaked even more to a player’s liking, but it’s hard to find an online slot game with as much to offer. The expanding reels feature is a difference-maker, affording players over 7,000 ways to win and we especially liked how relatively easy it seemed to land free spins. There are no complaints with the graphics and sound quality–IGT found its theme and stuck to it–and a maximum payout of nearly $24 million is just the cherry on top. If it’s not already, Skeleton Key should be atop your list of new games to try. Good luck!

Other slots to play if you like Skeleton Key slot

If you’re a fan of Skeleton Key, be sure to check out these other online slots:

• Blood Suckers
• Blood Suckers II
• Undead Rich
• Halloween Jack