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San Quentin 2 Review
The original San Quentin xWays made a big impact when it was released. The characters - Beefy Dick, Loco Luis, Heinrich 3rd, Biker Bill, and Crazy Joe - are back. They all seem to have aged. Perhaps it's the looming shadow of their fate. Loco Luis, in particular, has aged, now bearing a resemblance to a Hollywood character.
San Quentin 2: Death Row retains the 5-reel grid but now features 4 symbols per reel instead of 3, increasing the win ways to 1,024. The symbol values have been adjusted downwards, with the inmate symbols awarding between 1.2x and 2x your stake for 5-of-a-kind wins. The grid is framed by the bus to death row, with locked Enhancer Cells at the top and bottom of each reel. These cells, activated by bonus scatters, unleash havoc with xWays and Razor Split modifiers as before. Split Wilds are a new addition, splitting pay symbols on the reels they land on.
Overall, the gameplay and features echo the original release, with Jumping Wilds taking center stage during free spins. San Quentin 2: Death Row allows for up to 5 Jumping Wilds, obtainable either through a gambling feature or by activating them during the Green Mile Bonus Round. While Beefy Dick might evoke a slight resemblance to the main character of The Green Mile movie, the reference feels a bit off, considering the character was good and innocent, not a hardened killer with tattoos on his face.
The top-tier RTP of 96.13 % is slightly higher than in the first game, but be sure to avoid the lower RTP versions. This game is highly volatile (10 out of 10). The max win has been significantly boosted to 200,000x your stake, with a 1 in 1.52 million spins hit frequency from the base game. You can play with bet levels between €0.2 and €100 per spin, and we suggest you try the free San Quentin 2: Death Row demo slot first.
San Quentin 2: Death Row Features
The Enhancer Cell action makes a huge comeback in San Quentin 2: Death Row slot, and the game is packed with features. Let’s dive in!
Enhancer Cell Modifiers
The Enhancer Cells are marked by prison bars locking the top and bottom rows, and any bonus scatter in view opens both Enhancer Cells for its reel. The scatter or scatters then turn into Wild symbols, and the activated enhancers cells reveal 1 of 3 symbols as follows:
- Premium character pay symbol.
- Razor Split symbol that doubles all symbols on the reel (or quadruples them if both the top and bottom enhancer cells reveal the razor). A split scatter turns into a Wild that splits all symbols on the same row.
- xWays Symbol that reveals a stack of 5 matching symbols across all instances. If an xWays symbol is already present, the reel turns into a stack of 10 wilds.
Split Wilds
You can land Split Wilds on any of the reels, and this doubles all pay symbols on the same reel by splitting them. Split Wilds cannot split other Split Wilds, and all Wilds substitute for pay symbols to help complete wins as their core function.
Green Mile Free Spins Bonus
The Green Mile Bonus Round triggers from 3, 4, or 5 scatters in view, awarding 8 free spins with 1, 2, or 3 Jumping Wilds active from the get-go, respectively. Eligible players can choose to gamble for additional Jumping Wilds upfront, but you risk losing 5 free spins. If you gamble your way to the maximum of 5 Jumping Wilds, you can gamble for the game’s max win by risking 5 free spins. Here’s an overview of the gamble feature odds:
- Get 2 Jumping Wilds (1 in 6 spins).
- Get 3 Jumping Wilds (1 in 6 spins).
- Get 4 Jumping Wilds (1 in 5 spins).
- Get 5 Jumping Wilds (1 in 5 spins).
- Get the Max Win (1 in 7 spins).
Once you’ve collected your free spins, a single spin determines which premium character symbol gets upgraded with a multiplier and the value of the multiplier. The number of active Enhancer Cells on the top and bottom reels is determined by the number of Jumping Wilds as follows:
- A single Jumping Wild means 3 Enhancer Cells are active.
- 2 Jumping Wilds equals 4 active Enhancer Cells.
- 3, 4, or 5 Jumping Wilds opens all 5 Enhancer Cells.
If you have 4 or 5 Jumping Wilds active from the start, these come with an x2 multiplier. Landing scatters can activate the locked Enhancer Cells on the same reel, turning the scatter into a Jumping Wild. You win +3, +4, +5, or +6 extra free spins when you land 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters on the same free spin, respectively.
Each Jumping Wild leaps to a random position per free spin, and Razor Split enhancers double the Jumping Wild multiplier each time it’s applied. The Jumping Wild multiplier indicates how many wilds each Jumping Wild represents.
Nolimit Booster (not UK)
The NoLimit Booster options are available in some jurisdictions, and eligible players can pay 2x the stake to get 1 guaranteed scatter per spin. Alternatively, you can pay 45x your stake to get 2 guaranteed scatters per spin. This increases your bonus round chances while also guaranteeing 1 or 2 top/bottom Enhancer Cells active per spin, respectively.
The regular Bonus Round hit rate is 1 in 299 spins, but it increases to 1 in ~100 spins with the 2x Booster xBet activated. With the 45x Booster xBet switched on, the bonus round hit rate jumps to 1 in ~10 spins. The overall win hit frequency also increases by around 30 or 50 %, respectively.
It’s also worth noting that the game’s max win hit frequency increases to 1 in ~534,000 spins with the 2x Booster xBet turned on, and 1 in ~26,000 spins with the 45x Booster xBet active. As mentioned in the intro, the default max win hit rate is 1 in 1.52 million spins.
San Quentin 2: Death Row Bonus Buy (not UK)
The Bonus Buy Menu comes with the following options in San Quentin 2: Death Row slot:
- Green Mile Free Spins with 1 Jumping Wild cost 100x your stake.
- Green Mile Free Spins with 2 Jumping Wild cost 500x your stake.
- Green Mile Free Spins with 3 Jumping Wild cost 2,500x your stake.
- A Lucky Draw (40/40/20 %) costs 580x your stake.
Pros and Cons of San Quentin 2
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Enhancer Cells w/ Razor Split and xWays | Beware of customizable RTP ranges |
| Brand new Split Wilds split symbols in two | Booster and Bonus Buy not available in the UK |
| Get up to 5 Jumping Wilds in the Bonus Round | |
| Win up to 200,000x (1 in 1.52m spins hit rate) |
Our Verdict
The developer seldom delivers pure follow-up releases. They prefer to shock and awe with each new game. San Quentin 2: Death Row is a rare exception, a sequel to their prison-themed slot. However, despite the beefed-up math model and the promise of even more hardcore action, it doesn't hit quite as hard as the original.
The death row theme is surprisingly tame. Instead of focusing on the gruesome reality of execution, the game mostly revolves around the bus ride to death row. The bonus round backdrop, initially assumed to be an inmate in the gas chamber, turns out to be a simple "dead man walking" scene and you can't even see his face. Compared to the intense riot scenes from the first game, this feels like a missed opportunity. Even the win story, which we anticipated would depict the inmates' various stages of electrocution, is disappointingly tame with simple convict profiles on display.
Perhaps the developer is trying to avoid casino bans with this approach. It's hard to imagine they would otherwise let such an opportunity for controversy slip away. That being said, the gameplay itself is still engaging. It's similar to the original in most aspects, with Enhancer Cells wreaking havoc with Razor Split and xWays symbols. The possibility of gambling your way up to 5 Jumping Wilds in the bonus round is tempting, and the fact that you can organically trigger up to 5 Jumping Wilds via scatter symbols is a welcome addition.
Despite the beefed-up 200,000 max win, I still prefer the original San Quentin myself. It's just more gritty, hardcore, and engaging, and the 150,000x potential in the first game is more than enough to keep most players engaged. Of course, both games are volatile beasts, as brutal as the inmates themselves, so this is hardly for the faint of heart. That being said, if you're looking for a thrilling, high-stakes slot experience, San Quentin 2: Death Row will deliver that in spades, despite the lack of any true shock value.
