You’ve probably noticed that some of the biggest online slots in the US have reoccurring themes, such as bass fishing, the Wild West or finding riches in Egyptian tombs. Following the crowd isn’t the only way to success though, which is why Elk Studios has led us straight into the scrapyard.
Wait, what?
Tinkerbot might not seem like the obvious place to spend your free time, after all, who wants to wind down in the evening while surrounded by scrap metal? But Tinkerbot isn’t all about the scrapyard, this is a feature-heavy slot with plenty of fun to be had.
Tinkerbot slot overview
Tinkerbot seems like an unlikely success. These worn-down and rust-covered robots still have a lot of life left in them though, and with this vigor comes potential wins. While the RTP is quite low, at 94%, this is fairly standard for Elk Studios and the medium volatility means this is best suited to players who want a steady slot game experience, rather than one with major highs and lows.
The high-paying symbols are bright and distinct, even for players who suffer from colorblindness. The only downside is that it’s difficult to tell exactly what these symbols are, exactly. This isn’t exactly a bad thing though. The actual bad aspect comes in with the low-paying symbols. Their shapes are identical, with minor changes to their color schemes, which don’t make them accessible for all.
Tinkerbot has a lot of features, which is typical for Elk Studios. If you’ve played some of their other titles, then you know they like to keep their players on the edge of their seats. Something could happen on every spin, whether it’s a small fun feature or some sort of cascading multi-symbol wilds frenzy. We’ll go through each feature, how to activate them and what to expect from this jackpot online slot further on in the guide.
Tinkerbot slot pay table
If your stake is $1, then the following will pay out:
| Symbols matched | 15+ | 12-14 | 10-11 | 8-9 | 6-7 | 5 |
| Red Motor | $150 | $15 | $7.50 | $3.75 | $2.50 | $1.50 |
| Purple Fan | $100 | $10 | $5 | $2.50 | $1.50 | $1 |
| Green Cans | $75 | $7.50 | $3 | $1.50 | $1 | $0.75 |
| Blue Dome | $50 | $5 | $2 | $1 | $0.75 | $0.50 |
| Purple Part | $25 | $2.50 | $1 | $0.50 | $0.30 | $0.25 |
| Green Part | $15 | $1.50 | $0.75 | $0.35 | $0.20 | $0.15 |
| Blue Part | $10 | $1 | $0.50 | $0.25 | $0.15 | $0.10 |
Who made the Tinkerbot slot game?
The Tinkerbot online slot was created by Elk Studios, a Swedish-based slot developer known for making fun and modern online casino games. Elk Studios is a well-known and well-respected team in Europe and some of their biggest games include Pirots 3, Cygnus 5, Nitropolis TV and Tropicool 4.
Founded in 2013, Elk Studios has since grown into a large team with expertise in slot games and features, including the X-iter mechanic which acts as a Buy Feature shortcut. Other titles in this library are compatible with Elk Compete, which means that online casinos can easily include them in the hottest slot tournaments.
When Elk Studios was acquired by Scientific Games in 2021, this meant that its library of games could be launched in North America through the latter’s licence. New Jersey was the first state to receive this portfolio, but the studio has been slowly expanding to strengthen its US presence.
Pros and Cons of Tinkerbot
+ The visuals are very high quality
+ Lots of diverse features to keep the gameplay fun and unique
+ The cascading reels can lead to many winning combinations of symbols
- Relatively low RTP compared to other studios
- The theme might not be appealing to everyone and not all the symbols are colorblind-friendly
Tinkerbot slot table
RTP | 94% |
Volatility | Medium |
Reels | 5 |
Rows | 5 |
Paylines | Cluster pays |
Studio | Elk Studios |
Theme | Scrap yard |
Free Spins | Yes |
Bonus games | Yes |
Min bet | $0.20 |
Max bet | $100 |
Max win | 10,000x |
Tinkerbot slot features
Elk Studios love their online slot features, but this can mean that playing one of their games for the first time can be a little confusing. Every time you spin the reels, something is likely to happen - whether it’s the reels getting extended, a cheeky multiplier or a full-blown mini-game.
Cascades: Whenever you hit a winning multiplier while playing Tinkerbot, the symbols will be sucked into a bright yellow Botbox. Once the symbols are gone from the reels, more will tumble down from the top of the screen, offering more opportunities to get winning combinations.
Pile of symbols: Sometimes, a bunch of symbols can pile in together in one symbol space, which can result in a winning combination from one symbol spot alone!
Botbox: The Botboxes in Tinkerbot are always filled with goodies. If they’re created on the reels through winning combinations, then they can be opened once you collect three on screen. If they land naturally, then they’ll open immediately. Botboxes can contain any of the below.
Multipliers: You can get multipliers a few different ways, but the most common method is by unlocking them from orange Botboxes. These will be applied to any wins, and in the Super Bonus mode, these are sticky - which is massive!
Expanding grid: Another prize from the orange Botboxes is a bright yellow arrow, which will expand the grid to a maximum of 7x7. However, if this doesn’t immediately result in a win, then the next spin will be back to 5x5.
Button: One of the biggest surprises to come out of the Botboxes is a Big Red Button. Yep, you guessed it. Pressing the Button will result in it exploding - but that’s not all. Either it takes all of the symbols around it down with it, or it’ll pick one of the symbols touching it and transform all of them on the grid into something else.
Wilds: A bright yellow W sign doesn’t just mean a dub, it’s the Wild symbol in this online jackpot slot. If you get a Wilds symbol powered with electricity, then this means it’s got the power to transform symbols across the reels into a Wilds symbol too.
Free spins: The Bonus and Super Bonus rounds are where the real action is in Tinkerbot. If you manage to land three Botboxes at once, then you’ll activate the free spins in this online slot…
Does the Tinkerbot slot game offer free spins?
Not only does the Tinkerbot slot offer free spins, but it actually has two tiers of minigames with slightly different features in each.
Bonus game: If you land three scatters, then you’ll activate the standard Bonus game. The team at Elk Studios were generous with Tinkerbot though, and you’ll get 7 free spins. Any Botboxes are sticky until activated.
Super Bonus game: If you land four scatters, then you’ll get to play the Super Bonus game. This version is a little different and bigger in every way. You get 9 free spins, an expanded 7x7 grid and most importantly, the multiplier is sticky. This means that any additional multipliers are added to it and it can continue to increase through each free spin - they don’t just get applied once, either! The multiplier will be applied to each win without decreasing or resetting.
Tinkerbot slot conclusion
Tinkerbot is a very fun slot with a lot of potential. This online casino game is packed with features and with medium volatility and hit frequency, it’s the perfect game for people who like a slot game with action without putting too much on the line. There’s so much going on in this title, it almost feels more like an arcade or video game than a traditional slot, but that’s to be expected from this studio.
The only downside is that a lot of features mean a lot of aspects to get used to. If the list of features in this guide looked overwhelming, then it’s easy to find a demo version of Tinkerbot - this mode lets you play for free so you can get a feel for the game.
The only question we’ve been left with is… Where are the people? Are we in some kind of post-apocalyptic horror (which Elk Studios has certainly leant into in the past), or are we on a distant planet which has been set aside as a scrap yard extending across the entire world? The description from Elk Studios says that:
“In the world of bots, there is nothing as tinkering as Tinkerbot! A restless machine working day and night, 24/7, constantly building… things. They may even work, but that is not the prime directive. Tinkerbot will not rest until the scrapyard is empty!”
However, none of these can be found... So… What happened to the people who made the robots, Elk Studios?
