When we talk about various denominations and the impact of changing them, we usually use examples of games like Lightning Link. That’s because as an industry leader, the game has inspired many games that follow its lead around certain scenarios, such as the mix of progressive and static jackpots that’s become the norm on casino floors.
The original series of Ultimate Fire Link slots, in many ways, chose to go a different direction. So today’s question does offer some different thinking:
On Ultimate Fire Link, if I switched from 2 cent to 5 cent denominations, does the volatility increase or is it still the same? I also noticed that both the 2 cent and 5 cent have similar bet sizes but the 2 cents have more lines than 5 cents. Second, if I play on the 5 cent demonstration, betting $2.00, do I have a chance of winning the progressives?
Daniel B.
Thanks for the questions Daniel! First off, to just clarify what makes Ultimate Fire Link unique, aside from needing less balls to trigger a bonus:
- Each denomination has its own set of progressives. Most modern multi-denomination slot machines share progressives across denominations, whereas with Ultimate Fire Link, all the progressive numbers are unique for a single denomination.
- All linked Ultimate Fire Link machines share all progressives – usually, the linked machines share the top jackpot, but smaller progressives are not always shared (such as the Major on Lightning Link).
- Finally, the original Ultimate Fire Link series features four progressives – the Mini and Minor are not static jackpots, so any of the four words will connect to a progressive jackpot. This was more common in the 88 Fortunes/Dancing Drums era, but the mix of static and progressive jackpots is much more common now (including on many of the Ultimate Fire Link brand extensions).
These differences matter specifically to your questions. For one, each denomination is effectively its own game, because of the unique progressives. Checking progressives is a smart move because one denomination might overperform if you hit the progressive on that denomination.
In the case of volatility, when you change from 50 lines as with the 2 cent version,to 20 lines with the 5 cent version, that would increase the volatility because your bet is spread across less lines.
Of course, the line pays would be a bit more generous to make up for it, because instead of having 2 cents attached to each line, you have 5 cents attached to each line – there’s a bigger bet attached to each line, so the line pay will be bigger.
Overall, this will largely even out in the long run, but the swings higher and lower will be bigger because there’s less lines to award pays. That’s the definition of more volatility.
When it comes to the progressives, a $1 bet on nickel denomination will still make you eligible for those progressives, as you’re eligible for the progressives at any bet level.
But because the progressives at 5 cent are different numbers, with different starting amounts (except for the Mega, which starts at the same $10,000 level on both denominations), your odds of winning the smaller progressives will be lower on the 5 cent denomination.
And, again, each denomination is its own game, so winning a progressive on the 2 cent denomination at a certain bet doesn’t mean you would’ve won it at the 5 cent on the same overall bet.
So that’s how it works going between denominations on a game like Ultimate Fire Link – it’s got a lot going on and is somewhat unique in today’s casino floor, but the slot endures in popularity, and continues to garner brand extensions in part because of that popularity.
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Is there a million dollar fireball on ultimate fire link?
There’s now a high limit version, called Ultimate Fire Link Ultra Bank, but even with that we don’t recall seeing one that has a million dollar Mega. So we don’t think that’s possible today, but never say never!