Steam Tower

What these figures mean for Steam Tower

Steam Tower returns 97.04%, which is the second-highest figure in this catalogue behind only Blood Suckers at 98%. It also has the emptiest specification of any game we hold studio maths for. NetEnt publishes two numbers about it — the return and a volatility index of 5.7 — plus a hit frequency of 33%. That is the complete set. No base-game return, no bonus-round return, no odds on anything, no probability attached to its 1,000x ceiling. For a game this well regarded, that is a remarkably thin disclosure, and it is the most useful thing to understand before playing it.

Compare what we can print for a Nolimit City game. For Das xBoot: base return 59.74%, bonus 36.29%, hit frequency 22.17%, a 100x win once in 635 spins, the bonus once in 211, the maximum once in 64,000,000. Six figures, all stated by the studio. For Steam Tower the equivalent list is three, and two of them describe the game only in the broadest terms. The difference is not that one game is better built; it is that one studio tells you how its game behaves and the other tells you what percentage comes back eventually.

What the three figures do say is worth having. A 33% hit frequency means something returns on one spin in three — the fifth-highest rate here, behind Blood Suckers at 45%, Gonzo's Quest at 41%, Deadwood at 40.17% and Mental at 34.19%. A volatility index of 5.7 is mid-range: above Jack Hammer at 3.8 and Aloha Cluster Pays at 3.9, below Twin Spin at 6.5 and Gonzo's Quest at 6.7. And the 1,000x ceiling is modest — the same as Twin Spin and Divine Fortune, a fraction of anything from Nolimit City. So the broad shape is a frequently-paying, middling-variance game with a low cap and the second-best return on the site.

There is one in-catalogue comparison the figures do support, and this game wins it outright. Divine Fortune has the same 1,000x ceiling, a volatility index of 6, and a hit frequency of 20% at a return of 96.59%. Steam Tower pays on 33% of spins rather than 20%, measures marginally smoother at 5.7, and returns almost half a point more. Same cap, better on every published measure, and the half-point of return is worth about £4.50 per thousand £1 spins. When two games from one studio sit that close in design, the specification is the only way to tell them apart, and here it is unambiguous.

That combination is genuinely attractive, and the 97.04% is where its value sits. Against the catalogue average of 96.43%, this game keeps 2.96p per pound staked rather than 3.57p. Over a thousand £1 spins that is £29.60 against £35.70 — a saving of about £6, which is small but real, and roughly two fifths of the way from the average to Blood Suckers' £20. Among games that pay on a third of spins, nothing else here returns this much.

What the missing figures cost you is the ability to judge the middle. We know the game pays often; we do not know how often it pays well. A 1,000x ceiling with a 5.7 index could describe a game where 50x wins are routine or one where they are rare, and the published numbers do not distinguish between those. For Punk Rocker, by contrast, we can say plainly that a 100x arrives once in 1,789 spins, which is the single most damning figure in this catalogue — and no NetEnt game on this site can be criticised or defended on that basis, because the number does not exist publicly for any of them.

There is no feature buy, which is true of nine of the ten NetEnt titles here; Dead or Alive 2 is the only exception. So the free-spins round — the part of this game players actually talk about, with its expanding tower of multipliers — can only be reached by ordinary play, and the studio does not say how long that takes on average. Nolimit City states a bonus-trigger rate for all nine of its games; NetEnt states one for none of the ten.

The comparison that would be most useful is the one the figures cannot support. Blood Suckers returns 98% and pays on 45% of spins at an index of 2.7; this game returns 97.04% and pays on 33% at an index of 5.7. Both are gentle, high-returning NetEnt titles, and a player choosing between them would want to know which one produces the occasional 50x. Neither specification contains that figure, so the choice comes down to a penny in the pound and a slightly bumpier ride, which is a thinner basis for a decision than either game deserves.

The summary, then, is a well-specified game by the standard of its own studio and a barely-specified one by the standard of this catalogue. The 97.04% is the second-best price on the site and the clearest reason to choose it. The 33% hit rate and 5.7 index say the experience will be steady rather than dramatic. Everything else about how this game behaves is something NetEnt has decided not to publish, and we would rather say that than fill the gap with an estimate.

What the studio publishes about the maths

Figures NetEnt states for Steam Tower itself — not our estimates.

How Steam Tower compares with the rest of our catalogue

Against every other game here whose studio publishes its maths.

Volatility as the studio states it — what the index measures.