Drill the Thrill Slot Review

Last Updated on June 25, 2026 by Maurya

The mining genre is one of the most well-worn corners of the online slots world, so any new release that grabs a pickaxe has a high bar to clear. This Drill the Thrill slot review takes a close, hands-on look at NowNow Gaming’s latest underground adventure to answer the only question that matters before you load a single spin: is it worth your time and your bankroll, or is it just another trip down a familiar mineshaft?

Released on 27 July 2026, Drill the Thrill pairs expanding reels with a Hold & Win bonus, a jackpot ladder and a short burst of free spins. On paper it ticks every box modern players expect. In practice, after putting it through its paces across a stack of sessions, the experience is competent and polished but rarely surprising. Below you’ll find a full breakdown of the gameplay, features, RTP, volatility and max win, plus an honest verdict on who this slot is actually for.

Drill the Thrill Slot

What Is the Drill the Thrill Slot?

Drill the Thrill is a video slot built by NowNow Gaming, a studio that operates as part of the Hacksaw Gaming stable, which immediately tells you something about the production values. As with most titles in that ecosystem, the presentation is clean, the animations are snappy, and everything loads and runs smoothly on both desktop and mobile.

Thematically, you’re heading underground. Lantern-lit tunnels, glittering gemstones, chunky mine carts and a cheerful cartoon miner set the scene, and it all looks the part. The art direction is crisp and the soundtrack does its job without becoming grating over a long session. That said, this is well-trodden territory. If you’ve played a mining slot in the past few years, the visual language here will feel instantly recognisable rather than fresh, and the theme never quite develops a personality of its own beyond “dig for treasure.”

Where Drill the Thrill tries to earn its keep is in the mechanics, specifically the way the reels physically expand mid-spin and feed into a Hold & Win round. That’s the hook, and it’s where the rest of this review focuses.

Gameplay & Layout

The base game begins on a compact, slightly unusual 3-4-4-4-3 grid. Rather than a static set of paylines, wins are calculated on a ways-to-win basis, and that number is not fixed — it grows as the reels expand. At full stretch, the game offers up to 4,608 ways to win, which is a meaningful jump from where each spin starts.

The trigger for that expansion is the Silver Drill symbol. When it lands, the middle reels stretch downward, opening up extra rows and pulling additional coin and jackpot symbols into play. Watching the grid balloon outward is genuinely satisfying the first few times, and it creates a brief spike of anticipation because more rows mean more potential ways to connect a winning combination on the next drop.

Betting is flexible and accessible. Stakes run from a low of 0.10 up to 100 per spin, which comfortably covers casual players testing the waters in demo mode and higher-stakes players chasing the top multiplier. There’s no awkward minimum that prices out beginners, and the range is wide enough that the game scales nicely as your confidence (or bankroll) grows.

The headline ceiling is a 10,000x max win. That’s a respectable figure that can deliver a genuinely big payout relative to your stake, though it’s worth being upfront: in a market where some rivals dangle 50,000x or six-figure multipliers, 10,000x sits in the solid-but-unspectacular middle tier. It’s enough to keep a session interesting without promising the kind of life-changing hit that defines the most volatile releases.

Drill the Thrill Bonus Features

The feature set is the core of any modern slot, and Drill the Thrill leans on a familiar but effective toolkit. Here’s how each piece works and how it actually feels to play.

Silver Drill & Expanding Reels

As covered above, the Silver Drill is the engine of the base game. It expands the central reels, boosts the ways to win toward that 4,608 maximum, and seeds the grid with coin and jackpot symbols. On its own it rarely produces the biggest wins, but it’s the essential setup step — nothing exciting happens in this game until the reels are stretched out, so landing the Silver Drill is what you’re really hoping for spin to spin.

Golden Drill & Hold & Win Bonus

The Silver Drill is the appetiser; the Golden Drill is the main course. Land it after the reels have expanded and the game shifts into a Hold & Win style bonus. Here, the coin and jackpot symbols already on the grid lock in place while you chase additional values across the larger playing field. It’s the classic collector format that has powered countless hits over the past few years, and it works exactly as you’d expect — each new symbol that locks in extends the round and builds your running total.

The presence of the expanded grid during this phase gives the feature more breathing room than a standard Hold & Win, since there’s simply more space for symbols to land. The flow is smooth and easy to follow, but anyone who has played a collector slot before will recognise every beat of it.

Jackpots Up to 2,500x

Woven into the Hold & Win feature is a jackpot ladder, with prizes climbing as high as 2,500x the stake. These jackpot symbols are part of what locks in during the bonus, so the collector round doubles as your route to the bigger fixed prizes. Hitting one is the standout moment of a strong session, and it gives the feature a clear sense of purpose beyond simply accumulating coin values.

Blast Zone Bonus (Free Spins)

The free spins round, branded the Blast Zone Bonus, is the one area where Drill the Thrill arguably undersells itself. It awards just five free spins, with the Silver Drill guaranteed on every single one — so the reels stay fully expanded throughout. That guarantee is a nice touch and keeps the ways to win high for the duration.

The catch is the brevity. Five spins go by in a flash, and because there are no retriggers, the feature ends before it has much chance to build momentum. When a hot streak does line up, it can pay well thanks to the permanently expanded grid, but more often than not you’ll find yourself wishing the round lasted just a little longer.

RTP, Volatility & Max Win Explained

For experienced players, the maths matter as much as the features, so let’s break the key numbers down properly.

The default RTP is 96.32%, which sits comfortably above the industry average of around 96% and represents fair value over the long term. Crucially, though, this is a title that ships in multiple RTP configurations — versions running at 94.32% and 92.27% also exist. This is increasingly common across the industry, and it’s an important point for your bottom line: the exact return you get depends on which version your chosen casino has deployed. Always check the in-game information panel before you commit real money, because the gap between a 96.32% and a 92.27% build is significant over a long session.

The volatility is medium, rated 3 out of 5, and that feels accurate in play. Combined with a hit frequency of roughly 27.12% — meaning a little over a quarter of spins land some kind of win — the game delivers a fairly steady rhythm. You won’t see the brutal dry spells that define high-variance slots, but you also shouldn’t expect the explosive, all-or-nothing swings that the most volatile titles are known for. It’s a balanced, middle-of-the-road experience designed for sustainable session length rather than heart-stopping extremes.

Put simply: Drill the Thrill is a sensible choice if you value steady entertainment and a fair long-term return, and a less obvious pick if you’re purely chasing a massive one-spin jackpot moment.

Drill the Thrill vs Other Mining Slots

It’s impossible to review a mining slot in 2026 without acknowledging the competition. The genre is crowded, and Drill the Thrill enters a field that already includes heavy hitters. Pragmatic Play’s Drill That Gold, for example, built a loyal following with its drill-wild mechanic and a 5,000x ceiling, while a string of Hold & Win collector slots from across the industry have refined this exact bonus format to a fine art.

Against that backdrop, Drill the Thrill is best described as a well-made entry rather than a genre-defining one. Its expanding reels and the way they feed the collector round are its most distinctive trick, and the 10,000x max win edges ahead of some direct rivals. But the underlying structure — dig underground, expand the grid, lock symbols, collect jackpots — is assembled from proven parts rather than reinventing the wheel. If you already love this style of slot, you’ll feel right at home. If you were lukewarm on collector mechanics before, this won’t be the title that converts you.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Polished presentation and smooth performance on desktop and mobile
• Satisfying expanding-reels mechanic that pushes up to 4,608 ways to win
• Hold & Win bonus with jackpots up to 2,500x gives the feature clear purpose
• Fair default RTP of 96.32% and accessible 0.10–100 bet range
• Balanced medium volatility suited to longer, steadier sessions

Cons

• Theme and mechanics feel derivative in an overcrowded mining genre
• The five-spin Blast Zone Bonus is short and offers no retriggers
• 10,000x max win is solid but modest next to the biggest modern slots
• Lower-RTP versions (down to 92.27%) mean you must check your casino’s build

Who Should Play Drill the Thrill?

This slot is a comfortable fit for players who enjoy Hold & Win collector games and want a polished, fairly priced version of that formula with a mining coat of paint. The medium volatility makes it ideal for anyone who prefers consistent action and a longer playtime over wild swings, and the low minimum bet means it’s beginner-friendly for those still learning how expanding-reel mechanics work.

It’s a weaker match for thrill-seekers hunting enormous multipliers or anyone who has grown tired of mining themes and collector bonuses. If you want genuine novelty or extreme high-variance payouts, you’ll likely find more excitement elsewhere.

Responsible Gambling

Slots are designed for entertainment, and Drill the Thrill is no exception. No game can be beaten over the long run, results are governed by a random number generator on every spin, and the RTP describes long-term averages rather than any guarantee for your individual session. Only ever play with money you can afford to lose, set deposit and time limits before you start, and treat any winnings as a bonus rather than an expectation. If gambling stops being fun or starts to feel like a problem, support is available through organisations such as BeGambleAware and GamCare. This game and all real-money play are strictly 18+ (or the legal age in your jurisdiction).

FAQs

Who makes the Drill the Thrill slot? Drill the Thrill was developed by NowNow Gaming, a studio that operates as part of the Hacksaw Gaming network, and it released on 27 July 2026.

What is the RTP of Drill the Thrill? The default RTP is 96.32%, which is slightly above the industry average. Be aware that lower-RTP versions running at 94.32% and 92.27% also exist, so check the version offered at your chosen casino.

What is the maximum win on Drill the Thrill? The maximum win is 10,000x your total stake, achievable primarily through the expanded grid and the Hold & Win bonus, which carries jackpots of up to 2,500x.

How volatile is the Drill the Thrill slot? It carries medium volatility (3 out of 5) with a hit frequency of around 27.12%, making it a balanced game suited to steady, longer sessions rather than extreme swings.

Can I play Drill the Thrill for free? Yes. A demo version is widely available, letting you test the expanding reels, the Blast Zone free spins and the Hold & Win feature with play-money credits before wagering real cash.

What are the main features of Drill the Thrill? The standout features are the Silver Drill expanding reels, the Golden Drill Hold & Win bonus, a jackpot ladder up to 2,500x, and the five-spin Blast Zone Bonus free spins round.

Final Verdict

Drill the Thrill is a confident, well-built slot that does almost everything competently and very little that’s genuinely new. The expanding reels are its best idea, the Hold & Win bonus delivers reliably, and the maths are fair, with a solid 96.32% default RTP and a balanced medium variance that makes it easy to play for long stretches. The polished visuals and smooth performance round out a package that’s clearly been put together by an experienced team.

What holds it back is familiarity. In a genre as saturated as mining slots, and with the collector format now featured in countless releases, Drill the Thrill struggles to carve out an identity of its own. The short five-spin free spins round is a missed opportunity, and the 10,000x ceiling, while respectable, won’t turn heads next to the market’s biggest hitters.

Our rating: 6.5/10 — a polished, dependable mining slot that’s well worth a spin in demo mode, especially if you’re a fan of expanding reels and Hold & Win bonuses, but not the standout the crowded genre has been waiting for.