Grand Melee Slot Review

Grand Melee Slot Overview

Grand Melee from Thunderkick throws me straight into a medieval tournament packed with armoured knights and cheering crowds. The action plays out on 6 reels with 4 rows that can stretch to 7, using up to 1193 connecting pay ways instead of traditional paylines. Wins of up to 5000 times the bet sit on the table, driven mainly by sticky respins and a punchy free spins bonus round.

The visual set-up in Grand Melee is fairly modest at first glance, yet the details grow on me. Knights clash in front of colourful tents, tall trees and a blurred castle that anchors the medieval feel, while a restless crowd rumbles underneath the reels. The grid sits slightly raised, and I find the controls easy to spot and operate, even when the screen fills with sticky symbols and extra rows.

Grand Melee Slot Information

In Grand Melee I am working with a 6x4 layout by default, paying on 1193 connecting ways when the reels are fully expanded. Wins land when at least three matching symbols hit on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost side, which keeps the flow intuitive. Stakes run from 10 pence up to 100 credits per spin, so both small stakes and more serious sessions feel perfectly manageable across desktop, tablet and mobile.

Symbols and Payouts in Grand Melee

There are 10 regular symbols and 4 feature symbols in Grand Melee, all tied tightly to the medieval theme. The lower-paying set is made up of 10, J, Q, K and A stamped on sturdy shields, paying up to between 1 and 1.5 times the bet for six of a kind. Payouts always scale with the stake size, so each step up in bet level feeds straight through to the paytable values.

The premium symbols in Grand Melee are knights in blue, green, purple, red and gold armour, topping out at 10 times the bet for six golden knights in a line. Rather than a traditional wild, the game relies on Symbol Upgrade, Symbol Expansion and Game Area Expansion icons, alongside the golden crown with two swords that acts as the scatter. Those feature symbols shape both the sticky respins and the bonus game.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	6	x10
	5	x5
	4	x2.5
	3	x1
	6	x5
	5	x2.5
	4	x1.5
	3	x0.8
	6	x4
	5	x2
	4	x1.2
	3	x0.7
	6	x3.5
	5	x1.7
	4	x1
	3	x0.6
	6	x3
	5	x1.5
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.5
	6	x1.5
	5	x0.7
	4	x0.5
	3	x0.3
	6	x1.3
	5	x0.7
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.3
	6	x1.2
	5	x0.6
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	6	x1.1
	5	x0.6
	4	x0.3
	3	x0.2
	6	x1
	5	x0.5
	4	x0.3
	3	x0.2
	Scatter

Grand Melee Slot Features

For me the core of Grand Melee is the Sticky Respin feature, which can trigger at random during the base game. A regular paying symbol or even the scatter is picked and shown above the reels. If five or more of that symbol land, they turn sticky and the rest of the grid respins. Any new copies lock in place as well, and respins keep rolling until a spin drops no extra sticky symbols.

During these sticky respins, three special symbols can swing things dramatically in Grand Melee. Symbol Upgrade turns all current sticky symbols into a higher-paying version on the same reel set, which can flip modest hits into serious clusters. Symbol Expansion can become the chosen sticky symbol and then stretch to cover its entire reel, while Game Area Expansion adds an extra row at the bottom and can include further scatters and feature icons.

The Bonus Game in Grand Melee arrives when five or more crown scatters land in a single sequence, either in normal play or inside a sticky respin if the scatter was the chosen symbol. Crown symbols can turn sticky while a meter under the reels fills, and the number of free spins you receive matches the scatter count. In my sessions, retriggers felt possible but not easy, which suits the high volatility profile.

How to Win at Grand Melee Slot

I approach Grand Melee in the same way I handle most high variance slots, starting in demo mode to feel how often the sticky respins and bonus actually land. Regular wins come from lining up three or more symbols from the left, but the serious hits tend to arrive when respins lock in a strong symbol and the game area climbs towards seven rows high, filling the screen with matching knights and crowns.

Grand Melee Slot RTP & Volatility

On the numbers side, Grand Melee comes with a default RTP of 96.17 percent and high volatility, which I felt clearly in longer sessions. The paytable is built around fairly small base game hits padded out by those sticky respins and the bonus game. The developer has released several alternative RTP versions down to around 87 percent, so I always glance at the information panel to see which one my casino has chosen.

The maximum win in Grand Melee is capped at 5000 times the bet, which I find reasonable for a feature set built around sticky mechanics rather than monster multipliers. With stakes between 0.10 and 100 per spin, the slot caters for cautious bankrolls and larger balances. Payouts can feel streaky, yet the hit rate on smaller wins during respins kept me engaged while I waited for more explosive set-ups.

Grand Melee Slot Conclusion

After quite a few sessions, Grand Melee has grown into one of my go-to sticky respin slots when I fancy a medieval flavour. The theme feels fairly harmonious, with an uplifting backdrop of tents, trees and castle walls supporting the action without stealing focus. At first the game looks almost simple, yet once the grid starts stretching upwards the screen can turn into a hectic wall of shields and armoured knights.

What keeps me coming back to Grand Melee is the way sticky respins, symbol upgrades and grid expansions interact, giving genuine shots at those 5000x moments without layers of confusing side rules. On the flip side, the connected ways system means you will sometimes stare at screens packed with the right symbol that frustratingly do not link. If you enjoy rising tension through respins, though, this tournament is worth entering.

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