A cascade removes the winning symbols, drops new ones into the gaps and checks for wins again without a new stake. One paid spin can then hold three or four wins in a row, or none. Most often a multiplier climbs alongside the cascades, though it does not have to.
An early example that still holds up is Quickspin’s Big Bad Wolf (2013): 5×3 reels, 25 lines, 97.34% RTP and a 1,225x cap. Winning symbols are blown away, pigs turn Wild, and the bonus is called Blowing Down the House. It took a Game of the Year trophy at the EGR Operator Awards. Twelve years on, NetEnt released Gonzo’s Quest II (25 September 2025), where every avalanche adds a row and the height can reach eight, taking ways up to 262,144. Listed figures: 96.06% RTP, a 23% hit frequency and a 15,825x cap. Between the first and last level lies a factor of 64, which is what makes a long avalanche so valuable.
What falls, and from where
In Big Time Gaming’s Opal Fruits (30 May 2019) new symbols arrive from three sides at once, so a chain continues more often than with a fall from the top alone. The hit frequency is 34.61% and the cap is 25,818x. Starburst Galaxy (26 November 2024, 96.00% RTP, 17,288x cap) leaves a Wild where a combination disappeared, and that Wild helps the next step. In Yggdrasil Gaming’s Vault of Fortune (23 July 2020) the avalanche multiplier has no ceiling and does not reset in the bonus.
PG Soft’s Mahjong Ways 2 (2020) counts the chain on a ladder above the reels: it rises one step with each winning cascade and resets when the chain ends. Payback is 96.95%, topping out at 100,000x. Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Aztec (31 January 2023) pays from eight matching symbols on a 6×5 grid, but its cap is only 5,000x.
Cascades smooth out the rhythm: a run gives several small payments, while a big one needs a long chain. So look at the hit frequency and at how the multiplier grows. The way one cascade mechanic splits into two distinct styles is shown in Gates of Olympus against Starlight Princess.