Evolution Lightning Games – What Are They, and How do They Work?

Let’s start with the basics – what are these so-called Lightning games, and what’s all the fuss about them?

In simple terms, Lightning casino games are live dealer betting games that introduce random prize multipliers into established casino classics like Roulette and Blackjack. Every game in the series does this differently depending on the rules and context, but this core concept is always the same. As a result, games like Lightning Roulette keep the simple and familiar gameplay of common casino games but enhance the experience by offering potentially better prizes.

The basic idea can be summed up as the following: reduce the payouts for standard bets in casino games, but introduce a chance to win a much, much bigger prize. This effectively increases the game’s volatility, but also often results in a slight decrease in RTP. If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, make sure to read our guide to RTP in live casino games.

Beyond that, Evolution Lightning games also have a common presentation style. All of these games feature a big, flashy production with custom-made studies themed around thunder and lightning. Moreover, the entertainment-style presentation and fancy graphics often make these games feel like casino game shows. Some might even call them hybrid games for that exact reason, but that’s beside the point.

If this concept sounds familiar to you, we should mention that this approach to game design is by no means unique to Evolution. Many live casino software providers, Evolution’s competitors, have since introduced tables with similar or sometimes identical features. If you’re interested, you can check out this list of Lightning Roulette alternatives. However, none are quite as successful as the original, and no other provider can boast a series as successful and impactful as Evolution’s Lightning brand.

Are Lightning Games Good?

Most players and experts would say that yes, Lightning games are well-made and an excellent example of what the live online casino industry can do. However, there’s no accounting for taste, so not everyone is of the same opinion.

That’s why the real question should be – are Lighting Games good for you?

With that in mind, we’ll list a few crucial factors and advantages that contributed to the undeniable popularity of these games.

• Simplicity – Lightning games are just variants of games you’re probably already familiar with, such as blackjack or baccarat. You can jump right in for the first time and have a great time.
• Big payouts – The most alluring feature of these titles is their ability to enhance rewards. If you like big prizes that are hard to win, they will definitely be interesting to you.
• Top-tier visuals – Evolution pretty much sets the gold standard for excellent live casino graphics. The presentation, studios, and overall graphics are top-notch.
• Accessibility – Games in this family are not only simple but often use a game show-like format without limited seats. This translates into low minimum bets, among other perks.
• Excitement – Ultimately, the goal of gaming is to have a good time. A chance to win 1,000x your bet is always going to be exciting, and the games themselves were designed to amplify that feeling.

Lightning Games – Full List

If you feel ready to find out what these games are all about, we’re getting to the core of this article – the games themselves. We’ll go through each and every game and explain how the Lightning number features are implemented. We’ll also provide a great casino for every title in which you can play it for real money.

Just remember that none of these games shake up the core rules too much. For example, if you know how to play baccarat, you’ll probably quickly figure out how Lightning Baccarat works as well. That’s why we’ll focus on the Lightning features themselves.

If you want to know more about any specific game, click on its name to read our full review.

Lightning Roulette

• Base game: Roulette
• Released: 2018
• Max multiplier: 500x
• RTP of affected bets: 97.10%

The game that started it all – the first Lightning Numbers ever introduced, and the first truly successful release of a multiplier-boosted roulette wheel. It’s a modern classic, and for good reason.

The basic idea here is very simple. In every round, 1-5 numbers are randomly selected as Lightning Numbers. Each of these is assigned a multiplier between 50x and 500x. If you make a Straight up bet on a single number and it happens to be a Lightning Number, you’ll receive the multiplier instead of the base payout if you win.

Importantly, multipliers only really affect Straight Up bets. To compensate for the potential winnings, the base payout of these wagers is reduced to 29:1 instead of the usual 35:1. This also results in a small hit to the bet’s RTP.

We would argue that better roulette games with multipliers have been released since this one. Games that don’t reduce the RTP or allow you to collect multipliers with all Inside bets. However, Lightning Roulette will forever be a trailblazer, and these games are just building on its massive success. It’s a must-play if you’re interested in this style of gameplay.

If you’re looking for the best casino to play Lightning Roulette, we highly recommend the incredible 888Casino.

Lightning Dice

• Base game: None
• Released: 2018
• Max multiplier: 1,000x
• RTP of affected bets: 96.21%

Lightning Dice is kind of a black sheep of the Lightning Dice family because it’s not directly based on a common casino game. It just uses the vague concepts of dice gambling games, but is otherwise a completely unique product. The fact that this is only the second Lightning game ever to be released makes this quite interesting.

In this game, players bet on the result of three dice being rolled. It’s sort of like Sic Bo but if you only had Totals wagers. That’s pretty much all there is to it. More likely results such as 10 or 11 pay little, while unlikely outcomes such as 3 or 18 pay up to 150x. There are other betting options such as Any Triple or High/low, but these can’t be affected by multipliers.

However, that’s before we really mention the big attraction – Lightning numbers. Between 1 and 5 results are struck by lightning in every round. The multipliers are random, but every bet has a potential maximum that depends on how risky it is. For instance, “safe” bets like 10 or 11 can only be increased up to 50x, while 3 or 18 can reach a whopping 1,000x.

If you want to try out one of the best dice games in online casinos, you can find Lightning Dice on the 7Bit casino.

Lightning Baccarat

• Base game: Baccarat
• Released: 2020
• Max multiplier: 1,000x
• RTP of affected bets: 98.76%

Two years after Lightning Roulette hit the casinos, it was pretty clear that the concept was a smash hit. This prompted Evo to release the next game that would solidify the Lightning casino series on the global gambling stage.

Lightning Baccarat is fundamentally a bog-standard version of casino baccarat. It uses all of the same rules as any other table in the industry, right down to the 5% commission on Banker bets.

However, up to 5 cards in every round are selected as Lightning cards. If you happen to win a bet and a Lightning card is part of the winning hand, your payout is multiplied by the number displayed. That’s right – this is the only game in which lightning multipliers actually multiply winnings instead of replacing them. That usually wouldn’t matter because the base payouts for Baccarat’s main bets are 1:1 anyway.

However, the crucial feature of Lightning Baccarat is that Lightning Numbers can multiply each other. For example, if your winning hand happens to contain Lightning Cards with 2x and 3x multipliers, the total prize increase will be 6x! This also works with Tie bets, which can be multiplied 5 times over if you’re really lucky. Thanks to the magic of exponential growth, this can result in a maximum multiplier of – get ready for this – 1,310,719x! Drawing five 8x multipliers in one round is very unlikely, though, so don’t hold your breath.

Additionally, bets in baccarat have the same base, unmultiplied payouts as other baccarat tables. However, a 20% fee is charged on all wagers to compensate for the multipliers.

The LeoVegas online casino hosts Lightning Baccarat tables, among many others.

Lightning Blackjack

• Base game: Blackjack
• Released: 2021
• Max multiplier: 25x
• RTP of affected bets:99.49%

Blackjack was a surprisingly late arrival to the Lightning party. Frankly, relatively complex card games such as blackjack are tough to fiddle with the same way one can do with, say, roulette. When Evo finally unveiled the long-awaited table in 2021, fans were eager to see how it would all fit together.

When you first fire up the game, you’ll be playing standard live casino blackjack. However, each stake comes with a 100% lightning fee. If you win the hand, a random multiplier between 2x and 25x will be assigned to you, depending on the winning hand. For instance, hands winning with 18 might have a 5x multiplier assigned, while hands willing with 21 might have 12x assigned. All are random, but stronger hands tend to provide higher multipliers. This multiplier is applied to any winnings in the next round you play. 

It was an interesting way of going about things, but Lightning Blackjack is built on the same ideas as Lightning Baccarat. Still, it’s somewhat unwieldy to play, so it never got quite the same attention as some of its peers. That said, it’s one of the very few online blackjack games with multipliers, which makes it stand out.

Try Lightning Blackjack on the Mr Green live casino!

Lightning Lotto

• Base game: Lottery
• Released: 2023
• Max multiplier: 100,000x
• RTP of affected bets:96.08%

Unlike blackjack, lotto always seemed like the perfect fit for a Lightning-branded title. Though lotteries are not the most popular type of game in live casinos, they certainly attract an audience of dedicated players.

Lightning Lotto combines basic lotto gameplay with two ball-drawing drums. Five numbered balls are drawn from one of these, while a sixth ball is drawn from the special Powerball drum. Naturally, the goal is to match as many numbers on your ticket(s) to the ball numbers as possible.

As one might expect, Lightning Numbers are assigned to two balls in every round. These increase payouts from 2x to 10x, and can even stack multiplicatively. Additionally, lotto has naturally high payouts for 6-number lines and similarly rare results. When you stack these two together, you can reach dizzying prizes of up to 100,000x!

Lightning Lotto remains one of the most popular forms of live casino lottery. Spin Rio hosts the game on its impressive library.

Lightning Dragon Tiger

• Base game: Dragon Tiger
• Released: 2024
• Max multiplier: 1,280x
• RTP of affected bets:96.97%

Lightning Dragon Tiger is another not-so-surprising addition to the Lightning roster. After all, Dragon Tiger is essentially a simplified variant of Baccarat, so the building blocks were already there.

The game itself is as straightforward and exciting as you would expect. However, the way that the Lightning Features were implemented is a serious departure from previous releases. In Lightning Dragon Tiger, multipliers are applied to card suits instead of card values. This means that the multipliers are more common, but also noticeably smaller.

Despite the game’s limited volatility, its multipliers can also stack multiplicatively to create massive prizes of up to 1,280x. You would need to get really lucky for such an outcome, but it’s possible, which is what Lightning games are all about.

If you want to try one of the newest Lightning games to be released, you can find it on MegaPari.