lab studies / deadwood
lab study, simulation-based

203 million spins on deadwood: extreme volatility, a 6-point RTP ladder, and 72% of $0.50/$100 sessions busted

exp · 058 · 2026-06-27 · simulation-based

provider Nolimit CityRTP 96.03% (versions: 96.03*;94.15;90.13)volatility extreme
at 50c a spin
€6,975
biggest win
13,950x top win
~199
spins to the bonus
about 40 min at 5/min
€35
average bonus
when it hits (70x)
€0.48
avg back per spin
of your 50c
win hit frequency 40.2% (~1 in 2.5 spins)max win 13,950x = €6,975 (a feature event)
deadwood is Nolimit City's extreme-volatility Western, built on xNudge wilds that can detonate in the base game itself. it ships on a three-step RTP ladder, 96.03%, 94.15% and 90.13%, and the casino selects the rung. we simulated 202,725,981 spins (90,000 sessions per version) at the 96.03% default and the 90.13% floor. at $0.50 a spin against a $100 bankroll, 72.2% of sessions busted on the default and 79.3% on the floor. at $0.20/$100 the floor adds a full 12 points to the bust rate.

Run it yourself in the live simulator. All figures are simulation-based observations, not predictions. See our methodology.

what we measured

parametervalue
provider / engineNolimit City · xNudge wilds, collapsing reels
configs simulated96.03% (provider default) · 90.13% (floor of the published ladder)
published rtp ladder96.03% / 94.15% / 90.13%, a verified 5.90pp spread the casino selects
volatilityextreme (10/10)
hit frequency40.17% (~1 in 2.5 spins)
stakes$0.20 / $0.50 / $1.00 per spin
bankrolls$50 / $100 / $200
sessions10,000 per stake/bankroll cell, 90,000 per version
spin cap2,000 spins per session
max win13,950x stake
feature buysFree Spins 71x; Shoot Out 750x (non-UK)

model inputs worth flagging: the RTP ladder, hit frequency (40.17%, provider) and the 13,950x max are sourced. unusually, the xNudge mechanic means the max win can be hit in the base game, not only the bonus, our 50M-spin pass confirmed it. Nolimit does not publish a bonus trigger frequency for this game, so we modelled it (about one bonus every ~200 spins) as a documented assumption; the bonus payout distribution and base-versus-feature split are model assumptions calibrated to the published RTP and the 13,950x cap. the cross-version comparison holds all inputs constant, so it is robust; absolute bonus figures are estimates.

how long bankrolls survived

survival curves, share of sessions still alive vs spins played

the stake sets the clock. at the $100 bankroll the default-version median ran 852 spins at $0.50, long, because the high hit rate keeps small wins flowing. but extreme volatility means the dry stretches between meaningful wins are brutal, and the bankroll grinds down between them.

bust rates

bust-rate grid, share of sessions that busted before the spin cap

bust rates within the 2,000-spin cap, 96.03% default version, 95% confidence intervals:

$50 bankroll$100$200
$0.20/spin64.6% ±0.927.1% ±0.90.2% ±0.1
$0.50/spin86.7% ±0.772.2% ±0.940.8% ±1.0
$1.00/spin94.0% ±0.586.8% ±0.772.3% ±0.9

plain reading: hold the bankroll at $100 and move the stake from $0.20 to $0.50, and the bust rate jumps from 27.1% to 72.2%. the only genuinely safe cell is $0.20 against $200 (0.2%).

the bonus wait, and what it pays

on our modelled trigger rate (about 1 in 200 spins, an assumption), the bonus carries about 36% of the total return, lower than most, because deadwood's extreme tail can also come from the base game via xNudge. the payout side (model-based estimates): the average bonus paid 70x stake but the median was just 38x, and 60% paid under 50x. the 13,950x ceiling is the rare tail; a typical bonus pays well under the average.

what a finished session looks like

final bankroll by percentile

the final-bankroll distribution at $0.50/$100 has almost no middle. seven sessions in ten ended with under $0.50 of the original $100, busted, in effect, with the median finish near $0.49. then it leaps: the 90th percentile kept $299. extreme-volatility Nolimit sessions either die or, rarely, detonate.

the rtp version lottery

deadwood is published at 96.03% and also at 94.15% and 90.13%, a 5.90-point spread the casino selects. we ran the full grid at the default and the floor; same model, same inputs, only the RTP changed:

cell96.03% default90.13% floordelta
$0.20/$100 bust27.1% ±0.939.4% ±1.0+12.3pp
$0.50/$100 bust72.2% ±0.979.3% ±0.8+7.1pp
$0.50/$200 bust40.8% ±1.052.4% ±1.0+11.6pp
$1.00/$200 bust72.3% ±0.980.4% ±0.8+8.1pp

the floor version raised the bust rate by 7 to 12 points depending on the cell, because the spread is nearly six points wide. same game, same shootouts. the only difference is the RTP the operator chose to run. the version is the one variable a player can actually pick, so play it where the published RTP is highest. our casino hub ranks operators by exactly that.

methodology note

we simulate models calibrated to published math, RTP, hit frequency, volatility profile, bonus behaviour, not the provider's game engine. results are sample-based observations from 202,725,981 simulated spins (180,000 sessions across two RTP versions), with 95% confidence intervals shown. hit frequency (40.17%) is sourced; the bonus trigger frequency is not published and was modelled (~1 in 200) as a documented assumption; the bonus payout distribution and base-versus-feature split are modelled. the max win can land in the base game (xNudge), so it is not framed purely as a feature event. casino-by-casino RTP figures are the published ladder, not statements about any operator's current configuration. model validation: deadwood v1, analytic calibration exact at 96.03% and 90.13%, 10M-spin checks within tolerance. slots are negative-expectation games; nothing here predicts outcomes or improves odds. corrections policy: methodology.html.

Where the max win actually comes from

base 61%
feature 35%

36% of this game's RTP is locked inside the bonus you rarely trigger; the base game on its own returns just 61%.

On this slot the big multipliers live in the base game too, so the max win can land on a normal spin, just extremely rarely (our biggest normal spin reached ~13,950x). The feature is still where it usually happens. (base-game ceiling: paytable-sourced)

Play the Deadwood demo, or stress-test it

Looking for the Deadwood demo or free play? A demo shows you a handful of spins. Our free simulator runs Deadwood across thousands of sessions and shows what actually happens to a bankroll over time: the bust rate, how long the money lasts, and the wait for the bonus. It is the demo with the math switched on.

stress-test Deadwood free

FAQ

Is there a Deadwood demo or free play?

Yes. You can play Deadwood in demo mode at most casinos, and you can stress-test it free in our simulator, which runs thousands of sessions and reports the bust rate and session length, the demo with the math switched on.

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