The-Race

When we only knew the title of this game, we were certain Big Time Gaming had come up with some kind of awesome car racing slot that would take our breath away. This is not really the case, however, as The Race Megaways comes with BTG’s usual glossy gemstone presentation. The backdrop is a mix between retro-futuristic disco and gameshow, with 2 massive pixelated screens that display winning symbols.
In addition to the dynamic grid that can provide up to 117,649 ways to win, you also get Wild Duplication at random times. It sounds more fancy than it is, perhaps, as it’s basically just wilds that expand upwards. The main attraction is the progressive multiplier bonus round, and a pre-game determines how many lives you bring with you. It goes on until you run out of lives, and this can lead to solid payoutsup to 24,070x your stake.
The premium gemstone symbols pay between 1 and 12.5 x your stake for 6 of a kind wins, and the Wild symbol plays a central role in this game. Its core function is to step in for pay symbols to help complete and/or improve wins, and we shall explore what more it can do below. TheReactions mechanicremoves winning symbols, and the gaps are filled with new and/or existing symbols dropping down from above. This goes on as long as you keep winning.
After random spins where at least one wild is present, theWild Duplication featuremay trigger. All symbols above on the same reel as the wild or wilds will then turn into wilds themselves. Keep in mind, however, that wild symbols can land on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 only.
You need3 scattersin view to trigger the HeartBonus Round, and before the main feature you’ll get3 streak respinson aspecial 4×5 gridwhere only Hearts and/or blanks appear. Each heart that lands becomes sticky, and this resets the respins tally to 3 each time. The actual bonus round starts when you either run out of respins, or when you fill the screen with nothing but heart symbols.
The number of heart symbols you racked up in the pre-game determines your number of bonus round lives (up to 20 is possible). The bonus roundwin multiplierstarts at x1, and it increases by+1 per Reaction Win. The multiplier never resets for as long as the free spins round lasts, and it comes with no upper limit. A broken heart terminator symbol removes 1 life from your tally when it appears, and you get indefinite free spins until all your lives are removed.
TheWin Exchange Featurekicks in when you win at least100x your stake, and you can then spend100x your stake to purchase the Heart Free Spins Roundif you wish. If you winbetween 25 and 99 x your stake, however, you can use that amount togamble for the bonus round. Non-UK players, and anyone eligible, can also purchase the bonus round directly for 100x the stake.
You get a taste of the base game, and you also get to see a decent win, before we purchase the bonus round at 0:53 into the 4:32-minute highlights video. We got a pretty decent amount of lives as well, and you can check it all out for yourself by hitting the play button below.
Big Time Gaming has a thing for “cold and impersonal” releases like what you get in The Race, and the presentation has the soul and depth of a gameshow. The facade is as polished as the gemstone symbols that take center stage, with two pixelated big screens displaying the winning symbols in the background. There is a futuristic vibe hanging over this thing, like some kind of show that AI Androids would watch on a Saturday night to wind down after exterminating what remains of humanity.
Okay, a bit over the top with that dystopian characterization, perhaps. Anyway, you get what amounts to expanding wilds to prolong your cascading streaks in the base game, and a lot hangs on how many lives your rack up in the pre-bonus game. It can go on for quite a while with a decent amount, and the longer it goes on the higher your multiplier may climb. This can lead to payoutsup to 24,070x your stake, which is solid, and this is overall a decent release that’s not really up there with the best we’ve seen from BTG.
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