While we live in a world of finite resources, there are some things which appear to be abundant. The number of humans is one thing that keeps growing, traffic seems to be getting worse, and there most certainly is not a shortage of scatter symbol instant prize games on the planet. Adding one more is developer Pragmatic Play with the online slot Cash Chips - a game that has at heart a list of prizes winnable when a certain number of Chip symbols hit, as well as two free spins bonus rounds with either extra Chips or extra wilds – players' choice as to which one is activated.
To match a common gaming mechanic, Pragmatic Play has picked some common visuals to accompany it. We're talking about classic casino iconography, such as bells, dice, cherries and so forth, as well as an odd flaming strip effect along the bottom of the screen in free spins. Why? Perhaps the game is just so darn smoking hot that it's virtually burning up. To be fair, it is quite hot, for what it is, the Pragmatic Play team are masters of making slick, jazzy-looking slots of which Cash Chips can count itself one.
>It's also a highly volatile game with large, for this sort of slot, winning potential on the line. The gaming occurs on a 5-reel, 3-row grid panel with 20 paylines for landing regular winning combinations, though the instant prizes are arguably Cash Chips' main event. The RTP has a default value of 96.03% when playing normally or buying free spins, and bets of 20 p/c to $/€240 may be chosen.
Seven regular pay symbols are located on the reel strips, as are wilds, Chips, and scatters. From lowest value to highest, the pay symbols are objects such as dice, cards, cash, a horseshoe, a bell, cherries, and a 7. Hitting a winning line, which includes 5 matching symbols, pays out from 1 to 15 times the bet. Wilds are on all reels and pay 25x the bet for a five wilds winning line. Or, wilds may be used to substitute all symbols except scatters or Chips.
>The prize list displayed next to the reels is a clue to one of Cash Chips' features, that being Chip symbol instant rewards. This popular feature is accompanied by free spins with extra wilds and free spins with extra chips.
Hitting 4 or more Chip symbols in any position on the reels awards a direct money prize. The value of the prize is 5x, 20x, 50x, 350x, 1,250x, or 5,000x the bet when 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 Chips are visible on the reels.
Scatter symbols hit on reels 2, 3, and 4, and landing 3 of them triggers the free spins round and pays out 1x the bet. Next, players pick the free spins round they prefer – free spins with extra wilds or free spins with extra Chips:
For 100 times the bet, players can instantly trigger free spins where they can then pick the feature they prefer.
>Given how prolific Pragmatic Play is, it's a little surprising the studio hasn't made greater use of this style of gaming. Ideas need to be fed into the machine at a prodigious rate, after all, and these 9 Masks of Fire games appear to be super popular - a ton of studios have made attempts, often numerous attempts, to grab some of its success. Set within the wider landscape, Cash Chips isn't a bad addition at all if you're into this kind of game. It's got the trademark Prag look and feel all high energy and professionally done, ideal if slick, classic stylings are a particular forte. 'Classic' itself is a popular trope in the slot biz, so put the two things together, and who knows, maybe Cash Chips will hit.
As for the gaming, it pretty much played out how one might expect. The goal being to land as many Chips as possible to score a decent prize off the list. The prizes are, in general, higher than they often are in a game like this - not just the top one. The values on the prize ladder grow quickly, and while the top prize is respectable, even the mid-tier values aren't shabby either. It might mean that Chip wins are less frequent, perhaps, hard to say, than in games like this with lower values, which might not be what some players are after. Volatility is high, too, compounding this impression. For other gamblers, this might be just what they'd prefer in a scatter prize game, and Cash Chips' 10,000x the bet win cap is rather impressive, too.
Not so sure about the free spins with extra wilds, though. Since this is a game that focuses on hitting Chip symbols to win a prize, it feels like handicapping yourself when picking the wild-centric free spins round. Ah well, the wild round has a line win multiplier, so, choices. In the end, Cash Chips is a glossy entry into a popular slot category with something to offer players looking for something on the more volatile side of the range.
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