Get your motors running players; developer Pragmatic Play is putting its pedal to the metal to burn rubber with fast cars and jokers in the online slot Racing Joker. Sorry, that was a terrible introduction line, so we'll try to keep the cheesy car cliches to a bare minimum from here on out. Racing Joker keeps a lot of things to a minimum, too, while serving up such features as free spins with low pay symbols removed and a basic hold 'n win round where 3 jackpots are up for grabs.
One thing Pragmatic Play has minimised in Racing Joker is the use of actual jokers. There just aren't many of them busting out much knee-slapping comedy at any stage of the game. In fact, apart from a clownish-looking figure appearing on the wild symbol, there's not really any. Nor is there anyone in the crowd as banks of empty seats line the grandstands on either side of the gaming grid. Maybe this is practice day rather than race day? Kind of a metaphor for Racing Joker as a whole.
Crack the hood, and underneath it, we find a medium volatile math model (rated 3 out of 5) generating a maximum return to player of 96.52%. Played on a 5-reel, 3-row gaming board, players get 25 paylines to land winning combinations of symbols; at least 3 of a kind is needed to do so; 5 OAK is best. Racing Joker does not have an ante bet or bonus buy, so it's a case of picking a stake of 25 p/c to $/€125 and putting your foot down.
Eight regular paying symbols land in the base game, less in free spins, as you will see. On the lower side are 4 flag symbols in black, yellow, blue, and red chequered colours, then a steering wheel, a wheel removal tool, a wheel, and a champagne bottle as the 4 high pay symbols. Should a winning line of 5 matching symbols hit, the reward amongst the low pays is 2 times the bet, increasing to 4-8 times the bet for the high pays. A racing car symbol is Racing Joker's wild and substitutes for all symbols except the scatter or the Money symbols.
Powering this racing car features-wise are free spins where certain symbols are removed from the reels and a Money Respin feature.
Present on reels 2, 3, and 4 is Racing Joker's scatter symbol. Landing 3 scatters awards 1x the bet and 8 free spins. During free spins, all of the low-paying flag symbols are removed from the reels so they do not land, theoretically improving the chances of hitting high-pay wins. Also, hitting 3 scatters awards an additional 8 free spins without a limit on how many times this can happen.
Helmets with values printed on the visor are the Money symbols. They either display a random value from a set range limit or the Mini or Major Jackpots worth 30x and 100x the bet, respectively. Money symbols are present in the base game and free spins, and when landing at least 6 of them, the Money Respin feature is triggered.
When activated, 3 respins are awarded on a grid which lands only Money symbols or blank spaces. The triggering Money symbols are sticky, so they lock in place, as are any new Money symbols, which also reset the respin count to 3 when new ones land. The round continues until repsins run out or all positions are filled. Then the total amount of all Money symbols in view is awarded. If all positions are filled, the 1,000x Mega Jackpot is also awarded.
The first question after loading Racing Joker was where's the jokers? The character driving a car on the wild symbol is about it. Players going into this game expecting to find all manner of wacky joker-ness popping up all over the place will be sorely disappointed. However you cut it, Racing Joker didn't come across as a slot Pragmatic Play has used to dive deep into the topic of jokering. There is, however, a fair amount of racing going on, or at least a few references on the gaming board and in the background.
On that note, it's kind of funny, given the huge popularity of racing sports and cars in general, how few car racing slots there are. Apparently, transferring the immense thrills of ludicrously OP motors racing around a track at speeds which would blow the hair off regular non-racing car drivers to a set of reels is a tough job. Even Nolimit City struggled to really impress with its automobile-themed slot Road Rage. A high-octane car game that came to mind is Push Gaming's excellently designed Mad Maxian epic Mad Cars, though it might be a bit brutal for some tastes. Pragmatic Play's Street Racer could be an alternative, as might NetEnt's Drive: Multiplier Mayhem or Knight Rider, perhaps.
Racing Joker isn't exactly a top-tier example of automobile racing. It's okay, easy to look at, and fun for a few spins, particularly free spins where low-pay flag symbols are removed from the reel strips. For a taste of racing in a slot with a minor hint of jokers, Racing Joker could be alright, maybe, for a lap or two. It doesn't list the max win or a win cap on the paytable, which is unusual for a Pragmatic Play slot. Winning potential can't be a very impressive amount if the studio isn't touting it. And so, after seeing Racing Joker do its thing for a bit, sitting through the rudimentary hold' n win round, a handbrake pull quickly curbed enthusiasm, and the interest dial swiftly dropped back to baseline.
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