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Progressive
The first time I tried this live slot with Balloon Race bonus, I had the impression I was on an adventure with Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. You remember the iconic movie, when they travelled in a hot air balloon, eh?
I know that everything is done in a studio. Thanks to awesome visuals, you will feel like actually flying in the air. The reels are placed above the clouds and you will enjoy a breathtaking view as you play the game.
The hosts will be sitting in a basket held by thousands of small balloons. If you are afraid of heights, do not look down, eh? When talking about symbols that populate the reels, there is nothing special about them.
Apart from simple 10-A playing cards, you also get bronze and silver ribbons. The golden ribbon is the Scatter that triggers the Balloon Race Bonus Game. The Wild is there to substitute for all icons and to expand to cover the entire reel.
This is the first phase in the Balloon Race pokie and is basically the base game of a regular slot machine. The 2024 release is played on a 5×3 grid, offering 10 fixed paylines. In the Qualification Phase, you spin the reels and wait for the Scatters and Expanding Wilds.
While you are waiting for the triggering Scatters to take you to the next phase, you will land wins with regular symbols and Expanding Wilds. The Wilds will help you land wins more easily in the base game (or the Qualification Phase, as they call it).
Apart from the Expanding Wild that covers the entire reel, the central attraction of the Balloon Race slot is the Bonus Game. To reach it, you need to go through 3 phases. The Qualification phase is actually the base game.
Below, you will find more information about the Top-Up phase, the Balloon Race Bonus Game, and the spin modes.
You need to land 3 Scatters or a combination of Scatters and Expanding Wilds to trigger the Balloon Race Bonus Game. Triggering Scatters can come with random win multipliers, up to 30x per Scatter. Once you trigger the feature, all the multipliers acquired from the Scatters will be joined together.
On top of the Screen, 4 finish lines will appear – yellow, purple, green, and red. Now, you wait for the Live Bonus round to start. Usually, a timer will give you information on how long you will have to wait.
During that time, you have the option to click on the Top-Up button. Each click comes with the same price as the triggering spin. Each click will release 3-6 balloons that carry multipliers. Out of them, a maximum of 2 can be the same colour.
When I tested the pokie, I tried this several times. On most occasions, each click brought me around 4 balloons with multipliers. Now, it is important to mention that not all of the released balloons reach the corresponding finish line on top of the screen.
In most cases, 2 balloons reached the finish lines and boosted the final multiplier. Once the Top-Up time expires, a plane will fly over the finish lines above and add random multipliers to all finish lines. After that, these multipliers will be multiplied by the multipliers acquired from Scatters.
Finally, the Top-Up multiplier will be added to provide you with delicious multipliers on each of the finish lines.
Each of the finish lines will have its own final multiplier. In this stage, you just sit back and relax. The hosts will do all the work. The drawing machine consists of 80 balls, 20 balls of each colour – yellow, purple, green, and red.
You will watch the race of 4 balloons of corresponding colours. When a ball is drawn, the corresponding balloon moves 1 spot closer to the finish line. When one of the balloons crosses 5 spots, the Bonus is over and you win the given multiplier on the finish line.
I triggered the feature several times and I got the biggest multiplier only once. My biggest win was 400x the bet.
During the Qualification phase, you can activate 3 different spin modes. The normal spin is set by default. The XXXtreme Spin mode will cost you 5x the bet and will guarantee either a Scatter or an Expanding Wild on each spin.
The Super XXXtreme Spin mode costs 50x the bet and guarantees 2 Scatters or expanding Wilds on every spin. Also, both the XXXtreme Spin and Super XXXtreme Spin modes offer better multipliers than the normal spin.
I tried all 3 modes and have to say that I got better results from the XXXtreme Spin mode. Truth be told, I tried the Super XXXtreme Spin only twice and lost $100 without triggering the Bonus.
I am a huge fan of Evolution game shows. My favourite is Monopoly Live. I am also fond of enjoying a tasty combination of a decent pokie machine and an exciting game show. That’s why I love live pokies.
I think that Balloon Race Live will be a huge hit. It is an entertaining game that can deliver mind-blowing wins. Of course, you will need a bit of help from the Lady Luck. But, that is the case with almost every pokie out there, eh?
If I were to split hairs, I would say that Balloon Race Live could offer some additional bonuses. Remember that I am an action junkie. However, the anticipation of the Bonus provides a decent drive for me. I rate Balloon Race Live 8.9.
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