A throwback to a time when symbols in slots were just Bars and 7s
Think of the 80s. The early 80s. Think Glam Rock music, hula hoops, Space Invaders, films like The Goonies and Beverly Hills Cop. Think stone-washed jeans, dodgy haircuts and that fashion of wearing shirts with t-shirts underneath as demonstrated by the likes of Michael J. Fox and Emilio Estevez.
Ok, now think what a slot machine would look like. You know, the ones from land-based casinos, not online slots. Can you picture it? Ok, well that’s what the Money Matrix video slot looks like.
Is that a bad thing? Well, no. It’s just that it’s a slot released now and therefore has a tendency to look like it was made post-online shopping, the Kardashians, Twitter and a certain man with a certain hairstyle becoming President of the United States.
This is by far the most retro game I’ve ever reviewed here at G2G. Read on to find out what I made of it.
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Realistic Games – Kings of retro video slots are
You know that friend of yours who seems to be stuck in time? We all have one. They still listen use a Walkman, order prawn cocktail at restaurants (only to be told they don’t serve it), watch re-runs of the A-Team and talk about a Ferrari F40 like it’s the hottest car in the world.
Realistic Games, the slot providers who made the Money Matrix slot, seem to be the slot world’s equivalent of that. For the record, this is the first slot I’ve reviewed that was made by them. But I had a quick play at some of their games and Money Matrix seems to be very much in line with what they always do rather than the exception to the rule.
Try out a couple of their slots like Jackpot Cherries and Chasing Rainbows and you’ll see what I mean.
But of course, it’s like me and my colleagues here at G2G always says:
‘’There’s no point everyone being the same or trying to do the same thing. It would make for a pretty boring world.’’
The point is that if you like all-action, rich graphics, top of the range effects and endless features I slots that make them end up looking like a movie, play something by NetEnt or Microgaming.
But if you like your slots retro, simple and reminiscent of how our gaming ancestors used to do things, you’ll like these guys and the casino slots they make.
But there’s one thing you can’t fault them for in terms of not keeping up with the times. All their games have been made to perform on mobile devices as well as they do on desktop.
Old-school slot, old school feel
When I said this game was as old-school as a certain Vince Vaughan and Will Ferrell movie, I meant it. The actual slot machine you play is ‘virtually’ located in the middle of a land casino and surrounded by a couple of other slots.
This is a 3 reel machine and the symbols are red 7s, blue 7s, red Bars, blue Bars, green Bars, silver dollar signs and gold dollar signs. The highest paying symbols are the Red 7s, followed by the blue 7s. Three Reds in a row on the middle reel pay you out 30x your bet, three Blues pay you out 10x and if you get a mixture of the two you get 2x your stake.
Getting the Bar symbols in a line works in the same way but with lesser wins and one important exception: a combination of different Bar symbols on the middle reel doesn’t pay out a prize.
I guess the moral of the story is that just like it doesn’t pay to mix drinks, it doesn’t pay to mix Bars. Badoom toosh!
This is normally the stage where I talk about graphics, special effects and sound effects. Well, by now you should have gotten an idea of what sort of slot this is so it will come as no surprise to you that there are no special effects! The graphics I’ve mentioned already and there are a few basic sound effects such as when you activate the Super Spin (see below) or secure yourself a win of any description.
Win Series feature can really boost the bank
Now onto the endless features that this slot possesses…
Did you really fall for that one? No, I didn’t think so. No, there aren’t that many features but before I go through the ones there are, I’ll remind you that slots aren’t just about bright lights and endless bonus features.
Like the ones, you can find on Red Riding Hood, for example.
Slots are also about winning money on them. And though you won’t go through lots of highly entertaining features before you secure yourself some big wins here, that’s not to say those serious wins aren’t there. The Money Matrix slot has a very respectable Return to Player, up there with the best.
So there!
Here are the game’s features
Nudges
Ah, the English pub. There really is nothing quite like it.
One of the characteristics of watching someone play a fruit machine in an English pub (also known as a fruity or gambler) is that you’ll often see them bend down when they’re awarded nudges. The reason for that is with most machines you can actually see which symbols will end up on the middle reel when you nudge and therefore which reels you should nudge in order to secure a win or activate a feature.
Sadly, here there’s not much point nudging down in your living room or wherever else you’re playing the game but the way nudges work is the same.
Nudging a reel means you bring the symbol just above the middle reel down one place so it becomes active on the middle reel. If you have two nudges you can nudge twice and the maximum of three nudges means you can do it three times. You can nudge the same reel every time or nudge different reels in order to get the best possible result.
Winning Spin
I’ll be honest (I always am) when I say that those nudges don’t often give you the chance to secure an immediate win. But what the nudges do often bring is a Super Spin.
That means that after a series of nudges, you’re often awarded a Super Spin and that means a guaranteed win. It could be a small win like the mixed 7s or it could be the biggest win of all- the three Red 7s.
But you can get the Super Spin at any time, not just after getting nudges.
Gold Series/Silver Series/Win Series
I’m guessing you’ve been biting your nails wondering what those gold and silver dollar symbols did in the game, right? I knew it, I just knew it.
Well, all is about to be revealed. If you get a gold symbol on each reel you activate the Gold Series, a silver on each one activates the Silver Series and a mixture of golds and silver activates the Win Series.
Have you ever arrived home at 5 in the morning and had to confess about something really, really bad that you did which explains why you arrived at the same time as the milkman was dropping off a pint of full-fat milk? No? Ok, maybe it’s just us.
Either way, it’s confession time. I played the slot for a number of hours and the only one of the three I managed to activate was the Win Series. But I’m told that the Silver Series and Gold Series works in exactly the same way but just allows you to win more.
Once the Win Series is activated, you just keep pressing the spin button and you’re guaranteed at least two wins. Quite often I got three or four in a row and it’s not unusual for the winning spins to include a couple of the best paying combinations. Eventually, the reels will spin and not produce a win and then it’s back to the normal game.
Missing the 80s? Give Money Matrix a go!
This is slot playing at the most basic level. It would appeal to someone just trying to get their heads around how to play them and who wants to get a feel for how it all works. Or maybe to an experienced slots player who wants a little break from all the more modern stuff that can actually come a little too quick and fast for some people’s liking.
It’s worth pointing out again that the more snazzy slots don’t necessarily return the most winnings. Far from it. With this slot, you’ve certainly got as good a chance of leaving with a decent win as anything else we’ve played.
So if you’re in the mood for a throwback to the 80s, by all means, give it a go. To read about very different slots with a far more present day feel to them, visit our free slots section.