There is no mistaking the retro design inspiration behind NetEnt’s Reel Rush slots title. US gamers who loved the Nintendo Super Mario games in the 80s and 90s will find the background, icon style and background music hauntingly familiar. Reel Rush Touch makes this nostalgic fun available on the latest smart phones and tablets, with the added convenience of touchscreen controls.
Unique Layout and Game Play
Although Reel Rush Touch features five reels, each containing five rows, only 13 of the available 25 slots are in play at the start of a spin. The rest are covered by star symbols bearing an R for Re-spin. If the first spin produces at least one winning payline, an automatic Re-spin is triggered, with two more of the available slots now open and displaying icons. Each successful spin triggers another Re-spin, and an opening of two more slots. A spin that produces no win will end the Re-spins, pay the player the total winnings for the spin, and continue standard play.
Six Re-Spins Trigger Bonus Game
If, however, the player has a succession of six spins that all produce winning paylines, the entire Reel Rush Touch grid of 25 slots is opened up, and the player gets 8 Free Spins to take advantage of the open board. At the end of the Free Spins round, the reels revert to displaying only 13 icons, just as they do after a loss in regular play.
Retro Fruit Machine Icons
Reel Rush Touch uses no Poker symbols. Instead, in another nod to old-type tastes, lower-value icons are fruit candies, and higher-value symbols are the fruits themselves, rendered in stylized oblong blocks. In ascending order of value, Reel Rush Touch uses a Plum, a bunch of Grapes, a Watermelon, a Lemon, a Pineapple and a Strawberry. Five Strawberries in a winning combination score 1,000 coins.
No Paylines and 3,125 Ways to Win
Reel Rush Touch features no standard paylines, although players can vary the amount they wager by adjusting coin denominations and number of coins bet. Instead, Reel Rush Touch counts winning combinations as any match of three or more, on adjacent blocks starting from Reel 1. Blocks can be adjacent diagonally, vertically or horizontal, which means that 3,125 winning combinations are possible when playing with all 25 slots open.
The Wild is Also Old-Type
Another icon nostalgia buffs will recognize is the Gold Star that serves as the Reel Rush Touch Wild icon; it’s another image straight out of Mario World. By standing in for any other symbol, the Wild can create more wins and trigger more Re-spins. On hot streaks with successive Re-spins, players can win 50X their bet or more. The game’s top prize is 480,000 coins. On mobile devices that make the most of the high-quality graphics and sound effects, Reel Rush Touch plays quickly and easily. The Re-spins feature makes long-term play a much more affordable prospect, and the progressive opening of the reels plus the possibilities offered by the Wilds can create wins that are well worth while.