Online Game Review of Space Race by Play´n Go

Space Race Free Spins

When three, four or five meteorite shower symbols are displayed on the screen, 15, 20 and 25 bonus rounds are activated. The bonus round is played using the same bet settings that were in place when the round was triggered.

Since you do not spend funds during a free spins session but can still get winnings for the combinations, it is more lucrative to have a free spins session at the highest bet. Five cosmonauts will pay you 5,000 coins and the full set of the Wild symbols, 25,000 coins. By the way, it is considerably easier to create such combinations during bonus rounds. The Wild symbol with the word Warning also helps.

You cannot retrigger free spins, the only way to win another session is to collect three or more Scatter symbols in the main game.

Bonus Round

You can start a bonus mini game on an additional screen if during the main game you collect three rocket symbols with the word Bonus. You can see the aim of the bonus round in a short screensaver while it loads. You should land the rocket on the Moon and avoid colliding with meteors on the way.

The bonus game comes in several stages. At every stage you see a table and you should choose one of them. The rocket will fly in this direction and will freeze for a while in the chosen box. Then meteorites will fly towards the table. Note that none of them should collide with the flying vehicle. However, the rocket is equipped with a shield that can resist one strike. So even if one stone hits the square at the start, you can reach another level. Note that the shield cannot be restored!

The mini game has a total of four stages. The complexity of every next level increases:

• On the first level - 25 boxes
• On the second level - 16 boxes
• On the third level - 9 boxes
• On the fourth level - 4 boxes

The payout increases with every new stage of movement from the Earth to the Moon. As you move, you receive 200, 400, 600 and 800 coins for the first, second, third and fourth levels, respectively.

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Symbols and Payouts

To study the pay table which contains the prizes for combinations of certain symbols, open an additional information window by clicking Paytable. You will see a three-page help section which indicates how bonus symbols work, what multipliers are awarded for combinations and how paylines can be arranged.

First, let us see how basic symbols work, their only function being to form winning combinations. In general, nine basic symbols are in play. The symbols' value is indicated on the second and third pages of the help section. Next to the column containing the length of a combo (x3, x4 or x5 symbols) you can find the line bet multiplier.

By looking closely at basic symbols, you will see that symbols can be conventionally divided into two categories:

the low-paying symbols. They include digit and letter icons. Classic icons for most of five-reel slots are stylised card suits. The symbols are special in that the most frequently landing combinations (three symbols in a row on a payline) are worth less than the player pays for the spin.

• 10, J, Q - award the x5, x25 and x100 multipliers for three, four or five symbols respectively
• K and A - pay you 10, 50 and 150 times your line bets

It is obvious from the figures mentioned above that one combination of three low-paying symbols is 0.25-0.5 of the total bet. Only combinations of four to five symbols award a lucrative win. 

Valuable symbols are space-themed. The Moon, the Earth, the satellite and the space-suited astronaut. Note that out of these symbols only the astronaut is really lucrative as a combination of three such symbols triggers a win that exceeds the bet, the multipliers are:

• The Moon - x15, x75 and x250
• The Earth and the satellite - x15, x100 and x500
• The astronaut - x25, x250 and x1,000

Estimating the value of different combinations we come to the conclusion that the Space Race slot is of low variance. Simply put, winnings for combinations are quite small. However, to hold the player's attention the combinations line up quite often. In this way you feel like you keep winning something.

It is vital to monitor the game session. Compare Bet and Win settings in the control panel sections to estimate the benefit that you get as a result of spinning. A spin is considered really successful if the amount of winnings exceed your total bet.

Special Symbols

Besides basic symbols, the Space Race slot offers three special (bonus) symbols. These icons play according to special rules or perform additional functions. They are:

• The game logo - Wild. By landing on any of the five reels, it can add or expand combinations of basic symbols, replacing the missing icon. For example, if the satellites appear on the first and second reels along one of the paylines and the logo lands between them, the slot will take into account a combination of three satellites. Also the Wild forms its own combinations, three, four or five of these symbols will award the x50, x500 or x500 multipliers for the line bet.
• Scatter - a Meteor shower. This symbol is special in that its combinations pay regardless of how the icons are arranged on the game screen. If all the other combinations pay strictly from left to right, from the first reel to the fifth one, it is the quantity that matters in case of Scatter. Multipliers awarded by Scatter apply to the total bet rather than to the line bet. So two, three, four or five meteorite icons will pay you two, three, thirty or three hundred times the spin cost. In addition, the comets activate a free spins session
• The rocket starts a bonus game. The symbol acts like a Scatter and works regardless of its location. The key condition is to collect three rockets with the word Bonus on the reels. The symbol itself does not award additional payouts

Experienced players who note low variance of the slot often choose the auto play mode to accelerate the process of 'catching' special symbols and activating bonus features. Free spins and a bonus game can lead to large winnings exceeding those that the player usually gets during the paid spins sessions. To be able to win real money during free spins visit one of the legal online casinos that offer a full version of the game.

How to Play Space Race

If you load a free version of the Space Race slot by Play'N Go on our site, you will automatically get an account of 250 credits. However, another unit is used during gameplay to control your account more conveniently coins.

You will see Coin Value on the control panel, which is found under the five reels. It sets the credits/coins ratio. The minimum coin value is 0.01 credits and the maximum coin value is 0.25 credits. This means that if you have a balance of 250 credits with a 0.01 face value, you will get 25,000 coins, and if the face value is 0.25 credits, you will get 1,000 coins.

Before letting the reels spin, set up the values for adjustable options on the control panel. Such options include:

• Coins - describes your bet per line. This option varies from one to five coins. Click the button with the word several times until it displays the number you are happy with. If you wish to choose the highest bet with a single click, use the Bet Max button.
• Lines - the number of paylines. The maximum number of paylines that is automatically set in the slot is 20. You can change this number by right-clicking the mouse several times.

These options affect the total bet (the cost of spin). You will see the amount that will be debited from your account in the bottom line of the game screen, in the Bet section. It is displayed in credits. Suppose that you choose 20 active lines and place a bet of one coin per each line. The total bet in coins is 20. To understand how the number displayed in credits is calculated, you should multiply your coin bet by the set coin value. If the coin value is 0.1, such a spin will cost two credits.

After setting up game conditions you can start the spin. To do this use any buttons from the list:

• Spin - a single spin of the reels
• Auto Play - a session of automatic spins. When you click the button, an extra screen pops up, in which you can set the number of spins per session and additional conditions to switch off the auto mode. You can stop auto spins after getting the prize for the first completed combination, at the moment a free spins session or a bonus round is activated.

It is recommended that you activate the auto play mode to increase the session dynamics. Also this mode is good when you are getting to know the slot, so that you can activate bonus features as soon as possible. If you prefer to change your bets during gameplay, starting spins manually will be more convenient.

The drawbacks of the slot include:

• Small winnings for common symbol combinations
• Lack of information in the paytable which makes it difficult for a new player to get confused with how some symbols work
• You can only learn the number of free spins and the rules of the bonus game if the right symbols create combos on the screen

The advantages of the slot include:

• Flexible gameplay
• Interesting mechanics of the bonus mini game
• Free spins with an extra Wild and a bonus round

Experienced players think that the maximum benefit can be obtained from Space Race during bonus rounds. This is why during the session you do no have to watch the landing combinations and try to collect Scatters and bonus symbols. If you still prefer to control the gameplay, keep an eye out for the ratio of the total bet to the win for spin. Quite often on the screen you can see not one but two or even three combinations on different paylines simultaneously. The payout for them can exceed the spin cost.