Mad Cars: Slot Overview

Essentially, the main job of an automobile is to get from A to B, then back to A again with maybe a quick stop at C and D along the way. For some, like the punks in Push Gaming's post-apocalyptic online slot Mad Cars, cars are souped-up vehicles covered in spikes and machine guns that compete in what is known in the wastelands as the Mad Race. What this means for the characters in the game world is anyone's guess, but for players, Mad Cars is a thrilling online slot jam-packed with Instant Prize symbols, a Boost Reel & Boost Reel symbols, and a Mad Bonus feature where hot-rods award prizes when they successfully cross the line.

We'll probably mention the Money Train franchise a lot during this review as the two games share several common characteristics. One parallel can be drawn to the game's location, a dusty, sepia-toned vision of future desolation with a windmill. Tumbleweeds blow past wrecked vehicles in a derelict industrial space while barrels hang from metal structures for some reason. Maybe they are decorations to jazz the place up? If so, they fail in their task as Mad Cars looks like a brutal place to squeeze out an existence. It's not made clear what the apocalypse involved but Push Gaming has done a great job of making the aftermath look both grim and an enticing place to try your fortune alongside a bunch of punk petrolheads.

Users metaphorically turn the car key by picking a stake of 10 p/c to $/€100 on any device. It's played on a 5-reel, 6-row panel, with 50 win lines streaking across the board to land winning combinations across. As many will have guessed, the action is highly volatile, and when not buying one of the bonuses, the highest return to player value is 96.39%. There are alternative models dipping as low as 88.49%, market dependent, which might be something to be on the lookout for.

In Mad Cars, line wins occur when three to five matching symbols land on a payline from the left-most side. First up are traffic cones (with knives through them), spanners, steering wheels, and spiky dice, all paying 5 times the stake for five of a kind. Paying 20-100x the bet for five symbol winning lines is four character symbols which get more maniacal the higher in value they are. Mad Car does not utilise wild symbols, but there are several other symbols to cover next.

Mad Cars: Slot Features

One of these is Instant Prize Car symbols, displaying bet multipliers of 1x to 100x and only land on the bottom row. It is possible to have more than one Instant Prize Car symbol on the grid, and they award their value when they cross the top row. They stay on the reels until they award their prize or are removed when another Instant Prize Car symbol crosses the top row. Also landing randomly on the bottom row are Scatter Car symbols. When the Scatter Car passes the top row, the Mad Bonus feature is triggered. The Scatter Car symbol has an instant prize value of 10x the bet, which cannot be multiplied.

Boost Reel

The Boost Reel is a special row that sits at the top of the grid. On each base game spin, the boost real can display Multipliers, Gas, Multiplier & Gas Combo, Survivor, or Blank spaces. Boost symbols are activated if there is an Instant Prize Car symbol below them:

• Multipliers – multiplies the value of the Instant Prize Car symbols by x2 to x100.
• Gas – moves the Car symbols forward by 1-6 positions.
• Multiplier & Gas Combo – multiplies the value and moves Car symbols.
• Survivor – adds a life to its respective Car symbol. If another Cars symbol exceeds the reels, this one will not be removed from the grid. Then, the Survivor function deactivates from it.

Mad Bonus Feature

This feature is triggered when a Scatter Car symbol passes the top row, awarding 7 free spins. A total of 5 Instant Prize Car symbols are placed on the bottom row, and regular pay symbols are removed from the reels. When a Car symbol passes the top row, another one is added at the bottom of the reel, and +1 free spin is awarded.

The Boost Reel functions the same ways as in the base game, except the Survivor does not appear. Some additional modifier symbols can land on the Boost Reel in the Mad Bonus feature, such as Line Up, Persistent Payer, Persistent Collector, and the Persistent Payer & Collector Combo:

• Line Up – when this is applied to an Instant Prize Car symbol, all other Instant Prize Car symbols are aligned in the same row.
• Persistent Payer – Persistent Payers give their values to all other Instant Prize Car symbols for the current spin and all future spins while it is on the reels. Does not give values to itself.
• Persistent Collector – collects values from all Instant Prize Car symbols on that spin and all following spins where it is present. Does not collect its own value.
• Persistent Payer & Collector Combo – gives its value to all other Instant Prize Car symbols, then collects the prize values from all other Instant Prize Car symbols. It does this on the current spin and all following spins. Does not pay or collect its own value.

Lastly, The Mad Race feature may randomly trigger after the final free spin. When activated, all Instant Prize Car symbols exceed the top row and pay out their prizes.

Bonus Buy

Hit the star icon if it's there to open up the four-option bonus buy menu. Here it is possible to buy the regular Mad Bonus for 115.7x the bet, The Payer Bonus, where a Persistent Payer is guaranteed from the start for 301x the bet or the Collector Bonus, which guarantees a Persistent Collector from the start for 456x the bet. The fourth option is the Mystery Mad Bonus feature for 624x the bet, where you can win one of the previous options or one which has a Persistent Payer & Collector from the start.

Mad Cars: Slot Verdict

Depending on the source, it's said Formula One drivers lose 2-3 kgs of water weight during a race due to the effects of dehydration and the exertion that racing at one of the highest levels puts on their bodies. Playing Mad Cars felt a little bit like that after all was done. Hey, no one said a post-apocalyptic world was going to be easy. If Mad Cars is anything to go by, it'll be an exhilarating place where anything goes, full of potential spills and thrills - but not easy.

In some ways, Mad Cars was more brutal than Money Train 2. If we start by comparing the two as bonus buy games, Mad Cars can be cruel. Sure, there are four options, but it was tempting to chase the dragon and repeatedly go for the Mystery Mad Bonus feature in the hopes of getting the Persistent Payer & Collector. This was a tough objective, and bonus buys that returned winnings as low as zero after shelling out 624x the bet were a bitter pill to swallow.

Here's another reason why Mad Cars can be a rougher ride. In the Money Train games, what you see on the grid during the bonus round is what you get. This is not necessarily the case during the Mad Bonus feature because Prize Car symbols have to cross the line to award their prize, which doesn't always happen. This post-apocalyptic playground isn't here to make friends, and the Mystery Mad Bonus feature was one of the most ruthless bonus buys we've tangled with in a while.

It's not uncommon to come across games offering a Money Train with a twist type experience, but few twist quite so much or as hard as Mad Cars does. Push Gaming might have borrowed a few recognisable elements from the Relax Gaming smash-hit franchise, but Mad Cars is its own beast entirely. And beast it is. This thing is no charity case, nor is it here to provide a scenic view of a wasted future, though the audio-visuals are strong. Mad Cars is here to race, end of. If you somehow make pole position, or near it, rewards of up to 25,000x the bet are possible, but if not, well, it can be tough going.