Chip Spin

Join Relax Gaming on a journey to Las Vegas, Nevada for their latest release, Chip Spin. There’s not so much dazzle in this release, wherein Relax have chosen to set the base reel space in broad daylight, showcasing elements tourists would travel to see in the gambling capital of the world, such as Paris, Luxor, The Stratosphere or the High Roller, rather than the shining lights of Sin City at night we’ve come to expect. Set in front of a modern building, with the Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas sign just off to the right, is a 5×5 reel space, surrounded by lights. All of this seems to evoke the “innocence” of the city that never sleeps, however the bright and demure aesthetic should not fool you. Wins of up to 25,000x bet are available in this 96.36% RTP release – highly volatile, with 2 bonus features on offer.

Chip Spin Base Game

Chip Spin Base Features

Jazz music rings through in the background, a type of music that you’d listen to and think “Vegas” for a reason you can’t really explain. Lights around the reels and the feature buy button do a good job of flashing in and out to remind us where we are. On desktop, clicking on any symbol on the reels will bring up a card to explain payouts for that symbol – helpful when you’re not quite sure where a win has come from. Each of the 25 squares available on the grid spin individually, much like Money Train 2, which can feel dizzy-ing at first, but after a while is barely noticeable.

Forming wins are where things get a bit more complicated in this release. Wins are formed by matching 3 or more symbols along any connected way from left to right, of which there are 259 available. If you’re not sure what connected ways are, they are positions that are in adjacent columns, a bit like normal ways, except with connected ways the positions must be on the same row, one row above, or one row below.

Wins Form Along Connected Ways

Symbols used to form wins include lower paying J, Q, K and As, rewarding players 1.5x bet for 5 connected ways. In the middle region green, pink and red gems award 2x bet, again for 5 ways, and at the premium end we have four characters hitting Vegas for the night. There’s a blue diamond lady alongside a green club man and a purple hearts man, all of which pay 4x bet for 5 of a kind. A red thuggish looking man, a bit like Beefy Dick in San Quentin, with a spade tattooed on his head comes in as the highest paying symbol, rewarding players values of 6x bet for 5 connected ways.

Finally, slot machines symbols and chips are used to trigger the two features on offer, which is where all the action is as that’s it for the base game. Once a feature is triggered the action transforms from day time Vegas into the nighttime strip, with glowing lights in the backdrop.

Chip Spin Bonus

Landing 3 Bonus slot machine symbols, cleverly printed with the Relax Gaming ‘x’, triggers 8 free spins, with an additional +2 free spins on offer for every additional Scatter. At this point we are re-introduced to the chip symbols we see during the base game – green, purple and black, although they each have different powers in each feature. During free spins:

• Green: Awards +1 free spins.
• Purple: Increases the multiplier by +1.
• Black: Converts into a sticky wild.

Aside from the 3 chips, free spins play out much the same way as the base game, with the addition of the win multiplier and sticky wilds. If you’d like to skip the base game and head straight to the free spins bonus, players in appropriate regions can do so at a cost of 90x bet for at least 3 scatters to land on the next spin. RTP when buying free spins takes a small dip to 96.21%.

Chip Spin Free Spins

Land 5 or more chips of any variety anywhere on the reels to trigger the second feature, the Bonus Game, where you will begin with 1 life. During the bonus game, which is a subtle nod to Relax Gaming’s Money Train 2, any chips that land on the reels are sticky, and each have different power-ups:

• Green: Awards a coin value.
• Purple (Sniper): Doubles the value of between 1-3 chips. Sniper can double the value of the same chip more than once.
• Black (Collector): Collects all visible coin values, except its own.

Lives are lost if no chips land, although it is possible to land extra lives with any chip, indicated with a dice showing a heart appearing on the right-side of the chip. The Sniper and Collector both have a cap on how many times they can be used, displayed by how many chips land with the symbol.

If a column is filled with symbols, all green symbols will consolidate their value into one symbol, making room for more symbols to land. When all lives have been lost, the bonus game ends.

The bonus game can be bought at a cost of 70x bet, and RTP during this feature buy rises slightly to 96.73%.

Chip Spin Bonus Game

If the sum of all wins in either feature is 25,000x bet, the game round will end, and 25,000x bet is won.

First Impression

Chip Spin keeps things interesting, whilst still packing a huge punch with potential. Relax Gaming don’t shy away when it comes to maximum wins, and 25,000x is more than worthy of a few spins, regardless of stake. Volatility is another area for Relax in which there’s no coyness, and Chip Spin is a highly volatile, ruthless experience, so players shouldn’t be fooled by the lighthearted aesthetic.

With two features on offer, there’s something to cater to almost every player. The features that are there are certainly worth the wait, but there’s nothing to break the base game up for players unable to avail of the feature buys, so we’ll just have to wait and see if this proves problematic. Relax Gaming are pros at offering us games that seem to fit the feature buy like a glove, but this rarely puts players off if they cannot buy the feature. When we take a look at the individual features, the free spins do exactly what you would expect, with sticky wilds and increasing win multipliers. The bonus game is reminiscent of Money Train 2, although with a 50,000x win available in Money Train 2, the only aspect that might tilt players in the chip direction would be the cost – 70x bet for the bonus game, rather than 100x.

Statistically, each of the RTP varieties available for the base and features are more than fair, ranging from 96.21% – 96.73%. Interestingly, the highest RTP comes attached to the cheapest feature buy option, whereas the more expensive feature buy for free spins, at 90x bet, is the lowest RTP. Although with such small differences, we have to doubt this will impact any players personal preference.

Relax Gaming have done a good job with Chip Spin of introducing a new experience for players, while still paying homage to some of their most popular mechanics – all while designing a visually pleasing experience.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.