Crazy Pachinko By Evolution Gaming Review
The Game in Short
Crazy Pachinko is played in three parts consisting of a qualification round, a top-up phase, and a pachinko bonus game. The game is all about collecting win multipliers and entering the bonus where these come to use.
Qualification
In the qualification round, players spin a 10-reel slot machine. While this can provide minor payouts, the goal is to land three scatter symbols which will take you to the top-up phase and bonus.
The scatter symbols can have multipliers on them ranging from x2 – x10. These are very valuable as they will multiply the prizes in the pachinko bonus.
To enter the bonus game quicker, it is possible to activate XXXtreme spins or use a feature buy option. The former guarantees one scatter on each slot spin and increases the chance of scatters having multipliers. It comes with a cost of 15 times your initial bet per spin.
The feature buy option will instantly take you to the top-up phase and bonus by paying 75 times your bet.
Top-Up
Before entering the pachinko bonus, players have the option to spin a new form of slot machine. This contains 16 squares. Each square can have a prize of 2x – 5x your initial bet.
It is possible to increase the stake in the top-up phase, resulting in higher multipliers. However, there is not much of a point in doing so. It is also not mandatory to participate in the top-up phase.
Whatever prize is won during the top-up will be added to the final prize in the pachinko bonus.
Pachinko Bonus
Played live with a game host, the host will drop a ball in a vertical maze. This will land in one of 16 pockets. Each of these pockets has a random prize assigned to them ranging from 10x to 200x.
Any scatter multipliers collected in the qualification slot will boost these prizes. For instance, if x10 in scatters were collected, the prizes would range from 100x – 2,000x instead.
Additionally, any prize from the top-up phase will be added to the final prize. So, if the top-up phase resulted in a 50x prize, the prize range in the pachinko bonus would now be 150x – 2,050x.
In addition to the various prizes, one of the 16 pockets in the maze will be a double-up pocket. If the ball lands in this, all pachinko prizes will be doubled and then the ball is dropped again.
Payouts
The table below illustrates what all the payouts in Crazy Pachinko are.
| Type | Min Payout |
|---|---|
| Pachinko Bonus | 10x – 12,080x |
| Wild Symbol | 5x – 20x |
| Bell Symbol | 5x – 20x |
| Cherry Symbol | 2x – 12x |
| A Symbol | 0.6x – 3x |
| K Symbol | 0.5x – 2.5x |
| Q Symbol | 0.4x – 2x |
| J Symbol | 0.3x – 1.5x |
The qualification slot only comes with minor payouts, the maximum being 20x for landing a payline of five connecting wild symbols or bell symbols.
The pachinko bonus has a minimum payout of 10x. To get such a minimum payout, no multiplier scatters would be collected in the qualification round and no prizes would be added from the top-up phase. You would then also be unlucky enough to hit the least valuable pocket in the pachinko bonus.
The maximum payout in Crazy Pachinko is 12,160x and requires maximum scatter multipliers from the qualification slot. Each scatter can have a max multiplier of x10, so you would need all three scatters to hit that to get a final multiplier of x30.
This would result in the initial payouts of the pachinko bonus being boosted to 300x – 6,000x. Now, if the ball lands in the double-up pocket (which can only happen once), the payouts would be further increased to 600x – 12,000x.
To top this off, any prize in the top-up phase would be added. The maximum in this phase is 80x, resulting in a maximum payout of 680x – 12,080x.
Return to Player (RTP)
The RTP in Crazy Pachinko is as follows:
| Bet Type | RTP |
|---|---|
| Normal Spin | 96.04% |
| XXXtreme Spin | 96.05% |
| Feature Buy | 96.04% |
| Top-Up | 95.01% |
The RTP is basically the same for all options in the qualification slot and is considered fairly high. The RTP in most casino games ranges from 95% – 96%.
The top-up phase has a slightly lower RTP than the qualification slot which pretty much makes the feature pointless to use. It would be better to just bet more in the qualification round than to bet anything in the top-up phase.
Fun Factor
Crazy Pachinko is the second live dealer game from Evolution where you first spin a slot machine before entering the bonus game. The first game of this type was Crazy Coinflip.
While I initially liked the concept for its freshness, it does have a couple of drawbacks and I’ve found myself preferring other live dealer games that are more social and varied.
To me, the big positive with Crazy Pachinko is that you can instantly enter the bonus and play it over and over by just using the feature buy option in the qualification slot. This is great if you’re urging for some pachinko action, which I honestly do at times.
However, compared to the Crazy Time money wheel where you can enter the same pachinko bonus and take part in many other bonuses, just doing the pachinko bonus over and over quickly gets old. The multipliers in the qualification slot do add some extra excitement, but at least for me, it’s not enough to play Crazy Pachinko for more than 10 rounds or so before getting a little bit bored.
Having to spend a considerable portion of your time in the qualification slot and top-up also means that you don’t get as much of a social experience as with other live dealer games. I think this is a bummer.
It’s not a bad game though and seeing how Evolution has a huge game portfolio already, I can see how Crazy Pachinko has a place. And I do have to say that I really appreciate the high potential winnings of the game. Perhaps all I need to do is score a huge win and it will become a favorite.
Strategies
Strategies in Crazy Pachinko come down to four things:
- Should I use normal spins to qualify?
- Should I use XXXtreme spins to qualify?
- Should I use the bonus buy feature?
- Should I use the top-up feature?
In terms of having the best chances of winning money, it doesn’t matter if you qualify for the pachinko bonus via the normal spin, XXXtreme spins, or the bonus buy feature. They all have the same RTP. If you enjoy spinning on the slot, you can go for the normal spin or XXXtreme spins. But if you find the slot part tedious, there is no reason to not buy the bonus every time.
The only reason would be if you’re feeling lucky and think you’ll get the bonus cheaper via the spins than buying it. However, in the long run, it would cost you just as much with both methods.
In terms of the top-up feature, the best strategy is to not use this at all. It may be tempting to use it as it is so easy to spin the top-up slot while waiting for the pachinko bonus to start. However, the RTP of the top-up slot is lower than that of the qualification one, which basically means that it’s just a cash grab.
If you want to put money in the top-up phase for a chance of winning more in the bonus, it would be better to just increase your stake in the qualification round. This would earn you more money in the long run.