Macau Racing slot review

Auto-tuning and street racing enthusiasts can get ready for a wild ride through the hot streets of Macau.

The burgeoning island-city is the casino capital of East Asia. It comes complete with its own strip of casinos, grandiose hotel-casinos and even an Eiffel Tower replica, so as not to fall behind Las Vegas in anything that is gawk-worthy.

I couldn't ever peg Macau with street racing. It is usually Tokyo that has this association imprinted in its DNA, but since Red Tiger Gaming is vouching for it by releasing a game with that title, then street racing must be a thing in Macau.

Everything about the 3x5 layout with 20 fixed paylines on Macau Racing is just fine. The theoretical return to player is 95.45% which I think is decent enough for a jackpot slot, while the variance, which is between low and medium, is quite rare and for that matter appealing to some players.

Playing the game I could feel that the base game growing on me because of two reasons: the wild’s ability to expand adds a bonus feature element to the gameplay and because the actual bonus feature can become a wild symbol bonanza, which turns the reel set into a racing ground for potential winnings.

Macau Racing is also part of Red Tiger Gaming's jackpot network called Daily Drop which comes with three progressive prizes - a thing to consider when choosing the next game that you can call your favourite. Besides the possibility of hitting one of the Daily Drops, there is a max win potential of 888x your bet that can trigger from any spin.

Theme and Graphics

I've enjoyed the game quite a bit but despite that, I can't shake off the impression that this is a near-replica of another Red Tiger release, called Red Hot Slot. Sure the two games have a different theme but I can still notice some similarities, such as the style in which the low-paying symbols are drawn and that there are five of those and three high- paying symbols plus the wild.

At any rate, the visual effects differ and I think that Macau Racing is more energetic because of the car-racing sequence which is, after all, the most anticipated event on the reels.

Extra Features

• The game has a wild symbol, which is represented by a sleek roadster with a chameleon paint job. If the car lands on five payline positions the player gets a prize of 888x your payline bet - the highest prize on the paytable.
• Four wilds can pay 328x and three 128x your payline bet. The wild can be often seen stacked in two positions on one or more reels, which is a tell-tale sign that a winning outcome is just about to follow.

• Macau Racing has a random reel modifier called Wild Race. When this feature triggers, the traffic lights start blinking wildly and all symbols are cleared from the reel set, which becomes a raceway for a quick couple of seconds.

  The racing cars can leave a number of high-paying symbols of the same kind or a number of wilds, which can interact with the symbols that had been on the screen just before the feature.

• I said that the base game feels like there is a bonus feature taking place at all times - well, at least that's my impression, which is precisely because of Wild Race and the wild double stacks.
• Then there's the free spins bonus which wraps up the extra features of Macau Racing. Players need three scatter symbols (a speedometer) on reels one, three and five to start the part of the bonus that reveals a random number of free spins.
• In addition to the free spins, the bonus can trigger the Wild Race feature at random, which is a great addition that can boost your chances for a big win. I couldn’t pinpoint the frequency at which the free spins bonus can occur, but I would say it’s a bit erratic because it has triggered twice within some 60 spins for me, with a longer period of waiting after that.

Bets and Payouts

I think that the paytable is pretty solid in regards to the high-paying symbols and absolutely horrendous for the category of most frequent winning outcomes - those consisting of three symbols.

Any of the symbols between the ten-card and the ace pay between 2x and 8x your payline bet for three of a kind. Four matching symbols are just slightly better - between 4x and 20x your payline bet.

This is a balancing act on the part of Red Tiger's mathematicians because the wild symbols can invite winning outcomes on multiple paylines, so players are likely to see that these low payouts can add up.

There are only three high-paying symbols. The checkered flag, the bottle of Champagne and the trophy, so it's fair to say that you can't expect them turning up in fours and fives on a payline.

Nevertheless, the probability is there to eventually manifest, so when it does, players can land winnings of 188x, 288x and 588x your payline bet for five of the high-paying symbols, considered here from low to high.

Conclusion

Last not least, the wild is the paying symbol which remains to be annotated and I've left it for the wrap-up because of its erratic behaviour. Wilds can appear in stacks and on multiple positions on the reel set, both in the base game, in the random feature and in the free spins, so when you think Macau Racing, you are thinking about a potentially wild ride with the wild symbols.