Every month, developers release new slot titles that appear on popular gaming platforms across the globe. Typically, they struggle to achieve traction. Slot gamers are a conservative crowd, who know what they like and like what they know. So it is that titles like Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest and Book of Ra are consistently ranked among the top slot games, despite having been around for 10 years or more.
Occasionally, however, a new release instantly captures the public’s imagination. Ordinarily, it will be a high-profile branded slot from one of the big names that taps into our psyche in some way – NetEnt’s Knight Rider, which was released in February of this year being a case in point. A bigger surprise has been the instant love that gamers have shown for a new release from Malta-based Booming Games.
Free play to give it a try
Monster Truck Madness was released in the first week of July. The moment it started to appear in the new games list at real money online casino sites, it started to attract attention. Like other slot games, Monster Truck Madness can be played for real money at a wide selection of Canadian real money casinos such as those listed on the Gamble Online site. However, one of the master strokes was that Booming Games understood that players might not wish to dive in with real money straight away on a casino game they’d never tried before. They invested some effort into promoting the game, and specifically in offering up free-to-play versions “just for fun.”
This can be a two-edged sword. Today’s slot games are about more than just spinning reels in the hope of matching symbols to win money. But nevertheless, a game must have top-notch features to keep your attention when there’s no financial reward. The developers have scored a win here, and effectively succeeded in tempting slot players to give it a go instead of their old favourites – and then to take the next step and try it for real money.
A winning theme with a range of features
We mentioned NetEnt’s Knight Rider slot earlier. Monster Truck Madness is evidently designed to appeal to a similar audience of gamers who grew up in the 1980s. The monster trucks depicted in the game are clearly from the same era, and there’s been a lot of effort placed on the artwork.
The basic game comprises six reels and 30 paylines. Overall volatility is on the high side, but like any good slot game, it is the special features that keep players coming back for more. These include Random Wilds, depicted by black tyres, any number of which can appear during the main game and the free spins round to replace any other symbol. Then there are bursting wilds, which are gold tyres that explode and turn all symbols on their reel to wilds.
There are also two special sub games. Minor Elimination triggers at random. It removes all the low value symbols from the screen and refills the positions with a combination of higher value symbols, wilds and scatters. The Free Spins game triggers with three or more scatter symbols and awards anything from eight to 20 free spins.
If you’ve a taste for 1980s retro and you’re ready to try something new, Monster Truck Madness could be just what you’ve been waiting for.