Back in the glory days of arcade gaming and then in the early days of home gaming, there were a number of games that enjoyed a huge amount of success. One of these was Paperboy, where you controlled a youngster delivering papers on his bike to his neighbours whilst trying to avoid all kinds of pitfalls while riding.
The game was a huge success in both the arcades and then subsequently in the home gaming market. Now it has provided the inspiration behind one of NextGen Gaming‘s most popular slot games. It’s called Extra Cash and this time, the paperboy is off his bike and is standing next to the reels in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.
As you would expect from a NextGen slot, it is a beautifully presented affair with the reels set against the backdrop of a rather wealthy street, where presumably the erstwhile paperboy is hoping to supplement his income with some rather nice tips. The reels are set in the middle of the screen and it is a 5×4 reel set up with a selectable number of up to 50 lines in play on each spin.
Wagers start at just £0.01 and you can increase the value of your bet up to a maximum of £500 per spin, so this is a slot game that is perfectly suited to both the micro stakes player as well as the player who wants to wager significantly more on each spin.
When it comes to the symbol in the game then there are the usual selection of different symbols. The first of which are the lower value symbols, the playing card lows. These range from 10 through to the Ace and offer pays that range from 5 coins up to a maximum of 150 coins for five aces on a winning line.
There are also five other higher value symbols which offer a range of slightly better value rewards and these items are the stack of newspapers, the truck the paperboy uses to deliver the papers, a newspaper stand, a rather cute beagle dog carrying a newspaper in its mouth and finally, the delivery truck. Wins with these symbols range anywhere from 20 coins up t0 400 coins.
You can play the Extra Cash slot right now at Coral Casino.
Extra Cash Slot Key Features
What really makes the Extra Cash slot so much fun to play however is not just the base game. This is still good fun to play, and you do pick up regular smaller value wins within it, mixed in with an occasional larger win, but it is when you start to trigger the key features of the slot that the best of the game becomes apparent.
The first of the features you may come across is the Wild feature which can appear anywhere across the reels and can substitute for any of the lower or higher value standard symbols outlined above. In addition, if you land between two and five of the Wilds on a line then you will win a prize of between 10 and 500 coins.
During the base game, additional Extra Wilds can be added to the reels at random by the Paperboy in the bottom left corner of the screen. When he throws a newspaper onto the reels, it becomes an Extra Wild and remains in that spot until the spin is completed. These can lead to additional or extra value wins on the reels when triggered randomly in the base game.
Another nice feature is the Scatter Respin which occurs when you land two scatter symbols on the reels. While this isn’t enough to trigger free spins, you do get to have a free respin of the three reels that did not land a scatter on that spin and if you get lucky and can land one or more scatters on that respin, you will trigger the bonus game (or you can also trigger some additional cash wins). The Scatter Respin also triggers when you land three or four scatters as if you can land extra scatters on these spins, you can increase the number of free spins that you win.
Three or more scatter symbols triggers the Free Spins bonus with three triggering 8 free spins, four scatters triggering 12 free spins and landing all five triggers the maximum 20 free spins. You also win a Scatter cash prize for three or more symbols on the reels which range from 2x up to 50x your total bet.
During Free Spins, any time you land a Wild symbol, it remains in place on the reel for the remainder of the free spins bonus game. Any additional Wilds landed also remain in place for the duration of your free spins round and when you have several Wilds across the reels on the final few spins, then the potential for some higher value wins is considerably greater.
The final feature to note in the slot is the Gamble feature which can be used on any win in the base game. When you select this option after a cash win, you get to pick the next card from the pack. Pick the correct colour of the card correctly and you win 2x your bet. Alternatively you can try and predict the suit of the card, which if you guess correctly will see you win 4x your bet. You can gamble your winnings up to five times using this feature.
How to win at the Extra Cash Slot
There are some big prizes you can win in the Extra Cash slot and without doubt the best way to try and do this is by having all fifty possible paying lines active on each spin. This radically increases your chances to win on each spin, so playing a stake that allows you to play all 50 lines is paramount to enjoying the best the game has to offer.
In terms of strategy when spinning, the key to unlocking better value wins are the main features of the slot. The base game, even with the Extra Wild symbols on the reels at times, doesn’t really pay out big amounts. The key is the Free Spins bonus with the Sticky Wilds on the reels as these can grow in number into a significant amount and if you can get five wilds on a pay line then you land the jackpot 1,000 coin win. Get very lucky and you could win that across several pay lines in one free spin.
The Scatter Respin is also a good option as occasionally it can turn a non-winning scatter spin into a winning one and trigger free spins, or give you additional free spins compared to your original win. Hitting the 20 free spin option gives you the best chance of a big win in the bonus spins.
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