Retro Vegas 243

Retro Vegas 243 is a fruit-machine style video slot from Apollo Games. It keeps the look of an old casino cabinet, with a golden drum frame, a lever at the side and glowing neon in the background, but replaces fixed paylines with 243 ways to win on 5 reels and 3 rows. There are no free spins and no bonus rounds: the whole game is built around one expanding idea, the multiplying Joker Wild, plus an optional double-up game after a win.

A Neon Cabinet With Classic Fruit

The game screen is bright pink, purple and turquoise, with a Retro Vegas 243 logo in the top corner and a thin banner across the top of the reels. The reels themselves are a single large golden drum, and the symbols are the ones you would find on a vintage machine: oranges, watermelons, plums, cherries and grapes as the lower values, then a golden bell, a BAR plate and the red lucky seven as the best pays. The Wild is a smiling Joker in a golden frame.

The controls are placed on the right side of the drum: a large spin button with two smaller round buttons above and below it, while the bottom bar shows the credit, the current winnings and the bet. The demo starts with a virtual balance of 10,000 and a bet of 0.10.

How The 243 Ways Work

With 243 ways there are no lines to count. A win is formed by at least three identical symbols on neighbouring reels, starting from the first reel on the left, and every position of the symbol on a reel counts. If several combinations land in one way, only the highest one is counted, and the wins from all the ways are added together. The Wild can replace any other symbol to complete or extend a combination.

The paytable shows prizes for three, four and five of a kind. At the starting bet of 0.10 the red seven pays 1.00 for three, 2.00 for four and 5.00 for five, which is 10x, 20x and 50x the bet. The bell pays 0.60, 1.20 and 2.50, the BAR plate pays 0.40, 0.80 and 1.60, and the lowest fruits pay 0.10, 0.20 and 0.40, so even the cheapest symbols return the bet with three of a kind.

The Joker Multiplier

The Joker is the feature that gives the game its character. Whenever a Joker is part of a winning combination, it multiplies the win by 2x. Two Jokers in the same winning combination make it 4x, three Jokers 8x and four Jokers a full 16x. The row of small panels above the reels, marked WIN X2, WIN X4, WIN X8 and WIN X16, shows this ladder permanently, so you always know what a Joker is worth.

In the demo a spin carrying two Jokers paid 0.80 on the 0.10 bet, and other winning spins paid 0.20 and 0.90. It is a simple mechanic, but because the Joker can land on any reel it keeps even the plain base game interesting.

The Gamble Option

After a win, the game offers a Gamble, a double-up round in which you guess the colour of a hidden card, red or black. The rules allow a half take, where only half of the win is risked, and up to five gambles in a row, with a top prize of 20,000 in the gamble game. The option is available only for wins in the base game, and it is entirely optional: the Collect button next to it simply banks the win.

RTP, Volatility And Max Win

The in-game help does not publish an RTP figure, a volatility rating or a maximum win, so none of these is stated here. What the paytable does show is a top prize of 50x the bet for five sevens, which the Joker ladder can multiply.

Who It Suits

Retro Vegas 243 is aimed at players who like old-school machines with modern ways-to-win. It has a tidy interface, an easy-to-follow paytable and one clear multiplier rule, but no bonus game, so those who need free spins or a pick feature should look elsewhere. As a short demo session with bright colours and an instantly readable rule set it is a pleasant one to try above.