Introduction to The Crime File
The Crime File is a casino slot from NowNow Gaming, set in a dark city inhabited by anthropomorphised canines, where unsolved cases pile up on an ambitious detective's desk. Enveloped in obscure, atmospheric graphics elevated by an intense soundtrack, the game invites you to join the hunt and track down wins up to 10,000x the bet. And while you may not have the nose of a bloodhound or the skills of an experienced investigator, you can be just as helpful by utilising the game's valuable features. With multipliers, Expanding Wilds, instant prizes, and a Free Spins bonus, you'll be on criminals' heels in no time, following them to the precious loot.
Team up with Detective Rex and head on to the first crime scene, or watch him do the work to gain more experience in the risk-free demo mode at the top of the page.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
The Crime File is a video slot from NowNow Gaming with 5 reels, 4 rows, and 14 paylines. You can choose their stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.10 up to a Max.bet of 100. The game offers a default RTP of 96.33%, which is in line with industry standards, promising stable long-term returns. However, an alternative variant with a lower value of 94.22% have also been released, so be sure to check your version before playing. The mathematical profile comes with medium volatility, which strikes an even average balance between the frequency and value of wins, and a top prize capped at 10,000x the bet. You will experience the base hit frequency of 27.3%.
The game's main scene places you in an unspecified urban area among concrete walls and floors illuminated by soft reddish light coming from an unknown source. A lonely pipe rests on a round table, releasing a stream of smoke, letting you know that the detective must be somewhere around. On the right, a canine thug with a revolver might be preparing an ambush on the lawman. The grid matches the surroundings with its plain, chiselled frame and the dark lining of the reels. You can experience the noir detective atmosphere on any modern device, as the universal design adapts seamlessly to all desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
The paytable comprises two sets of regular symbols, which award payouts whenever you manage to land between 3 and 5 matching instances on active paylines. All qualifying sequences must also utilise adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one. Among the low-paying ones, you'll see emblems in the shape of a pentagon, a heart, a club, a diamond, and a heart, awarding from 1x to 1.5x the bet for a set of 5 on a payline. High-paying symbols consist of portraits depicting three canine criminals and a police officer, which bring payouts ranging from 5x to 10x the bet for a 5-of-a-kind combination. Wilds are represented by a round open jaw with teeth that substitutes for all regular symbols and awards 50x the bet for a complete payline of 5. Bonus symbols are represented by a red retro automobile.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot The Crime File?
You can win up to 10,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot The Crime File?
The features are Total Multiplier, The Hunt, The Capture, Interrogation Bonus, and Feature Buy.
Total Multiplier
Any multipliers collected through activating the game's supporting features are collected in a special meter outside the grid that tracks the total value.
The Hunt
Whenever a Wild symbol lands and there's an opportunity to create a winning combination, it expands upwards toward the top ridge. Depending on the size of the expansion, the Wild will also gain a multiplier. The sum of all multipliers revealed multiplies the total win from the current spin.
1-2 cells = x2 - x5.
3 cells = x2 - x10.
4 cells = x2 - x10, x15, x20, x25, x50, x75, or x100.
The Capture
Any high-value symbol may land as a stack covering multiple vertical positions. When such a symbol fully occupies any reel, and there's a possibility of creating a win, it generates a multiplier of between x2 and x10 that applies to the total win from the round. The fully-stacked symbol does not need to participate in any combination to award the multiplier.
Interrogation Bonus
Landing 3, 4, or 5 FS Scatters anywhere in view during a single base game spin activates 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. The bonus round utilises all the features present in the base game, but makes all Wilds expand fully along the reels, guaranteeing the most favourable multiplier range. There's no possibility of retriggering the bonus due to the absence of FS Scatters on the reels.
Feature Buy
If following the clues to track down the criminals feels like too tedious a task, you can always make use of several Feature Buy options to speed things up.
2x = Bonushunt Featurespins with a 3-times higher chance to trigger the bonus round.
50x = The Hunt Featurespins, guaranteeing at least one Wild to land.
100x = Interrogation Bonus, with 10, 15, or 20 free spins.
Final Thoughts on The Crime File
Slot themes featuring anthropomorphised animals are always an intriguing approach and naturally form an extra story layer regardless of the setting. In The Crime File, NowNow Gaming went for an atmospheric detective narrative, where dogs of all breeds rule over the city ravaged by a crime spree. The investigation angle, however, doesn't go too deep into details and mostly marks its influence through the high-paying symbols and unique naming of the features. Otherwise, the scene feels rather generic, where a simple urban background, a smoking pipe, and a gun-wielding thug create the majority of the mood. No effort has been made to make the bonus round feel more unique, either, as the only thing that changes there is the lighting. The overall design feels nice enough, although mainly thanks to the detailed rendering on the premium symbols, which seems to be the highlight of this production.
The technical profile goes all-in on multipliers delivered in two different ways. Expanding Wilds is the more traditional one, offering a slight boost through substitutions and three different multiplier ranges depending on the size of the expansion. If it happens only on one or two vertical positions, the values may feel a bit underwhelming, but even those can bring a powerful boost if you land a few in the same spin. Plus, the total multiplier applies to the entire total win from the round, not only to combinations involving Wilds, so there's another redeeming advantage. The second method of delivery is a bit more intriguing, since it rewards you for covering an entire reel with the same high-paying symbol, although it carries a weaker punch, with multipliers capped at x10. Still, both features work hand-in-hand to deliver a high boost to the final payout, and their synergy gains momentum even more during the bonus round, where Wilds always expand to fully cover the respective column. The only surprising fact is that free spins don't come with a persistent multiplier, given that the whole setup relies entirely on them.
The Crime File feels like a consistent release that zeroes in on high multipliers, even if the technical and audiovisual aspects don't bring anything massively unique to the table.
