Introduction to Balloon Race
Balloon Race is a live game from Evolution that offers a personal hot air balloon ride. This game offers an adventure among the clouds with Multipliers and potential wins up to €500,000. A fun fact about air balloons is that they were the first technology that allowed people to fly. Hot air fills the balloon, but it is actually not the hot air that makes the balloon fly; it’s the air becoming less dense than the air surrounding the balloon as a result of the heat.
Here, we presented with a familiar slot + Bonus Game format similar to previous releases from Evolution, such as Crazy Pachinko. Even though the Base Game is the same basic slot experience, the Bonus Game offers an immersive live hot balloon race against fellow players. Thanks to an innovative Bonus Game and a fresh balloon theme, we award this game with a high rating. Let’s find out what Balloon Race offers.
Balloon Race Information
This game from Evolution provides a design based on a balloon theme that takes place high among the clouds. The game grid is positioned on the right side of the screen, with the game host standing in an air balloon, guiding you throughout the game. If you are looking to boost the gaming experience for a cost, use the XXXtreme Spin button. You can play Balloon Race on all mobile devices, desktops, and tablets. During the Qualification Phase, a win is created by landing 3 or more of the same symbol types on adjacent reels starting at the leftmost reel and is paid according to the paytable.
Balloon Race Payouts
The max win in Balloon Race is €500,000 with an RTP of 96.09% by default.
During the Qualification Phase, the paying symbols are 10, J, Q, K, A, Bronze Ribbon, and Silver Ribbon. Landing 5 of these symbol types pays between 1X and 15X the bet. The Expanding Wild has the text “Wild” and will cover the entire reel whenever it appears on the reels. The Scatter Symbol is a multicolored balloon, and landing 3 of this symbol type will trigger the Bonus Game.
Balloon Race Gameplay
The objective of Balloon Race is to qualify for the live game show by landing 3 Scatter or Wild Symbols during the Qualification Phase. During the live game show, the winner is the first balloon to reach the top.
Qualification Phase
This phase is played with a grid setup of 5 reels, 3 rows, and 10 paylines. You create a winning combination by landing 3 or more of the same symbol types on adjacent reels starting at the leftmost reel, and you are paid according to the paytable.
The Wild Symbol can land anywhere on the reels and expand to cover the entire reel. This special symbol type can substitute for all paying symbols except the Scatter Symbols and help you create winning combinations. Landing 3 Wild Symbols on the reels will also grant you access to the Bonus Game.
The Scatter Symbol plays a significant role during the phase, and by collecting 3 of this symbol type, the Bonus Game is triggered. Scatter Symbols can land on the reels carrying a multiplier ranging up to 30X. If the Bonus Game is triggered, all multiplier values in view are added and used in the following Balloon Race Bonus Game to calculate the final multiplier.
Top-Up Phase
This phase can be triggered before entering the Balloon Race Bonus Game for an extra cost to boost the multipliers. The feature is activated by pressing the TOP-UP button, which releases 3 to 6 balloons, each containing a possible Top-Up value. The balloons that reach their target are added to the Bonus Game’s total value.
Balloon Race Bonus Game
This bonus round can be triggered by landing 3 Scatter or Wild Symbols during the Qualification Phase. The Balloon Race Bonus Game is a live show led by a game host, taking you above the clouds and featuring a hot air balloon race towards Bonuses.
The feature starts with a ball-drawing machine containing 80 balls in yellow, purple, green, and red. Different multipliers await the finishing line, and the objective is to finish the race as the winner. As the race begins, the colored balls are drawn randomly, and when a ball is drawn, the balloon of the matching color ascends one step upwards.
The aim for the balloons is to be the first to fly 5 positions up to the finish line. The race is finished when one balloon reaches the top after 5 repetitions. The color of the winning balloon determines the payout for all players.
Once the first hot air balloon reaches the finish line, all Multipliers from the gameplay are calculated together. Scatter Multipliers x Bonus Round Multipliers + Top-Up Multipliers = Final Multiplier.
Spin Modes
If you want to boost the gaming experience for a cost, you can use the Spin Mode options:
5X = Activate the XXXtreme Spin Mode, helping the player to trigger the Bonus Round faster by guaranteeing 1 Scatter or Wild Symbol for each spin. This option is played with an RTP of 96.0%.
50X = Activate the Super XXXtreme Spin Mode, which helps the player trigger the Bonus Round faster by guaranteeing 2 Scatter or Wild Symbols for each spin. This option has an RTP of 96.03%.
Final Thoughts on Balloon Race
Welcome to this hot balloon race from Evolution! Air balloons were once considered an incredible invention and presented a new way of traveling. The first hot air balloon flight was in 1783, and the first passengers were a sheep, a duck, and a rooster.
With this release, Evolution invites you to ride into a cloud for an immersive experience, but it all starts with the Qualification Phase, which is a familiar slot experience with 10 paylines. Just as we’ve seen in Crazy Pachinko, the slot experience is basic and feels like a waiting room for the Bonus Game to start. We appreciate the Bonus Game and its win potential, offering a fresh and innovative game with strong visuals.
Overall, although we’ve seen this hybrid slot + Bonus Game format before, we found the Bonus Game very interesting, making us forget about the simplistic slot experience. We think this game is a good start for Live Game beginners due to its strong visuals and easy-going gameplay. We can forgive the provider for the basic slot qualification round when they deliver this innovative and solid Bonus Game, matching the rating of other strong releases of the provider.
Balloon Race is a live game that ranks among the best from the provider, offering an innovative Bonus Game with strong visuals.