Million Dollar Money Drop Slot Machine
Based around a TV game show, the Million Dollar Money Drop video slot machine comes from UK-based developer Gamesys. While the show wasn’t a huge hit in America, the original British version ran for several years and this game also comes in a Million Pound Money Drop version for UK players, but apart from a couple of symbols, the bet ranges and the currency used, they are identical.
We shall stick to the Dollar version as it’s available in more countries and stops any confusion, so moving right into it, we find a 5-reel, 25-payline slot that has an outwardly simple design, but some totally unique bonus features that are connected to the gameshow.
Playable with no download needed, it’s mobile-optimised for the casual gaming and Bingo sites where it has become especially popular, but it can also be found at the many online casinos that carry the Gamesys range.
Dropping into The Million Dollar Money Drop
Before playing for real, gamblers may want to practice with free Million Dollar Money Drop video slots, but the minimum stake is only 0.25 per spin and there’s a high return to player percentage, so at lower stakes, there’s really not much risk involved. The high limit is 50.00 and winnings come in the conventional way when identical symbols stop across a line without a break in the sequence from the left side.
The white reels are surrounded by an electric-blue frame to make it look a little like the TV show and the symbols include colourful 10, J, Q, K and A playing card icons which pay the lower-value prizes, but are consequently more commonly seen. Payouts for the card symbols range from 5, 15 and 100x the line bet when 3, 4, or 5 of either the 10 or J land, to 10, 25, or 200x for the A.
Double and triple-bar symbols and a couple of contestants are also seen, while higher wins come from the single contestant, who’s worth 2x when landing on reels 1 and 2 across a line, up to 750x when he’s right across the reels. The Million Dollar Money Drop logo pays out between 2x and 1000x, while a special wild symbol returns the best wins of between 5x and 2000x. It also substitutes for all except the bonus icon to complete extra win-lines.
Bundles of Cash for Extra Wins
A bundle of Dollar bills is a bonus symbol that can appear in any spin, and when it does so, a little animated sequence will play out where the cash drops down from any reel it’s on, into a trapdoor below. This carries on, with the amount in each trapdoor increasing by the total stake per spin each time, until players land 3 bonus symbols in a single spin.
This triggers a special free spins round, but before they begin, players are given the option of re-distributing the cash around the trapdoors, so if there’s lots under a certain reel and not so much under another, they can shuffle the amounts around until happy. The spins then start and in any of them the trapdoor under a bundle of cash can open, with a stacked wild symbol filling the reel above it for a single spin, although once on a reel it can return again.
Unlike normal fixed-limit bonus games, these free spins continue until 4 of the 5 trapdoors have opened, with players winning whatever is in the remaining pile of cash. In a unique twist, if the free spins haven’t been triggered, players keep the cash in the trapdoors even if they log off and come back to the game another time.
Show it the Door?
While the Million Dollar Money Drop online slot looks fairly straightforward, and in normal play it is, the real appeal is the way cash drops down and is stored below the reels until the bonus round starts. A simple tip is to re-distribute the cash equally between the trapdoors before starting the bonus games, as there’s no way of knowing which trapdoor will be left closed at the end of them.
By having a guaranteed real cash payout at the end of the free spins, this round is always going to be a useful one to trigger, and the more cash collected before they start, the higher the eventual prize will be.
Standard spins can still pay out some nice prizes, and the high-value wild symbol completes winlines, while also bringing in some of the best prizes in the game. A high return to player percentage of 94.98%, and the reliability of the UK-licenced Gamesys developer should ensure that gamblers won’t be dropping too much cash on this game when they play.
