Chicago Streets Slot Machine
Poor old Chicago. It’s a beautiful city, with a rich cultural heritage, amazing architecture and stunning lakeside setting, but all it seems famous for is the 1930’s Mob rule that plagued it. So, we have another slot game based on gangsters, molls, crates of prohibited alcohol and cop cars, with the Chicago Streets video slot providing all this and more across 5 reels and 25 paylines. While the Mafia may have been a bunch of gangsters, game developer Playtech is a respected, fair and reliable company who have been supplying online casinos with some stunning games for many years. Chicago Streets is going to add to their reputation for high-end design and features.
It comes with wild substitutions and a unique 2-stage free spins round which can see the cop car symbol cleaning up the streets, or at least cleaning the casinos of their cash, when it locks in multiple places. It’s typical of the efforts that UK-based Playtech go to, ensuring that each game has something a little different to offer their players.
Something else that anyone who has enjoyed any slots from the Playtech developer will recognise, is the high quality of the design, which in this case sees a dark street scene behind the reels and a range of detailed cartoon-style characters creating the higher value win-lines. These wise guys, and the lower-value playing card icons, will need to land across a payline from the left side, in an unbroken sequence for a win, although the wild symbol can help out if needed, completing extra lines if it’s in the right places.
Off to the Streets of the Windy city
Those playing card symbols are made to look like the metal of a policeman’s badge, or maybe a door number, we’re not really told, but all we know is that each has a nasty-looking bullet hole in it. Landing either the 9 or 10 symbols across 3, 4, or 5 reels of a payline will be worth a reward of 5x, 10x, or 20x the amount staked per line, while the J pays up to 30x and the Q is valued at up to 50x. The top card symbols are the K and A, with both returning prizes equal to 20x, 40x, or 75x the line stake, depending on how many reels they stop on.
A sneering mobster with a machine gun fires off wins of 50x, 100x and 200x, while the sultry gangster’s moll is worth 75x, 150x and 400x the line bet when she’s on 3, 4, or 5 reels. The top prizes are paid by the Boss, and give him respect where it’s due, as he will grant you favours in the form of 150x, 300x and a huge 1,000x the line bet. You don’t even need to pay him back!
The old-style police car is a wild symbol and even though it has no value on its own, this will help out by substituting for any of those listed above if it can then complete a winning line. It’s also able to stretch a run of 3 or 4 matching symbols across extra reels, which will equal a higher-value combination, or can even do both at once.
A Crate full of free Spins
A wooden packing crate, presumably full of booze, is a bonus symbol, and we’ll drink to the free spins it offers when landing on reels 1, 3 and 5 at any time. The free spins bonus round is very unusual as it starts off with just 8 extra games, during which any wild symbols that appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 will stay locked in place for the rest of the round. That’s a fairly common bonus feature, but what’s unusual is that a further 8 free games will then play out, where all wilds so far landed remain in place, as more wild symbols will also appear on reel 5.
This makes the odds of landing some big 5-of-a-kind winning lines much greater and while it’s not certain that players will get these top payouts, there’s still a very good chance of them, especially if wilds turned up early on the bonus round.
Street-wise Betting Options
Free Chicago Streets video slots have been made available at Playtech-powered online casinos, but it’s a relatively straightforward game, so most punters will take to these streets right away, wagering as little as 0.01 per line, up to a high limit of 20.00. At this maximum bet, you could be collecting some massive rewards from the Boss and his gang and by choosing he Turbo option, those spins can be played at a quicker rate and the wins come in even faster.
There is also an Autoplay button, which sets them off for a maximum of 100 spins without any clicks needed each time, although they will stop whenever the free spins bonus round is triggered.
A cool Jazz-style soundtrack accompanies this game, and while some slots have music that distracts from the theme, this fits in perfectly.
Other Crime-themed Slots
A similar black and white style, complete with a Boss, his moll and even bullet-riddled playing card symbols are found in the Chicago slot machine from Novomatic. Cartoon cops also appear, and this time, it’s the gangster’s car that triggers a free spins bonus feature, during which players get to shoot bottles after each win to find a multiplier value.
But the ultimate Mob-related game has to be The Godfather video slot, which is set in Don Corleone’s dark office during the wedding scene. Mobsters, wedding food and wild roses will pay out offers you can’t refuse, while the cake triggers free spins with multipliers at each level and the last slice awards extra wilds. The Family Feature pays up to 1,000 coins, while a horse’s head can turn up in any 5 places at random in the Respect Feature. Finally, the Don makes you an offer you can refuse, giving players the option of a cash award or mystery multiplier in this stunning slot game.
Our Verdict on Chicago Streets
Although this isn’t the most feature-filled slot from Playtech, it’s got that unique two-level free spins game and a classy design that’s very atmospheric. Like all games from this developer, it’s fully certified for fairness and licensed for play across many countries, although not actually on the streets of Chicago, as US gambling laws prohibit it.
A wide potential bet range should bring in low-level players and top bosses as well, and thanks to a high return to players percentage, it’s a game the real Mafia wouldn’t have approved of if they were running the gambling den.
But for us players, it’s a fun online casino slot machine, that can pay out some great rewards across desktop computers, iPhones, Android devices and tablets.
