Down the Rails

Casinos with Down the Rails

An Introduction to the Down the Rails Slot

Players from all over the world will know about different political figures in other countries. This is especially true for British figures because so many places have their own histories that tie in so well. With the Down the Rails video slot, you get to experience all of this on the reels.

Pragmatic Play has used a rather interesting theme here. It ties together British royalty (and other leadership figures) with the trains in the region.

The visual style they used in this game is a bit different than what we saw in The Royal Family slot. All of the characters on the reels look like paintings. However, we have to say that they are particularly well done. Additionally, you get to see the trains moving around in the background at a subway station. It’s a great look that captures an underground and slightly foggy feel to it. We think it’s an atypical theme for sure, but it has been handled in a high-quality way.

From that starting point, Pragmatic Play decided to put the varied theme to work. They did this by tying in a tremendous number of features to the thing. It really stands out as having more features than any slot we can remember seeing in a very long time. However, they aren’t just thrown in without reason. Every single one of them makes sense in the context of the theme. Moreover, some of them bring more value than others, which allows some to hit more often. It’s a great variety and was set up with a really cool approach.

Betting and Layout

With so many features and atypical game mechanics, you might expect a non-standard format. However, Pragmatic Play appears to have thought differently. It makes sense that they would go with something more straightforward. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when so many other features provide an exciting experience. That aside, here’s what you need to know to get started:

• A standard grid size is used for one. It has five reels with three horizontal rows going across.
• Additionally, you get 20 paylines, which is a very standard and usual number. In fact, it may be the most popular number of lines for 5×3 grid slots.
• These lines pay from the left to the right only, and the number of them isn’t adjustable.
• Your bet sizing starts with €0.01 coins on 20 lines for a €0.20 wager at the minimum per spin.
• However, since you can pick coins worth as much as €0.50 and up to 10 coins on each line, your maximum bet size is all the way up at the €100 level.

Other Information

Some games with royalty themes like Queen of Gods will balance the concept with a lower volatility. However, that’s not the case here. Instead, the volatility is quite a bit above the average. We wouldn’t necessarily call it high, but the features do bring it up in a sort of medium-high range.

You would think that with the betting being so line-based that the wins would be too. However, they aren’t. Instead, Pragmatic Play opted for all wins being based on multiples of the bet size overall. We saw this in another Pragmatic Play slot Queen of Gods with a somewhat similar idea overall. We prefer this approach since it’s easier on players. No math has to be done in your head figuring out how many coins equal out to what when you hit a winning combination.

Gameplay and Features for the Down the Rails Video Slot

To say that this game has a lot of features and game mechanics would be a tremendous understatement. It’s completely packed with all kinds of goodies. In fact, the Down the Rails online slot is one of the titles most densely filled with features from this developer that we’ve ever seen.

We recognize that this can be exciting while also being a bit intimidating to jump into. With so many features to learn, it can seem a bit overwhelming. However, we’ll break it all down for you in what follows. This will help you to go into playing this game without getting confused about what to expect.

Wild Newspaper Symbols

A good place to start is the newspaper symbols. They are the wilds in this slot. While this means they offer substitutions to help get extra wins, that’s not all they do. Additionally, they’re responsible for the best regular wins in the entire slot. Those wins are as follows:

• Five of a Kind – 25x
• Four of a Kind – 5x
• Three of a Kind – 2x

These wins are solid for sure. However, remember that they are multiplied by your total bet size. If you’d like to know what they would be listed as based on line bet wagers, multiply them by 20.

With the wild newspapers, they substitute for all non-bonus symbols.

Randomly Triggered Features

A handful of random features can trigger in this game. Here is a quick look at what some of them can bring to the table in no particular order. Note that they can land without any specific combination of symbols or other triggering content. Instead, the game has a random chance of awarding each at any given time.

Tunnel Vision

When this feature kicks off, a tunnel symbol comes into play. It looks like your view of a set of rails for a subway going down a tunnel with bricks around in an arch. However, it works like a mystery symbol.

These tunnel symbols can appear in random positions anywhere on the board. Once they land, they will all turn into a matching regular paying symbol. This drastically increases your chances for getting wins and multi-line payouts.

The Big Smoke

One of two things can happen with this feature. You can have bonus symbols forced on the reels, or you can get a massive 3×3 symbol to land. When the latter happens, it will count as the given symbol for each of the nine positions it takes up. However, it will count once for each of those nine spots, making it easier to get wins for that symbol.

Wild Strike

Just because this is the most straightforward feature doesn’t mean it’s unimportant or doesn’t pack as much value. Random wild symbols are thrown across the screen when it hits. Between the substitutions and great payouts for the wilds, it’s one of the better random features.

Shifting Stack

The stacks symbols only appear during the Shifting Stack feature. This is basically a stacked wild that is added to the reels. It can land and force all of its wilds to the screen to cover the reel. They also offer multipliers of either 2x or 3x. Additionally, they can combine with regular wilds to create paying combinations.

Down the Rails Free Spins

Different free spins features are based on different train locations. However, they are all triggered by the same bonus symbols. This creates a situation where you never know which feature the Down the Rails video slot is going to bring up.

• Pentonville gives five free spins. Additionally, you get re-spins that can extend existing wins or create new ones.
• Kings Cross also awards five free spins. This time, when a wild appears in the cross in the center, it turns the entire cross into wilds.
• Buckingham Palace comes with eight free turns. Here, stacked wilds appear and will nudge when they show up to cover the entire reels. All character symbols can also be converted into whichever the highest paying one was that landed.
• Canary Wharf gives players eight free spins with the ability to land a collect symbol. When it shows up, it can pull random payouts of up to 50x your total wager from each character.

These are some pretty interesting free spins features. Overall, Pragmatic Play packed this title with a lot of mechanics for sure.

How to Win are Down the Rails

The volatility is higher than normal because of all of the features and value-packed goodies. As such, you will see more swings than usual, and they will be higher than average. However, if you’re interested, an adjustment is available. Dropping your bet size just a little, perhaps 25 percent, is enough to cut the edge off of this volatility for the most part.

Payout Structure for the Down the Rails Online Slot

The man in red gets you 25x for five, and the man in blue earns 12.5x. That’s the same payout as the man in burgandy, which is worth 12.5x as well. From there, the woman and the man with the apple in green both pay 10x for five of a kind combinations.

The low-tier symbols are stylized card ranks. With the red A and blue K, you can pick up 5x and 4x for five of either, respectively. At the lowest end of the payouts, however, it’s 3x and 2.5x for the purple Q and green J.

Overview

We aren’t exaggerating when we say that the Down the Rails slot has more features than we can ever remember seeing in a single slot. However, if you want something with a royal theme and less to keep up with, we suggest Kings of Crystals.

Regardless of that, no one can claim Pragmatic Play only focused on the features here. That’s because the presentation is top-notch as well. This combination makes it a particularly formidable title compared to the competition.

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