The Chase Slingo
The Chase is a British TV quiz show that has contestants trying to build up a prize fund, and then competing against a ‘chaser’ who tries to lower or remove their winnings. It’s been running since 2010, and with a regular audience of up to five million, it’s the most successful daytime quiz program in the UK. International versions have raised the profile of this game in countries as far apart as Australia, Turkey, Russia and China. There’s now an online casino game based on the show, which looks set to raise its profile even further.
However, The Chase Slingo video slot is no traditional slot machine, as it combines slots and bingo in the increasingly popular Slingo format. If you’ve never played or heard of Slingo, read this next bit; but if you know how it works, skip to the next section or just go straight to the free The Chase Slingo game, found right here on this page.
It’s even easier to join a recommended real money online casino site that features The Chase Slingo, as you can then start to play for real cash. With prizes of up to 200x your stake, it’s a fun and exciting way to collect some big rewards. Slingo plays out on a 5x5 grid of numbers, under which are five reels. The numbers that appear on the reels are marked off the grid, and you win prizes depending on how many winning lines are completed over the course of 11 spins. Like many ingenious ideas, it’s pretty simple when you think about it.
Slingo games are found at sites owned and operated by the developer Gaming Realms. Based in London, the company has been in the business since 2012. It now runs popular online, mobile-optimized and social sites such as Pocket Fruity and the Spin Genie casino.
Chase Down Winnings
The game features the red logo with a running man, a blue gaming area, and a red background reflecting the colors of the TV show. It’s not particularly flashy and there are no 3D graphics or animations, but it efficiently gets on with the job of spinning up numbers and hopefully winning combinations. The grid of numbers fills most of the screen, with the five single-row reels sitting below them. 11 red balls are in a dispenser to the right of the game, and these are used up as you play out the 11 spins granted with each wager.
Click to spin the reels, and any numbers that match those on the 5x5 grid will be replaced by a star symbol. Certain numbers on the grid can then be highlighted, and this is where an element of skill is called for. Your aim is to complete horizontal, vertical or diagonal rows of five numbers – so choose which of the highlighted ones you think will get you closer to that target. The reels spin again and so on, until all 11 spins are played out.
Special Symbols for Special Features
Instead of numbers on the reels, you could land some special symbols along the way. There’s a free spins icon which gives you one extra spin at the end of the round. It’s possible to collect several of these, adding a number of valuable extra games to the end. There’s a wild symbol that highlights all the numbers in a vertical line above the reel position it landed on, although a devil symbol will ensure that no numbers above it can be highlighted.
Super wild symbols allow you to select any number on the grid, rather than those selected by the software. There’s also a symbol depicting a pile of coins that awards an instant cash prize. Landing three or more wilds or super wilds in a single spin is another way to skip the procedure of creating a Slingo and collecting an instant reward.
Landing Winnings
Once the 11 main spins and any collected free spins have played out, you could be left tantalizingly close to a big payday. If that’s the case, you can spin the reels up to four more times for a fee, with the amount based on how likely it is that you’ll collect a prize at the end.
The payouts for creating lines of symbols will vary. There are five horizontal, five vertical and two diagonal lines, and completed ones are called ‘Slingos’. At a basic 1.00 stake, a single line pays just 0.10, while two completed lines will return a prize of 0.20. Three Slingos are worth 0.50, and four will pay out 1.00. Once the number of completed lines rises to nine, you’ll be collecting wins equal to 25x the stake, while ten will equal a prize of 50x.
A full house, where all 12 lines have been completed, will be worth the top prize of 100x the triggering bet.
A Slingo Strategy
One of the attractions of Slingo is that you can influence the outcome of a game by using the best possible strategy and clicking the ideal highlighted numbers. If the central position is highlighted, always go for it as this will be included in the most possible Slingos – one horizontal, one vertical and both diagonals.
If you’re close to completing a line, go for any highlighted spots that will help to finish it off. However, it’s the software that decides which ones to offer you, and sometimes you have little choice. Based on the best strategy, The Chase has an average return-to-player percentage of 95%.
Betting Options
You can play for real cash stakes as low as 0.10, or you may raise them in stages to a high limit of 100.00. Remember that you get a basic 11 spins for this, so that’s not the stake per spin. Because you often have to make decisions after a spin, and you only have a certain number of spins per round, there’s no autoplay function.
Other control functions include activating the soundtrack, which is taken straight from the TV show. You can also choose to play on iPhones, iPads, or Windows or Android mobile devices, as well as on desktop PCs.
Game Show Games
Because Slingo works in a unique way, the only comparable online casino games are other Slingo titles. A few more game shows have been given the Slingo makeover, including Deal or No Deal, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. If you like game shows and the Slingo format, you’re bound to enjoy playing these. Each works in exactly the same way, with just a themed logo and some slightly different symbols to set them apart. For example, Britain’s Got Talent Slingo uses a different cartoon devil and the wild symbol is a joker; but other than that, it’s the same as The Chase version.
If you like game shows, then check out the numerous slots such as Family Fortunes, The $100,000 Pyramid, or Wheel of Fortune. Each of these is based on the respective game show, containing bonus features that take elements of the original quiz and give you the chance to feel like a real contestant.
Savor It, or Sling it?
We really enjoy playing Slingo games. The Chase doesn’t bring anything new to the format, but it joins a growing number of similar games with their individual themes. It has to be pointed out that apart from the title and music, it’s got absolutely zero to do with the TV show. The same applies to the other Slingo titles that are supposedly based around different programs.
This shouldn’t put you off playing an exciting game where an element of skill, judgment and strategy can really pay off. It’s easy to learn what numbers on the grid to pick off, so you won’t need to be thinking about it for ages. Just visit a Slingo-powered casino and enjoy.
