Push Gaming’s developers once again prove they are masters at crafting cluster-pay slots with Retro Tapes, a high-octane 2022 release crammed full of special symbols and bonus features that are guaranteed to satisfy even the most demanding players. Saucy cassette tapes dance across the reels to the beat of electronic music that is delightfully contagious and will certainly get your feet tapping.
As is usually the case with Push Gaming slots, Retro Tapes pays for clusters of matching symbols that land adjacent to each other instead of employing traditional paylines. The game offers a 6-reel, 9-row grid on which to land winning clusters. Its high volatility makes the release a perfect choice for risk-takers with larger bankrolls. The game has a maximum win potential of 10,000 times the total bet, while the payback percentage averages 96.47% over the long run.
| Retro Tapes Slot Summary | |
|---|---|
| Software Provider | Push Gaming |
| Payline Number | Cluster Pays |
| RTP | 94.46% – 96.47% |
| Minimum Bet | $0.10 |
| Maximum Bet | $100 |
| Wild Symbol | Wild Tape Symbol |
| Scatter Symbol | No |
| Bonus Features | Prize Multipliers, Magnet Feature, Top Charts Feature with Free Spins |
| Jackpot | 10,000x Total Bet |
Symbols and Winning Combinations of Retro Tapes Slot
The game is clearly inspired by 1980s dance music, both in soundtrack and visual presentation. Cassette tapes of different colors make up the set of symbols players encounter on the massive reel grid. The six reels spin against a vibrant backdrop of bold neon colors that perfectly capture the essence of the theme. The 6×9 grid can accommodate as many as 54 symbols on any given spin.
In the absence of standard paylines, the only requirement to win is to form a cluster of at least five matching cassette symbols. The larger the cluster, the bigger the payout. The developers have opted for the cascading mechanic, whereby winning combinations are removed from the reels at the end of each successful spin and new icons fall into the empty grid positions. This paves the way for multiple winning combinations in succession.
The payouts for the smallest winning clusters of five symbols are modest, ranging from 0.1 to 2 times the total bet. The largest clusters consist of 20 or more identical cassette symbols. The gray and blue tapes can bring you up to 5 times your bet for clusters of twenty or more, followed by the green and pink cassettes, which award up to 25 times your wager. Keep an eye on the orange and red cassettes, as these are the highest-value symbols in Retro Tapes. Clusters of twenty or more orange cassettes pay 500 times your stake, while the same cluster of red cassettes pays 1,000 times your base wager.
Bonus Features of Retro Tapes Slot
Retro Tapes offers several special symbols and features, starting with the wild cassette tape. This symbol is easy to spot because it displays the word “wild” in the middle. The wild cassette has an initial win multiplier of 1x and can substitute for all other symbols except the wild multiplier and the magnet. Whenever the wild appears as part of one or more winning clusters, its multiplier increases by one unit. The wild cassette disappears from the grid whenever a losing spin breaks the sequence of consecutive wins.
A star-shaped wild multiplier symbol can appear at random in both the base game and during free spins. It carries extra multipliers (1x, 2x, 3x, or 5x) and transfers their values to all wild cassettes on the grid. Afterward, the star-shaped symbol turns into an Instant Prize icon. These Instant Prize symbols award payouts ranging from 1x to 1,000x when they form clusters of five or more.
Next up is the magnet symbol, which also lands randomly and pulls all cassette symbols of the same type toward its position, forming additional winning clusters. The magnet then transforms into the paying symbol it has attracted. Magnets can also attract Instant Prize symbols, but only if four or more of them appear in a cluster.
If you think these are the only special symbols Retro Tapes has to offer, think again. When three or more wild cassette tapes land simultaneously, they unlock the Top Charts feature, which awards free spins. The triggering wilds remain in place, along with any Instant Prize icons, for the duration of the free spins.
Depending on the number of triggering symbols, you will receive between 6 and 12 free spins. All vacant positions on the grid spin to award wild tapes, wild multipliers, magnets, Instant Prize icons, blank tapes, or symbols that grant extra spins.
Our Verdict
Cassette tapes are nearly extinct as a recording and playback format, but this slot by Push Gaming is unlikely to share that fate. This enticing game definitely has some staying power and should remain popular with players for many years. It is bursting at the seams with bold and highly rewarding features that few other slots can offer in a single package. Just make sure you arm yourself with plenty of patience, as volatility is high in Retro Tapes and the features trigger infrequently.