More by Rival Gaming
A Day at the Derby Slot Machine Overview
Atmosphere / Background
Derbies have a rich history dating back to the mid-15th century. These races
have evolved over the years from races between riders to the high class social
events they are today.
Rival’s A Day at the Derby, with its lush green background and race track
feel, does a good job of capturing these events.
The area behind the reels is a lush green of newly bloomed spring trees with
a beautiful white steeple that is synonymous with a high class race track. The
sides of the reels continue with the lush green, and at the bottom right corner
you get a glimpse of the dirt race track.
Music and Sound Effects
Throughout the game you hear an excited crowd cheering what is happening on
the race track. The fans roar and whistle as though their favorite horse is
gaining speed.
But after a while, we muted the volume; the roar of the crowd is a short
audio file and repeats continuously.
We are pleasantly surprised that the audio supplied for the bonus game is
suited perfectly. It includes the crowd but adsd the starting gun, the horses
running, and the photo finish flash.
The only sound effect during winning payouts is an air horn sound.
But this game has many other sounds that go along with the symbols.
Each of the symbols has an audio that is attached to it, and you hear this
sound when you get a winning combination.
Here’s an example:
The horseshoes clink together, the drink slurps out of the cup, and the
horse’s neigh.
Animations
This game is full of animations. During regular play there’s no animation,
but when winning combinations are made, they’re everywhere.
The animations for the symbols are linked directly to the symbol.
Here’s an example:
When the drink gets slurped up, the binoculars show you the race, and the
roses get sprinkled over the screen.
A Day at the Derby Slot Machines Pay Table and Graphics
One of the best things about A Day at the Derby is the symbols. Here’s a look
at what symbols are available and their pay out levels:
Brown Horse Wild
The brown horse takes the place of every symbol to form winning payouts.
The wilds only appear on reels 1, 2, and 3 and multiply the player’s wins by
the total number of wild symbols on the screen.
Blue Jockey/ Free Spin
You trigger free spins by
landing 3 or more blue jockeys anywhere on the reels. You receive 5 free spins
for 3 icons, 10 free spins for 4 icons, and 20 free spins for 5 icons. The free
spins have a 3x multiplier.
Grey Bucktoothed Horse
This icon is the bonus
icon. Receiving 3 or more of these icons automatically triggers the bonus round.
Red and Green Jockey
This icon is the jackpot icon. He pays out number of icons in the combination. Combination of 3 pays 75X,
4 pays, 500X, 5 pays 2500X the players bet.
Betting Pad
Pad of paper, pencil, and money. This
icon pays 5X for 3, 15x for 4, 80x for 5.
Binoculars
This icon is the one with the smallest
payout. It pays 3x for 3, 10x for 4, and 50x for 5 in a winning combination.
Drink
The drink seems to represent a mint julip
and pays 15x for 3, 30x for 4, and 200x for 5.
Horseshoes
This icon pays 10x for 3, 20x for 4, and 100x
for 5 in a winning combination.
Lady in a Hat
This lady, with her big red flower
in her hat, is all smiles. She pays 25x for 3, 75x for 4, 500x for 5.
Man
Man dressed to the nines. He pays 20x for 3, 50x for 4, and 300x for 5.
Trophy
Gold trophy with handles. It pays the most
of the regular game symbols. It pays 8x for 2, 45x for 3, 250x for 4, and 1500x
for 5 in a winning combination.
Roses
A dozen beautiful long stem red roses. They
pay 30x for 3, 125x for 4, and 1000x for 5.
Symbol Graphics
The symbols for this game are relevant to the theme. With the animations
added, they bring some excitement to the game.
The icons themselves are not overly dramatic and are cartoony compared to
other games.
Of the icons available, our favorites are the roses and the brown horse.
A Day at the Derby Slot Bonus Features
This game offers 4 different bonus features:
- The Wild
- Free Spins
- Bonus Round
- The Jackpot
The Wild provides the player with more chances to complete a winning
combination; it takes the place of any other icon on the reel. It also pays
based on the number of wild icons on the reels and multiplies that by the
players total bet.
The free spins feature is a great bonus available in A Day at the Derby. It
has levels and gives the player a different number of spins based on number of
icons.
Plus it gives the player a 3x multiplier automatically.
The Jackpot is the highest pay out option in the game. Getting a winning
combination with this icon can really pay off.
But the Bonus game is the best bonus feature this game offers though.
When you get 3 or more bonus symbols, you are automatically taken to the
bonus round.
In this bonus game, you are taken to a different screen and asked to pick one
of 3 horses. Then you watch the horse’s race. The best part about this game is
no matter where your horse finishes you win something. No one is a loser on the
bonus game. It pays based on the bet placed during regular game play.
Betting Options
You can change your coin size from $0.01 to $0.25, pay lines from 1 to 20,
and put 1 to 10 coins on each pay line. This makes the minimum bet worth one
cent per spin and the max wager worth $50.00.
Be careful when you start playing this game. The default settings are 20 pay
lines, a $0.10 coin size, and 10 coins per line.
The 20 lines will be fine for most players, but wagering more than the
minimum coin size and coins per line doesn’t give you any advantages.
Other Options
The options menu is located underneath the coin size adjuster, and this
allows you to change the following options:
- Game speed (from slow to medium)
- Make the game full screen
- Turn sounds on / off
- Adjust the background volume
Make sure if you’re changing the settings for the sound that you uncheck the
“audio on” box and change the background sound level. The sounds can get
annoying fast.
Win Frequency
The win frequency for A Day at the Derby Slot is average for a 20 pay line
slot.
We had some bad streaks. The winning did come in at random times, but we saw
more wins than some other games.
The brown horse wild appears frequently and offers lots of payouts.
The bonus round is triggered at a normal frequency, and we got free spins at
a normal rate (if not a little less).
Game Rules
If you’ve played other 5 reel slot machines, then you should have no trouble
adjusting to this one.
But just in case, here are the main rules for A Day at the Derby Slot:
- All payouts are formed from left to right, starting with the leftmost
reel. The only exception is scatter payouts, which can appear anywhere on
the reels.
- When two or more payouts occur in the same line, only the largest win is
paid.
- Free spins are played at the triggering bet and line.
- Free spins can be retriggered by landing 3 or more blue jockey symbols.
Conclusion
A Day at the Derby Slot has so many wonderful features: the wilds, free
spins, bonus game, and the jackpots. These features keep players interested and
coming back to the game.
The one downfall of the game is the background audio. Although it does work
well with the theme of the game, it’s repetitive and annoying after a while. Had
the crowd’s roar been linked to win, it might have been less annoying.
The good thing is that the audio and sound effects can be turned off in the
game menu or just by turning the volume down on your device.
The graphics in the game aren’t over the top, but they do fit well with the
game and the theme. This game is not a high intensity game, so these graphics
are perfect. They could have been done better; the cartoony feel of them could
have been stepped up a level. If you like super fancy, high intensity games,
this might not be the game for you.
This game is for players who like lower level games and aren’t basing their
choice on the graphics but on the chance of pay out when playing.
With its five reel 20 pay line set up, this game resembles most other games
on the market. The bonus game sets this game apart. Also, there’s not a single
symbol on the game that doesn’t pay the player something.
Give A Day at the Derby a try. You won’t regret it, but remember it’s a slot
machine. It will take all your money if you play too long.