Hold the Phone Slot Review
In 1997 Nokia started loading a game called Snake 🐍 onto its phones, and it ended up on hundreds of millions of phones 📱. You steered a pixel line around the screen, fed it dots, and watched it grow.
It always ended the same way, with the line crashing into its own tail. I'm fairly sure my thumbs peaked right there.
Hold the Phone slot from [Backseat Gaming(https://www.bitstarz.com/games/backseatgaming) drops you at a bus stop 🚌 with a foldable phone in your hands and two screens to stare at, and one of them starts out locked.
Gameplay
The base game plays out at a cartoon city bus stop, with a blue bus sign, a glass shelter, and a road with yellow lane markings running toward the skyline. The two grids sit on a foldable phone held in both hands.
Free Spins move the action onto the bus itself, with blue seats, yellow handrails, and a row of passengers who are very busy not looking at your screen.
You get two 5x5 grids with 15 paylines, and wins pay for 3 or more matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. The RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.
RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate. is 96.01% and the volatility is very high.
The max multiplier is 18,000x and the max win is $360,000. Bets run from $0.10 to $20, and the game doesn't support Japanese yen.
The left grid is live from the start, while the right grid sits locked with its reels standing still. Each grid pays on its own, and Bonus symbols that land on both grids count together toward triggering Free Spins.
Land 2 Bonus symbols on the left grid in the base game and the right grid unlocks and spins right away. If more Bonus symbols land on either grid, the matching Free Spins round starts.
At the top of the paytable, the Fire symbol pays 2x, 5x, and 10x for 3, 4, and 5 matching symbols, respectively, followed by the Ghost symbol at 1x, 3x, and 6x. The Star and Heart symbols both pay 0.5x, 1.5x, and 3x.
The 10, J, Q, K, and A symbols all pay 0.1x, 0.5x, and 1x.
The Wild Block symbol pays 20x for 5-of-a-kind. It can sometimes land in the base game, in a random size from 2x2 to 5x5 and with a random multiplier.
The Charge symbol can land in every game mode and carries 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, or 10x, which gets added to the Wild Block multiplier on both grids.
A Bonus symbol can only land in the base game and in the Scatter Spins, Bonus Boost, and Mystery Bonus modes, and only 1 can land on each reel.
Features
FREE SPINS:
Every Free Spins round awards 10 Free Spins, and 3, 4, or 5 Bonus symbols start the Single Screen, Double Screen, or Double Screen Max round, respectively.
The Wild Block stays on the grid for every spin of a round and floats to a new position between spins.
Single Screen:
The round starts with a 2x2 Wild Block at 1x on the left grid while the right grid stays locked.
When 3 Unlock symbols land on the left grid, the right grid unlocks for the rest of the round and gets a copy of the left Wild Block. Unlock symbols land only on the left grid in this round, and none land once the right grid is open.
Double Screen:
Both grids start unlocked with a 2x2 Wild Block on each.
Double Screen Max:
Both grids start unlocked with a 3x3 Wild Block on each.
Wild Block Growth:
When 3 Expand symbols land, the Wild Block grows 1 size on both grids, from 2x2 up to 5x5, and every size increase adds 1 to 3 more Free Spins.
BUY BONUS AND ANTE BET:
The Buy Bonus menu sells 4 rounds: Single Screen for 100x, Double Screen for 500x, Double Screen Max for 1,000x, and Mystery Bonus for 625x, which lands 3, 4, 5, or 6 Bonus symbols.
The Ante BetAn Ante Bet is an option that costs a percentage of your bet but increases your chances of landing triggering symbols that initiate a feature. is called Bonus Boost. You can switch it on for 2x, and it makes every spin more likely to trigger Free Spins.
Two more modes work the same way. Scatter Spins costs 50x and guarantees at least 2 Bonus symbols on every spin, and Power Tap costs 500x, unlocks both grids on every spin, and gives each grid a Wild Block from 2x2 to 5x5 with a 2x to 50x multiplier.
Performance
I ran the slot through the base game and a Double Screen round, and it never stalled, even with 2 grids spinning at once.
Maximum Win
Land the max multiplier of 18,000x at the top bet of $20 and the max win is $360,000.
The smallest bet you can place is $0.10.
Conclusion
The game's money rides on the Wild Block, and the Charge and Expand symbols are what fatten it on both grids at once, so the Free Spins rounds carry the big wins.
By my math, a 5x5 Wild Block puts a 5-of-a-kind Wild on all 15 paylines, which is 300x per grid before the multiplier. The max multiplier needs both grids full at about a 30x multiplier, so treat it as a lottery ticket.
The RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.
RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate. makes this a longer session game, and a max multiplier this size on a very high volatility game is a match, so kudos to the studio.
The Single Screen buy is the cheapest way into a round and the only buy a modest bankroll can repeat.
Double Screen and Double Screen Max cost several times as much for a second grid. Let's be honest, the Mystery Bonus buy is just a gamble on how many Bonus symbols land.
Of the 3 modes, Bonus Boost is the cheap one and only improves the odds, Scatter Spins guarantees Bonus symbols at a price most players will feel, and Power Tap is a mode for big bankrolls.
Big-bet players with deep bankrolls and patience for long dry stretches are the target, and low-bet players who want steady small wins should pass.
Slot Details
Game Provider: [Backseat Gaming(https://www.bitstarz.com/games/backseatgaming)
Game Type: Video Slots
PaylinesPaylines are preset lines that run across the reels, and when you land matching symbols on them, that will result in a payout. The more paylines, the more ways you can win, but also the higher your bet per spin.: 15
RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.
RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate.: 96.01%
Volatility RateSlot games can have low, medium, high, or extremely high volatility rates (or a combination thereof).
The less volatile the game, the more often it should pay out, but the lower the amount, the less the payout, as this is in keeping with the risk you’re taking. Volatility rate should be considered in conjunction with a game’s RTP.: Very High
Bonus Round: No
Progressive: No
Free Rounds: Free Spins
Max Multiplier: 18,000x
Max Win: $360,000
Published by
BitStarz, award-winning Bitcoin Casino
