Mad Blast

Mad Blast: Slot Overview

Thanks in large part to games like Sweet Bonanza and Gates of Olympus, scatter-paying slots have exploded in popularity, with every other studio seeming to get in on the action. Push Gaming is a developer that has dropped some doozies when it comes to cluster paying slots, Fire Hopper and Jammin' Jars, for instance, but it hasn't dominated to the same extent with scatter pays. Rat King was good, Jaguar Drop less so. Push Gaming is back at it in Mad Blast, this time combining scatter-paying combinations with a doubling-up win multiplier that, yes, is a lot like the one used in Yggdrasil Gaming and partners' DoubleMax slots.

Mad Blast takes place in the workshop of an entity known as the Mad Tinkerer, though their working area seems pretty tame. There's a hammer on the wall and pliers, but it seems a drab place to conduct experiments. Perhaps the Mad Tinkerer channels all the creative juices into their creations and leaves the workshop spare to cut down on distractions. When free spins trigger, a robot trundles into the background, so in general, the sci-fi, mechanical theme carries the game quite well.

Played on a 5x6 gaming area, wins in Mad Blast are created when at least 8 matching pay symbols land anywhere on the grid. Winning combinations trigger a cascade mechanism and a multiplier feature. Push Gaming has set the game's volatility to a high setting, and the most preferable RTP value is the 96.34% version. Base stakes range from 10 c to $/€100, though the Push Bet doubles the base bet when actuated, increasing the chance of winning free spins.

Five boxes, coloured blue, purple, green, pink, and yellow, are Mad Blast's low pays, while its highs are 4 robotic symbols. Winning combinations of 8-9 in size pay 0.3 to 10 times the stake, and the largest 12+ scatter wins award 2 to 50 times the bet. Wild symbols are not part of Mad Blast in any phase.

Mad Blast: Slot Features

Mad Blast operates a cascading wins system, which removes winning symbols, causing a symbol drop to fill the vacated spaces. As well as this is a Total Multiplier, Multiplier Boost symbols, Extra Life symbols, free spins, Multiplier Strike Out and bonus buys.

Total Multiplier & Multiplier Boost Symbol

The total multiplier is always present, and it applies to each winning combination. For each winning cascade, the Total Multiplier doubles in value, but it resets after a non-winning cascade. In the base game, the Total Multiplier starts at x1 and can go as high as x2,048. The Multiplier Boost symbol is available in the base game and in free spins. It activates with any winning combination, increasing the Total Multiplier by the number of steps displayed on the symbol. The Multiplier Boost symbol can have step values of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Extra Life Symbol

The Extra Life symbol is also available in the base game and in free spins. It activates on a non-winning cascade, removing all paying symbols from the reels, except scatters, Multiplier Boosts, and all instances of the most common paying symbol. It will leave the highest-paying symbol if more than one symbol type is equally common.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 scatters in the base game awards 8 free spins with a starting Total Multiplier of x2, Landing 4 scatters in the base game awards 10 free spins with a starting Total Multiplier of x4, while 5 triggering scatters in the base game awards 12 free spins with a starting Total Multiplier of x8. The Total Multiplier resets to the lowest possible value for the start of a new free spin, and each scatter landing in the feature awards +1 free spin.

Multiplier Strike Out

This feature is only available during free spins. After 3 consecutive winning cascades, the Multiplier Strike Out feature triggers, and the last active Total Multiplier step is deleted from the Total Multiplier list. It cannot delete the 2,048x.

Bonus Buy

Players are able to buy free spins with an x2 initial multiplier for 150x the bet or free spins with an x8 initial multiplier for 750x the bet.

Mad Blast: Slot Verdict

Push Gaming is a name synonymous with wild innovation; however, of late, the studio seems to have cooled in this regard. Mad Blast has been billed as a 'one-of-a-kind experience', yet developer Bang Bang Games might beg to differ since it's the maker behind The Runemakers DoubleMax, a scatter pays meets DoubleMax slot. Push Gaming might counter that argument by citing features such as the Multiplier Strike Out, and fair enough. But on the whole, Mad Blast feels like further evidence of Push Gaming's transition from bold trendsetter to follower of fashion.

For all that, Mad Blast is a good scatter-paying slot. It has been made to a high standard, and the innovations or changes, shall we say, while perhaps subtle on paper, are able to fizz and pop in practice. It might cause consternation amongst DoubleMax fans to know the Total Multiplier in the bonus round does not persist between free spins but returns to its lowest possible value - depending on how many scatters triggered the feature. However, doing things this way meant the number of winning combinations seemed to be fairly plentiful, given that they have more room to manoeuvre instead of getting stuck at a higher multiplier level and being hit with dead free spins, so to speak. The Multiplier Strike Out is a clever idea, as well, and being able to skip one or more Total Multiplier levels is useful. As is the Multiplier Boost symbol.

An attractive 10,000x win cap rounds the game off, and while it seems unlikely Mad Blast will revolutionize the scatter-pays or double win multiplier space the way other certain Push Gaming slots have done for their genres, this is undoubtedly a well-built release even if it 'borrows' one or two ideas from elsewhere.