Big City 5's Slot – Free Demo

Ten pots down the left of the reels

Seasoned studio IGT is back with another five-reel slot, and this time around they have opted for a traditional format in a slot called Big City 5's. The Bonus Pots ladder is pinned to the left of the reels the whole time, one cash figure per symbol, Jackpot at the top and J at the bottom. It is visually plain. The ladder is where the detail is, and the figures are not round: the J row reads 159.41 against Q's 245.00. It concentrates on enjoyment rather than showy effects, and anyone who has tried one will immediately identify Big City 5's as an IGT slot, which extends to its appearance, oddities, and effortless play. Each row carries that symbol's 5-of-a-kind prize plus whatever contributions have accumulated on top of it.

Twenty fixed lines paid left to right

Big City 5's is a medium volatility slot delivering an RTP of 94.05%. Each spin sees symbols land across five reels and three rows, and the aim is to line up identical symbols on the 20 fixed paylines, linking from left to right for a win. Only the highest winner is paid on each line, pot pays included, and wins on separate lines are added together. Wins land, then it's on to the next spin.

The symbols employed in the slot are a motley bunch of city and non-city related symbols, and at the top end are BAR symbols and the Jackpot symbol. Both of these crown the paytable at 5,000 coins for five of a kind. The ladder is not ordered by that ranking, though — a pot climbs as wins feed it, so a low symbol's row can sit above a higher symbol's. There is also a Wild on all five reels. It stands in for everything except the 5 scatter. Two of the wins are mixed rather than matched: any combination of Hearts and Diamonds pays as a line, and so does any combination of Clubs and Spades.

Scattered 5s on consecutive reels from reel 1

It's not all observing symbols land; there are also two features to watch for, and these are the Free Spins Bonus and the Bonus Pots Feature. The pots run on every spin without being triggered; the free spins need the scatters.

Free spins are granted if 3 or more scattered 5 symbols land on successive reels from reel 1 – 15 for three, 20 for four, and 25 for five. Free spins play at the coin value and the payline count of the spin that triggered them. In free spins mode, the reels are richer. The Jackpot symbol turns into a Jackpot Wild, and retriggers pay on the same 15 / 20 / 25 scale, up to 200 free spins per bonus. A retrigger asks for the same condition as the entry, scattered 5s on consecutive reels from reel 1.

How a pot fills and how it empties

Pots signify only one thing in slots – riches, and every symbol except the 5 scatter and the Wild holds a pot worth its 5-of-a-kind prize plus contributions. Those contributions persist across play sessions, and they are not shared between bet levels. Every time a 3- or 4-of-a-kind win lands, it fills the pot, and a base-game 5-of-a-kind without a Wild awards it outright. A base-game 5-of-a-kind that does include a Wild only increments the pot instead, and Any Red and Any Black wins increment nothing. In the bonus every 5-of-a-kind awards its pot. Awarding a pot drops it back to that symbol's 5-of-a-kind prize, and it starts climbing again from there. Five Wilds award the Jackpot pot. Pot wins are added on top of the line wins on that spin.

Big City 5's next to the rest of IGT's lineup

Big City 5's is another entertaining wee slot from IGT, though it may come across as a bit of a lightweight at first. The Jackpot is a paytable symbol with a pot attached like the other nine. Then again, it's not really all that wee at all.

Big City 5's sits snugly in IGT's lineup thanks to the mood and relaxed gaming, alongside the collect-and-hold reels of Cash Eruption and the same twenty-line frame in The Big Easy. The paylines are fixed, so the bet is the only thing to set before a spin.

Big City 5's pays up to a max win of 600,000.00 per transaction. The bonus and its triggering spin are included. If that cap is reached inside the bonus, the round ends there with free spins still on the counter.

Big City 5's is also an ever so slight step away from classic minimalist origins, and that won't be a problem as long as IGT maintain the simple, easy-going character. A pot row lights when a win feeds it, which is the only sign on screen that a small win did anything besides pay. Big City 5's surely has that, and the play is rudimentary, but entertaining. It can take time to warm to.

What 114 spins at 14.00 actually paid

During testing, the low-value lines produced a whole lot of nothing happening for a while. The longest gap was eight spins, and it came right at the start, ending on spin 8. The action never truly picked up. 32 of the 114 spins paid something, and 20 of those returned less than the 14.00 they cost. Over 114 spins at 14.00 a go, 1,596.00 went in and 609.00 came back, a return of 38.2%. The runners-up were 67.20 on spin 15 and 47.60 on spin 22, 4.8 and 3.4 times the stake. The balance never once rose above the 1,000.00 it started with before draining down to 13.00. That last 13.00 was under the price of another spin, so the run stopped at 114.

Secondly, the features never showed up. Spin 41 returned 33.60 and spin 9 returned 28.00, 2.4 and 2.0 times the stake. The Free Spins Bonus never triggered once in 114 spins. The best the base game mustered was 154.00 on spin 48, 11 times the stake – not quite the max win, but neat all the same. It left the balance at 720.00.

It doesn't have that strangely gripping x-factor. What it has is ten running totals down the left edge that a three of a kind can nudge. But it is a pleasing slot nonetheless.

Final Minty Score: A hundred and fourteen spins at 14.00 gave back 609.00 of the 1,596.00 they cost, and not one of them put three scattered 5s on consecutive reels, so everything I saw of this game came out of the base reels and the pot rows they feed. The 154.00 on spin 48 was the ceiling of that, eleven times the stake off a game whose top pot sits at 5,000 coins. Whether the ladder pays back what it collects is a question for a run that reaches the free spins.