Vinyl Countdown Microgaming

Vinyl Countdown to what? A dancing competition, a singing competition, an eating competition, or merely a countdown to have a wild fun time? I really don't know which is implied here. There are a lot of food shown in the icons and only one icon of a dancing couple, so perhaps it refers to a countdown to good music, good dancing, and good food, in a disco somewhere, or wherever else it may be. For me personally, it turned out to be a countdown to boredom, which didn't take long to happen at all!

In this Vinyl Countdown game, the Wild symbol pays a low 1000x the line bet for getting 5 of them, and substitutes for other symbols except the Scatter symbol. It doesn't do anything else, so it's a dumb symbol. I hate dumb symbols in any game. The Disco Globe is the Scatter symbol, paying the usual 100x the total bet for getting 5 of them, but getting 3 or more of these Scatters doesn't trigger the Free Spins game, because there aren't any free spins at all. Yet another dumb symbol, sheesh! 3 Scatters pay 10x, 4 Scatters pay 50x, 5 Scatters pay 100x, but 2 Scatters pay nothing, not even a respin to try and get the third Scatter. As for the other symbols, the logo 'Vinyl Countdown' pays 1000x, the Man pays 900x, the Girl pays 700x, the Dancers pay 500x, the Shoes pay 300x, and the rest pay from 250x to 50x, all per line bet amount for getting 5 of each kind. A very low paytable for a 9 paylines game.

This ancient nine line machine was forgotten by me long, long ago until I stumbled on Microgamings recent clone of the game "Lucky Twins", and I decided I might as well give the original a bunch of spins just for old times sake whilst I was penning my review of the new game.

The 80's inspired graphics certainly have a lot more character to them than Lucky Twins, I find this version to have much more in the way of charm even if it does show it's age by way of it's low resolution graphics and ugly user interface. Microgaming always did have their usability nailed down though and this game is just as easy to setup and play today as it always was, and in fact the simple display of active lines, coins, bet size and win is really very functional, perhaps more so than more recent efforts.

Payouts aren't the best, certainly by nine liner standards - just 100x your stake for all five scatters isn't exactly earth shattering and there is no multiplier available anywhere to boost that. There's no free spins and no bonus game either so it's all about the base game here - a full screen of the Vinyl Countdown logo symbol should theoretically be a possibility for a payout of 9000 coins representing 1000x your stake when playing all the lines. For ultra variance freaks this could possibly be a good game to try in single line mode which would up the max win to 9000x your stake, though you might well grow old before you hit it!

Microgaming have made some great nine line games over the years, Break Da Bank Again and Thunderstruck being the two that spring to mind - two titles that I still play pretty much every week to this day. I'd love to see them make something new that could compare with those games rather than rehashing games such as this just to fill up their release schedule. NetEnt consistently create new games with great ideas and it seems MG just doesn't have the imagination to match them in this regard anymore which is a real shame.

Still, Vinyl Countdown is surely a great game considering it's age - not one for the high variance lovers, but a solid enough effort nonetheless and the fact that all the action takes place in the base game makes this a solid choice for those who want a good option for tackling bonus wagering requirements.

Vinyl Countdown slot is another girly game coming from Microgaming software. As its theme it has the 1950s, a period of social progression in America. Some of the icons include some good looking desserts, stylish shoes, a young girl and a couple dancing and kissing in front of a big red heart. If you manage somehow to land 5 of the Vinyl Countdown logos you will get 1000 x bet. This game is without bonus features and for that reason I did not like it. It is somehow boring while you are playing. You still get excited if you get some big wins but without a bonus the game it is nothing. When I played it I got bored pretty fast and I will probably not play it again at all.

This is a 5 reel and 9 pay lines slot. It is probably an old slot because the icons are large and there is no room for anything in the background. The symbols are attractive in a way. The desserts look very tasty and it is kind of cheerful with all those people dancing.

The sparkling glitter ball is the scatter. The scatters can pay out even if it is not on an active play line. If you get more than 3 anywhere on the reels will bring you a prize. The jukebox is the wild symbol and it will substitute for any other icon to make a winning combination. The wild cannot substitute for the scatter only, but that is nothing new since that is the rule for almost every other game. I do not know whether to recommend or not this game to other gamblers.