Microgaming gives us in First Past the Post a horse racing themed title, and as a quick first impression I’d say that it’s a better looking slot machine than most of the others that have taken on the same topic. The quality of the graphics alone are not enough to keep you playing in the long run though, no matter how much of a fan you are of horse racing events, so let’s see how the rest of it does.
You’re going to discover a 25 line game, with 5 reels of course, plus payouts that reach $10,000. There are bonus games that can get you free spins with multipliers, plus you will also find scatter symbols and wilds.
Features of First Past the Post
As the features offered, you will discover that there are wild symbols present, along with multipliers, free spins and scatters. There is even a bonus game, where actual horse racing takes place.
You get three horse wilds in the game, on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th reels. They are all different horses, and when they appear on their own they can act as substitutes and assist you with the creation of new paying combinations. Just like any other wild, these symbols need to appear in a location where they are needed, they can’t help you if they’re not in the right spot already.
The scatter symbol is represented in this case by a Trophy, a symbol that has the ability to appear in random positions, and yet it will still give you prizes of up to 100x the bet. You need only for a certain number of Trophies to be on the reels, but you don’t need them arranged on paylines together. It’s the reason why they are called scatters, the fact that they can appear scattered and they still do their job.
Bonus Game
A horse race is part of the slot’s bonus game, and in order to get access to it you will need the three Horse wilds to be present on the three reels at the same time. A bonus game follows, with a race between the three horses. You try to guess what the outcome will be in the horse race, and the prizes are offered depending on the place on which your chosen horse finishes.
The 1st place, meaning that you guessed correctly, will get you 30 spins for free and 4x multipliers. The 2nd place will have 3x multipliers and 20 free spins. The 3rd place has 15 spins for free and 2x multipliers.
Betting options and jackpots
The game uses a lot of coins, up to 20 for each line, or 500 coins total. They are very low value though, ranging from $0.01 to $0.10. That’s only a $50 total bet.
The game will get you up to 5,000 times the line wager, which should mean as much as 100,000 coins. They are only worth $10,000 though, as the coin’s denomination is very low.
Design and symbols
It’s an attractive slot machine, and it’s not easy since it’s horse racing themed, an area where most developers fail to create something interesting. There are all kinds of themed symbols, along with some playing cards with ribbons on them. The horse race is shown in the background picture, though the reels cover most of the scene.
Symbols: Horse (wild), Trophy (scatter, 100 times the bet), Woman (5,000x), Champagne (2,000x), Tote Board (500x), Betting Ticket (200x), Ace (150x), King (150x), Queen (125x), Jack (125x), Ten (100x) and Nine (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
For the horse racing fan, it’s definitely worth playing. For everyone else, the game is far from being a must play title. That doesn’t make it bad though, just average.
First Past the Post can be found at any Microgaming casino, where you get a chance to play it for real money or in free mode.
