Madness is a game that was created by IGT, and they’ve done it with official support from the band with the same name. A ska band from London, Madness has four decades of history behind it already, being founded originally in 1976. They were especially popular in the 80s, their most popular single being called House of Fun, which is also the main inspiration for this particular slot machine.
In this game you will discover that you get 25 win lines and that it has 5 reels to hold them all. The game has a progressive jackpot which should provide you with a very good reason to play it. There is also a fixed payout of $100,000. Among the features, you will find the wilds, free games, bonus features and scatter symbols.
Features of Madness
It’s a decent collection of features that you have to work with here, the game offering wild symbols, along with the usual scatters and free spins. A couple of bonus games and a progressive jackpot complete the picture in this case.
I’ll start with the wild of Madness, which would be the symbol which has the Madness Logo on it. This particular symbol is going to be useful when it lands on a payline where the rest of the symbols required for the combo already exist, the wild being the only one needed to bring you a prize. The substitution ability of the wild is the one that is used in this case, allowing it to take the same role as the missing symbol. You can get paid directly by the wild, and quite handsomely, up to 10,000 coins being won in this game with its help.
Each of the three scatter symbols available in this game has its own role to play, triggering either free spins or a bonus game when enough of them are present at the same time.
Lucky Seven
This bonus game requires the presence of a single scatter symbol, the one with the pair of dice. You can only get this symbol on one reel, the 3rd one. If it appears there, the bonus game starts up.
A pair of dice will appear and will start spinning, and the sum of the two numbers which appear on them will be used as a multiplier for the total bet. At most, you can win 12 times the bet value from a dice roll. Rolling a 7 will bring you one extra dice roll in addition to the 7x prize.
Winning the progressive jackpot is done through the same symbol with the Lucky 7 Dice on it, though in this case you get a Golden Dice on the 3rd reel, instead of the usual one.
House of Fun
The second bonus game will need the House of Fun scatter icon, its presence being required on all three reels on which it is allowed to appear. Those would be the reels 1, 3 and 5. You are asked to make various picks here, first from the band members, and then from the objects found in a room.
The first choice gets you the base amount you can win, while the one from the objects can give you cash prizes or the Collect message, which will end the feature.
Free Games Feature
Finally, you have the third scatter symbol, with the Madness Record shown on it. It also appears in random locations on the reels, and to get the free spins option you need it on the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels in the same round. You will be taken to a new screen, where five options are laid out in front of you, each one with its own advantages.
Forever Young would be the first option available to you. You get 15 spins for free from it. Symbols can get picture frames around them, and if this type of border appears an extra prize is offered.
Baggy Trousers gets you 10 free spins to work with, along with sticky wilds which are offered by a randomly appearing Thommo character.
Driving In My Car would be the third choice available to you, and it also has 10 free spins to offer. With each spin that you use, you get a stack of wild symbols coming from a car which drives over the reels.
Our House offers a mystery number of free spins, and each new symbol of this type will give you 1 to 5 extra rounds for free.
Night Boat to Cairo is the 5th and last option offered. It has 15 free games available inside, with the Pyramid symbol changing the multiplier when it appears on the 3rd reel. Up to 4x multipliers are possible here.
Betting options and jackpots
If you decide to bet in this game, all you have to do is decide if you want all the lines active, and then choose what the line bet will be. You can take it as high as $10, though the minimum is at $0.01. With 25 lines part of the wager, you can bet up to $250.
The top reward is normally the 10,000 coins offered directly in the game, which would bring it up to $100,000. A progressive jackpot is also offered though, and its trigger is offered by the game’s symbols.
Design and symbols
The influence that comes from the band is quite clear, with some of the images showing their albums, pictures of the members and some of the objects they might’ve used at one point or another. Some weird looking playing cards are part of the equation as well, but that’s something that any player of modern slots needs to get used to. You will not love the design you get here, but if you’re a fan of the band then it will be a decent experience it offers.
Symbols: Madness Logo (wild, 10,000 coins), Lucky Seven (scatter), House of Fun (scatter), Madness Record (scatter), Madness Band (2,000 coins), Double Deck Bus (1,000 coins), Saxophone (500 coins), Bowler Hat (250 coins), Ace (125 coins), King (100 coins), Queen (75 coins), Jack (50 coins) and 10 (25 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
The game might be appropriate for fans of the Madness band, but it should be a lot of fun even if you have no interest in their music. Add to those features a good progressive jackpot and a 10,000x fixed top prize, and you should definitely try it out.
Madness, the Band
Originating in Camden Town, in London, Madness is a band which was formed four decades ago, in 1976. This is a band which covers the ska, new wave and pop genres. Its members are Chris Foreman, Lee Thompson, Graham McPherson, Mike Barson, Chas Smash, Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate. About eight other members were part of the band at one point or another, since it was initially formed. It was a fairly popular band back in the day, getting a total of 15 singles in UK’s Top 10, one of them even ending up on first place. It was “House of Fun”, which is also the single that inspired this slot machine.
Madness can be found at any IGT casino, where you get a chance to play it for real money or in free mode.
