The ability to launch an aggregator site like bored.com and play a few games for no cost is one of the best features of the internet. Although Bored.com is no longer active, the online game Bloons TD remains a favorite way to pass the time. In this game, you must use towers and other defensive structures to bust as many balloons as possible as they snake along a course. It’s not too difficult at first, but the balloons get quicker, larger, and tougher to explode as you advance. Fun times, and if you like the TD idea, you might also enjoy Cash Defense, an online slot machine designed by Print Studios.
Cash Defense is an alternative to the popular ‘bloons’ genre of games, in which players must protect Earth from an alien insect invasion by popping a variety of different types of defense structures. We imagine a nation of undulating hills, each topped with a tower armed to the teeth and ready to rain death on any would-be invaders. Cash Defense’s medieval allusions give it an air similar to that of Holy Hand Grenade, but the game also has hints of Royal Potato and Pine of Plinko. The epic soundtrack creates an atmosphere of marching out to war, getting gamers in the mood to explode some balloons—or bugs.
There are several bug-squashing strategies that may be implemented in Cash Defense. One option is to place a bet of between 10 pence and £/€20 on each round of the game that costs money. The other three choices are all feature bets. Cash Defense is medium-high volatile when played frequently, with an RTP of 96.29% and three possible values for the Feature Bet. The reels itself are arranged in a 54 grid, and there are a total of 26 active paylines on which players may win with any combination of 3–5 OAK symbols.
The board is read from left to right, with winning lines being paid out in that order. Dropax, Hornax, Bublax, Rhinax, Steve, Alan, Mantisa, Scythra, Psykrona, and Mentarch are the names given by Print Studios to the ten different insect pay symbols that appear on the slot machines. You have to give them credit for originality, since the payout for a successful line of five symbols may be anywhere from 1.5 times the wager to 50 times the wager.
Money Protection: Slot Game Functions
Wild symbols do not appear in Cash Defense, but the game does offer a number of other special features, such as SuperSpinners and a number of Tower Defense elements. Take a closer look with me…
SuperSpinners
Interspersed among the symbols on the reels are SuperSpinners, each of which has a multiplier value. If a winning line includes any active SuperSpinners, the prize is increased by the multiplier displayed for that SuperSpinner.
Advantages of Tower Defense
In Cash Defense, there are two touchdown features that may be activated: the little touchdown and the grand touchdown. In both, players construct towers along a course in order to remove foes in their path. Towers equipped with arrows are effective against single foes, whereas Cannon towers are more effective against several foes. Defeating foes unlocks bonus content.
Brief Feature on TD
The Mini TD feature is activated when the Mini TD icon appears on the third reel from the right.
The first stage of this special effect consists of two randomly selected towers firing their weapons at one wave of ten opponents and a Bonus enemy. When the Bonus foe is vanquished, the Grand TD Bonus is unlocked.
In the second half, you’ll get one free spin with a Jumbo symbol covering reels 2 and 3 and replacing any symbols you’ve destroyed. The opponents that have been vanquished are listed on the Jumbo.
Excellent TD Payout
This may be won in the Mini TD bonus round, or at any time during the main game by getting three or more scatter symbols. If you get 4 or 5 scatters, you’ll win 20x or 100x your wager. There are two phases to the Grand TD Bonus.
First, players select a tower layout, and 10 foes swarm in, posing a challenge to their defenses. If 5 or less are killed, another wave of 50 SuperSpinner foes will appear.
Second, you get three free spins with a Jumbo symbol stacked on reels 2, 3, and 4. When all other symbol foes in Part 1 are vanquished, the Jumbo symbols step in as a replacement. In addition, before each spin, the multiplier of one randomly chosen SuperSpinner is boosted by 1 for each enemy SuperSpinner that was removed in Part 1.
Bonus Wager
With the Feature Bet, there are three new ways to play Cash Defense. Here are a few examples:
Bonus Scatters pay out 1.5 times the wager, and the RTP is 96.64 percent.
Payout percentage is 96.83%, including a mini TD feature that may award up to 28.9x the wager.
Big 94x return on stake TF bonus, RTP of 97.33 percent.
Case for the Slot Machine Winner
If I recall correctly, in Bloons TD you could erect a great golden statue that, when activated, would fire a devastating onslaught, destroying hordes of balloons and even the massive zeppelins that plod down the road and require a large amount of hits to bring down. Tower Defense offers a ton of replay value, so if your workplace is cool with you playing it, that’s even better! There is a high degree of replayability in Cash Defense. SuperSpinners, a standard Print Studios addition, help keep the action going during the main game, which is helpful given the difficulty of naturally activating the bonus round. The Scatter Boost and the two other straight feature buys are there to help, and they both have respectable RTP values to boot.
When the Tower Defense rounds are active, Cash Defense shows off its creative muscle. At this point, you may sit back and hope that your towers kill as many foes as possible. The more opponents you can get onto the Jumbo Symbol, the better the spins are theoretically expected to turn out, therefore progressing farther into the round naturally increases the excitement of the second section. There was a wide variety of outcomes, from brutal bonus rounds in which nothing was destroyed and therefore no Jumbo symbol emerged, to a scenario in which the second wave had been released and destroyed SuperSpinner foes resulted in higher multipliers for each spin of Part 2. The potential for gains up to a maximum of 20,000x the stake is both entertaining and potent. Getting rid of more than three foes might be quite challenging, though.
Naturally, not every gambler’s taste will be satisfied by anything so novel. For others, this radical departure from conventional slot design may be off-putting. Cash Defense’s approaches may not go over well with those who aren’t used to playing traditional tower defense games. It would have been nice to include a means to level up, so that even those who are familiar with the pattern may ‘purchase’ more towers to use in the bonus rounds. I was just musing out loud since, in my opinion, Cash Defense is the most original thing to come out of Print Studios. While Cash Defense isn’t quite as far out as a game like Reapers, it’s still a new addition to the market that expands the capabilities of online slots.