It is not every day that you hear about game developers collaborating in game development projects. But when they do, the results are often masterpieces. A notable example is Pinball Roulette variant, which is a result of the combined efforts of the London-based Ash Gaming Limited and the Isle of Man-based gaming giant called Playtech plc, which has since become a parent company of the former. Pinball Roulette, which is a cross between pinball and roulette, is listed as an arcade game. Pinball Roulette players try to predict where the catapulted pinball will dive in the numbered roulette strip.

Pinball Roulette: Game Review
Successful game rounds of Pinball Roulette are divided into three phases: a roulette phase, a pinball phase, and the gamble phase. The roulette phase has a main screen whose betting grid is synonymous with the European roulette—it has “0” only, alongside the 36 numbers partitioned into 1st 12, 2nd 12, 3rd 12, 1-18, 19-36, Even/Odd, and Red/Black. The neighbor bets are below the grid. On this phase, Pinball Roulette players click betting chips and tap the grid to place bets and, after the $0.05 minimum bet has been reached, click the “Bet” icon; Straight Up bets have a lowly $100 maximum bet while even chance bets have a highly $2000 maximum bet. “Undo last bet”, “Clear all bets” and “Repeat bet” are some of the quick action buttons. The betting chips are valued at $0.01, $0.10, $0.50, $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, and $25.00.

Pressing “Bet” loads the second phase—pinball phase, which replaces the typical roulette wheel. The pinball spring shoots the pinball, which bounces off and is deflected by a bumper plate to knock twinkling cogs; the pinball then randomly dives into a pocket in the roulette strip that is turning from left to right. It is not all game rounds that progress to the third optional phase—only winning bets do so.

However, players can ignore the bonus round and, instead, press the red “collect” icon to collect their winnings so far. The second phase in Pinball Roulette pays: 35 to 1 for a Straight Up bet, 17 to 1 for a Split Bet, 11 to 1 for a Street/Row Bet, 8 to 1 is for Corner Bets, 5 to 1 for a Line Bet, 2 to 1 for either the Dozen Bet/Column Bets, and 1 to 1 for Even Chances.

The bonus round is a gamble phase that lets Pinball Roulette players gamble their winnings from the second phase; should a player press the green “gamble” icon, the pinball must hit multiplier bumpers to activate, by illuminating, four stars (star multipliers) which offer X10, X5, X4, X3, X2, and X1. Players may get a free second chance to replay the bonus round if the first attempt fails.

The Pinball Roulette software offers a fresh approach to playing roulette. The graphics are atypical and the long volume slider is apt for controlling game sounds with precision, but there is neither ambient background music nor a dealer’s voice like in other variants.

Pinball Roulette: Game Strategy
Pinball Roulette’s RTP rate is 97.30%, while the house edge is 2.70%. Although outcomes are randomized, it might not be worth risking winnings in the bonus round because the possibility of the bonus ball hitting nothing and losing all winnings is relatively higher.