Payday Express Slot Review 2024

Light & Wonder partner Fantasma Games is giving players a free ride on the Payday Express, where each stop will be sure to line your pockets!

Fantasma Games is taking us back to the golden era of Bandits and Outlaws in their latest release, Payday Express. Become the newest member of the Bandit clan and get ready for an epic heist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Landing 3 or more Wilds in the base game will trigger the Payday Wild feature, where each Wild explodes a number of regular symbol positions, transforming them into Wilds.

Brace yourselves for Free Spins, where winning symbols become sticky on the reels, triggering a Respin feature. Winning symbols will hold as long as new wins land, giving players a higher chance of triggering the Payday Wild feature.

Will Payday Express deliver an action-packed performance before we reach the end of the line? Let’s play on and find out!

Payday Express Base Game and Features

Payday Express is a 5-reel slot with 10 fixed pay lines. Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols (or 2 or more of the highest-paying symbol) land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.

The minimum bet available here is £.€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€30 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 94.46% and a max win cap of 6,254x.

In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is the Character with the Gold background, followed by Characters with Brown, Green, and Blue backgrounds. Low-paying symbols are standard Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten. Wilds substitute for all High and Low-paying symbols.

Payday Wild Feature

During any spin in the base game or Free Spins round, landing 3 or more Wilds across the reels will trigger the Payday Wild Feature. Once active, each Wild will explode a number of reel positions and transform them into Wilds.

Payday Express Free Spins

Landing 3 Train Scatters on reels 2, 3, and 4 triggers the Free Spins round, awarding 15 Free Spins.

During Free Spins, each time a winning combination forms, all winning symbols will be held in their positions whilst a Respin occurs. If a new win line or Wild symbol lands during this time, they too will lock into position and another Respin is activated.

The Respin feature ends when no new line wins or Wild symbols land in view during this time. In addition to this, the Payday Wild feature is active in Free Spins, but will only activate at the end of a Respin feature.

Payday Express Bonus Buy

Those outside the UK will benefit from a Bonus Buy option. Fantasma Games has granted players access to the Free Spins round for a total cost of 70x your bet. (RTP 94.55%)

Payday Express: Our Verdict

Payday Express caught our attention for a number of reasons, all of which are positive. Firstly, can we just appreciate Fantasma Games’ remarkable skills when it comes to the design of their slots.

Prometheus, Fortune Llama, and Cloud Corsairs are just a few titles that show Fantasma Games’ creativity skills, with Payday Express quickly following suit. Fantasma Games always do well with designs, but can the same be said about gameplay and statistics?

Since the release of Cloud Corsairs, we’ve been waiting patiently for another Fantasma special like this one, but nothing has really stood out until now. Payday Express has a fantastic theme along with great gameplay that is reminiscent of Thunderkick’s Midas Golden Touch.

Unlike Midas Golden Touch, Fantasma has thrown in a Payday Wild Feature that kicks off the action. This can be triggered when 3 or more Wild symbols land across the reels in any one base game round or Free Spin.

This feature is not quite as rewarding as Gold Multipliers seen in Midas, but it does fill a void whilst you wait for Free Spins to come in. More of this feature can be seen in the Free Spins round, where winning symbols will stick to their current positions, triggering a Respin feature.

If it were down to statistics alone, you may lean more towards Midas for its higher max win capabilities, but there isn’t too great a difference between them in all honesty. On a good day, Payday Express can deliver wins of up to 6,254x, which is a huge improvement when you look at Prometheus for example.

All in all, Payday Express ticks all the right boxes in terms of design and gameplay, but it could of done with a boost in the statistics department.