Catrina Slot Review
Under the sugar-skull face paint and the candlelit marigolds, Catrina is a game that rewards paying attention more than pressing spin. Most of what it returns arrives only when you choose to buy, so a round plays less like a slot and more like a hand you’re actively deciding on. Few bingo games put the interesting part after the draw; this one does, on a painted Mexican plaza at night, with a rose-and-feathered Catrina presiding over the altar.
Neko Games, the studio behind Don Hidalgo Ultra Link&Win and Super Showball Mystery Link&Win, specialises in exactly this format. It’s a 90-ball video bingo game running at 95.09% RTP with medium volatility, bets from 0.20 to 40, a hit rate of 64.28% and a fixed 5,000x top jackpot. Four tickets, thirty balls, and a skull-collection ladder on top.
Base Game & Features
This is 90-ball video bingo, not a reel game. You buy up to four tickets, each carrying fifteen numbers from 1 to 90, with no repeats between enabled tickets. Thirty balls are then drawn automatically and marked off your cards, and any completed pattern pays its associated prize.
All four tickets are enabled by default, and you can disable one to three of them; the total bet is the per-ticket value multiplied by the number of tickets in play. You can also reroll the numbers on any ticket individually before starting.
Four draw speeds are available, from Slow to Instant Play, and none of them affects the outcome. Pattern payouts follow a strict upgrade rule: multiple payouts are possible on one ticket only when completely new patterns are created. If a new pattern grows out of an existing one, only the new, more valuable pattern pays, and winnings are collected at the end of the round.
The RTP structure is worth understanding before you play. The initial draw alone returns 80.00%; the rest of the 95.09% total lives in the extra ball stage and the features. In other words, the game is built to keep you buying.
Extra Ball Stage
After the thirty balls, the extra ball stage activates if any enabled ticket needs just one more number to complete a pattern worth a 6x prize or higher. Extra balls are then offered up to a maximum of twelve times before the game ends automatically.
Each extra ball costs an additional amount, and the price gives no signal about your chances; a dearer ball is not a likelier one. The stage runs at its own RTP of 88.70% to 95.52%, so the buy decisions are where the game’s return is really made.
A Wild Ball may also appear randomly during this stage, letting you pick any number on your tickets. If you don’t select one, the higher-prize candidate is auto-chosen.
Catrina Bonus Features & Jackpots
Four separate extras sit on top of the pattern play: a skull-collection jackpot ladder and three pattern-triggered picker bonuses. Each bonus pattern has its own game, and each carries a fixed prize on top of whatever you pick up inside it.
Calaveras Jackpots
The jackpot feature requires all four tickets enabled. Balls can arrive carrying skulls, which collect in the panel at the top of the screen, and your skull count by the end of the round decides the prize:
- 0 to 5 skulls: no prize
- 6 skulls: Bronze jackpot, 60x
- 7 skulls: Silver jackpot, 160x
- 8 skulls: Emerald jackpot, 1,000x
- 9 skulls: Catrina jackpot, 5,000x
That Catrina jackpot is the biggest prize the game offers, and it’s a fixed 5,000x rather than a progressive pot. Six skulls is the entry point, so the ladder starts paying well before the top.
Cemetery Bonus
The Bonus 3 pattern opens a graveyard picker. Eight tombstones hide cash prizes from 20x to 80x alongside one Collect sign, and you keep picking until the Collect appears.
The game then awards your collected prizes plus a fixed 400x for the pattern itself. That fixed prize is overridden only if a Bingo prize lands on the same ticket in the same round.
Piñatas Bonus
The Bonus 2 pattern triggers a five-level piñata picker, one selection per level until a Collect sign ends things:
- Level 1: 28x to 40x
- Level 2: 48x to 60x
- Level 3: 70x to 85x
- Level 4: 100x to 130x
- Level 5: 200x to 350x
A mystery prize from 28x to 350x can appear at the end, and the round again adds a fixed 400x, overridden only by a same-round Bingo win on that ticket.
Portraits Bonus
The Bonus 1 pattern is the deepest of the three, a five-level portrait picker with Next Level signs that can appear on levels 2 to 4 and push you onward:
- Level 1: 60x to 72x, no Collect sign
- Level 2: 80x to 104x
- Level 3: 120x to 160x
- Level 4: 180x to 260x
- Level 5: 300x to 500x
A mystery prize from 60x to 500x can follow, and the fixed pattern prize here is the game’s largest: 550x, again overridden only by a same-round Bingo win on the same ticket.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
A round of Catrina is quiet, careful and built on choices: thirty balls, then a string of priced decisions that decide whether the round was worth having. That’s the reason to pick it over a reel game in the same dress – the skulls and candlelight are lovely, but the decisions are the point.
Its strength is how many ways one round can end. Skulls collect towards a 5,000x jackpot while three separate picker bonuses sit behind their own patterns, so a ticket that misses the patterns can still be doing something. Most video bingo gives you one thing to wait for; this gives you four.
The weakness is the front-loaded pricing. The opening draw pays back only 80.00%, so the full return only materialises if you keep buying balls, and a session on autopilot pays for it. It suits players who like a slow, decision-heavy game with maths that bites back; anyone after spinning reels will find it sluggish. The altar is well dressed and the offering is generous, for those willing to keep paying at the candle.
Catrina FAQs
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What is the RTP of Catrina?
Catrina’s total RTP is 95.09%. That splits into an 80.00% return on the initial thirty-ball draw and an extra ball stage running at 88.70% to 95.52%, so the full figure depends on how you play the buy-ins. -
Is Catrina high volatility?
No. Catrina is a medium volatility game, with a hit frequency of 64.28%, so wins come around reasonably often even if the biggest prizes are rare. -
How does the Catrina ticket grid work?
Catrina is a 90-ball video bingo game. You can enable up to four tickets of fifteen numbers each, with thirty balls drawn per round and up to twelve extra balls available after that. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Catrina?
Bets run from 0.20 to 40.00 per ticket. Your total stake is the per-ticket value multiplied by the number of tickets you’ve enabled, up to all four. -
How do you win a jackpot in Catrina?
With all four tickets enabled, balls can carry skulls that collect in the jackpot panel. Six skulls wins the 60x Bronze jackpot, seven wins the 160x Silver, eight wins the 1,000x Emerald, and nine wins the 5,000x Catrina jackpot. -
What triggers the extra ball stage in Catrina?
The extra ball stage kicks in when a ticket is left one number short of a pattern worth a 6x prize or better. You can then buy up to twelve extra balls, each at an additional cost that doesn’t change your odds. -
What does the Wild Ball do in Catrina?
The Wild Ball can appear randomly during the extra ball stage and lets you select any number on your enabled tickets. If you don’t pick one, the game automatically chooses the candidate that awards the higher prize. -
Who makes Catrina?
Catrina is made by Neko Games, a studio that specialises in video bingo titles, alongside games like Don Hidalgo Ultra Link&Win and Super Showball Mystery Link&Win.
