Original Release: Playtika, Android/iOS, 2012

Probably the most popular “just-for-fun” bingo game going for over 10 years now, Bingo Blitz has had an astounding run despite being rather basic and dry

Bingo Blitz (Android, Playtika, 2012)

Where to Buy: Free-to-play via the Android or iOS app stores

Review by: C. M0use

If you’re not familiar with Bingo Blitz, you may know it from the commercials with Drew Barrymore orgasming over it (a prospect that would have been much more intriguing 30 years ago). But it’s been rolling along for over a decade now despite being one of the most boring games ever put to pixels, making money hand-over-fist and even captivating normies to the point it recently got a themed show on Game Show Network.

It’s certainly not due to any secret grandma gambling going on in here. No real money, no prizes, no nothing. It’s not one of those “sweepstakes casino” type games. You just play very straightforward bingo matches, only spiced up by limited use of “special powers” that you charge up as you tick off called numbers. But there’s no real strategic deployment to these, the game just forces you to use the next one up in your queue.

I mean it’s just so mundane I’m at a loss for anything to say about it. It’s polished, it plays bingo just fine, there’s a little chat area and you’re actually playing with other people you can talk to (though it seems to mostly just be begging for collectibles at any given time). I wouldn’t think this many people would be this into bland bingo without real money play, but it’s normie catnip. If that doesn’t float your boat the only other reason to mess around with it is that it frequently appears on GPT sites and sometimes with some very good offers considering how easy it is.

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Original Release: IGT, 2014 (?)

The themed Alien slot was a big hit in casinos for its attention to detail, atmosphere and fun bonus rounds

Alien (IGT, 2014)

Where to Buy: eBay

Review by: C. M0use

Alien is one of those rare slots worth giving at least one spin just for its design and visuals, at least if you’re a fan of the older movies. While some of these licensed slots just have a cursory paint job of the IP slapped over them in a basic way, this one actually went out of its way with the general atmosphere and a couple of elaborate bonus features.

It’s a basic 5×20 from IGT similar to many of their early 2010s games, but the base game is better-looking than usual with detailed graphics and its little sometimes creepy messages across the top of the playfield. It really shines when it gets to the bonus features with the rendered aliens crawling about and attacking you. There are two of these, and the less elaborate one has you pick from eight alien eggs until you hit the loser with the facehugger hidden among them (on my test run both times it was the bottom-right nearest the spin button, probably just a coincidence but maybe worth keeping an eye on for increased prevalence I dunno).

The really cool bonus feature is the six-level “ship escape.” Each round has you pick from one of six cards, if it turns out to be a weapon of some sort you fend off the attacking alien with it … if not you lose and you’re done. It shows you the options not taken after you make your choice, and you start with a 5-1 chance of getting a weapon in the first round but this gradually tilts against you until it’s 3-3 in the penultimate level and 2-4 in the final one.

As far as value goes, if you find the original cabinet with the analog buttons you can minimum bet just 20 cents to cover all lines. As far as odds, this one is totally by subjective feel as I can’t even find a RTP listing for it. But it does seem to lean fairly reasonable and non-volatile, the bonus features appear fairly often and line wins are not uncommon. Worth checking out just for novelty alone, but you might get some value out of it as well.

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Original Release: Konami, 1990, Arcade

Konami’s knockoff of Arch Rivals didn’t gain anywhere near the same amount of traction, thanks mostly to limited options and being pricey to play

Punk Shot (Arcade, Konami, 1990)

Where to Buy: eBay

How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide

Review by: C. M0use

Konami hit it big with Double Dribble in the early days of basketball video games, but somehow Punk Shot is a follow-on that slipped through the cracks … I think lack of variety in the gameplay was a factor, but even more so the fact that it just kinda randomly keeps charging you more quarters to play no matter how good or bad you’re doing.

This one is absolutely nothing like Double Dribble, it’s two-on-two street hoops with a very different gameplay feel. Not the least of which is one of the two buttons is, when not used for passing the ball, instead used for legal punches and kicks on the opponent. One good smack usually jars the ball loose, though it may or may not go directly back into your hands.

It makes a nice first impression with its colorful graphics and Japan take on the US inner city scene of the 80s-90s (usually entertaining), but you also quickly start noticing the limitations. One is that there are only four players to choose from, you pick two and you battle the other two into eternity. The gameplay structure is also weird; you play five periods of a few minutes each, but each one roams over a variety of different courts each with their own little obstacles strewn about.

The killer is that, unless I’m missing something, you’re just charged at intervals to continue playing regardless of whether you’re winning or losing or what. It costs like $2 to $2.50 just to complete a game. Obviously with modern emulation that’s not such an issue (though it’s irritating how often it interrupts the game), but you can see how it drove people off in arcades. The game also seems to hustle you too, the computer doesn’t play too well in the opening periods but then pours it on in the last two.

The game is pretty clearly a response to Bally’s Arch Rivals, which came out about a year prior. But while that evolved into the famous NBA Jam, this one just kinda petered out for Konami with seemingly little arcade penetration and not much of a shelf life.

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Original Release: Gear Games, 2024, Android/iOS
Other Releases: PC (2024)

A fairly unsubtle Hearthstone knockoff that came out in late 2024, Arcane Rush nevertheless offers up some fairly fun casual card battler gameplay and (at least for now) the opportunity to make some money while trying it out

Arcane Rush (Android, Gear Games, 2024)

Where to Buy: Free-to-play from the Android/iOS app stores

How to Emulate: Android Emulation Guide

Review by: C. M0use

Arcane Rush is an entry into a small but highly active field of free-to-play Hearthstone Battlegrounds derivatives on mobile. The main distinction is that the developers have put this one up on “get paid to” (GPT) sites like Swagbucks and Freecash, essentially allowing you to get paid for giving it a try. That’s noteworthy as GPT games are usually not particularly fun to play on their own merits, just trying to get their addiction trigger hooks into you instead and get you buyin’ that Canadough; this is one of the rare exceptions that’s actually enjoyable for its own sake, though serious card battler genre fans may find it too limited for their tastes.

Fortunately I’m not a serious card battler, so this is kind of right up my alley. The main thing more serious genre fans might find confining is lack of true head-to-head play; at least as of this writing, you can only battle bot-controlled versions of other players’ accounts (they bring all the player’s little perks and defensive hand choice, but it’s entirely CPU-controlled). It’s also technically a “pay to win” format, though the structure makes it not all that much of a nuisance or hindrance for “free to play” (F2P) players.

If you’re already familiar with Hearthstone Battlegrounds it’s almost a direct copy, but here’s the core gameplay for those who are entirely new: each match puts you up against eight CPU-controlled opponents in a group stage. You play five rounds against these foes, getting 3 points for a win or 1 point for a draw in each round, and the top four points leaders move on and enter a final group of eight (with the other four drawn from some unseen alternate group stage). In this second and final phase you have three “lives,” lose a round to a foe and you drop one, last man standing wins the whole deal.

You can eventually pick from one of about a dozen dealers for these matches, each of whom has their own set of deck types. You start the game with just the slightly irritating Fiddle as a dealer, however, and his not-at-all Blizzard-inspired decks of Orcs and Dwarves. There are two main currency types you earn over time that upgrade dealers and cards and make new dealers available: gems and gold. All the other dealers can be unlocked trivially with a minimal amount of gems, in fact with just 100 of them you start a loop where unlocking one pays out more than enough gems immediately to unlock several more. Gold is used to upgrade individual dealers, doing things like upgrading individual card stats and giving them more deck types, and is more hard to come by.

So what does a match actually look like? If your dealer has more than three deck types available to them, you’ll see a random spin that picks out three made available for the entirety of the match. You then have a non-timed preparatory period before each round. You’re presented with three random cards, drawn from your three available deck types plus an omnipresent set of “neutral” units. With each round you get a slightly increasing amount of gold with which you can put cards in your hand, refresh the available cards, or upgrade your shop (through five tiers of increasingly powerful units). When you’re done with prep you go up against the opponent’s current hand, win lose or draw as your cards auto-battle each other, then on to the next prep round.

So there’s a strong randomized element to all this, you don’t know in advance which three of your deck types you’ll be working with, also you don’t know what cards will be available in the shop with each refresh (save for a limited ability to “lock” the current selection for the next round if something you want shows up but you’re low on gold). The game thus stresses broad knowledge of at least one good build strategy for the majority of your deck types to aim for. For example, if you get the Undead you’ll probably want to try to move to the Tier 4 shop faster to get their juicier units while stacking up the cursed/respawning mooks that feed them along the way, while Aztecs and Gnomes tend to benefit more from sitting on a jabbering mob of lower-tier units.

The other main gameplay mode available at this time is the Arena, essentially a weekly leaderboard contest. The strongest three units from each of your 24-hour play sessions are saved here, and you choose one as a defender against other players and can use each of them for an attack up to three times. Earning points and placing in the higher ranks of the leaderboard brings some added consumable rewards at the end of the week.

There is also a Clan system that offers slightly more direct head-to-head competition, but unlike some other games it’s very difficult to get accepted to one. Clan sizes are small and seem to be entirely the province of “whales” paying to win and seriously grinding away at the game all day.

The “luck of the draw” element makes it simpler than other card battle options, but it’s also part of what makes it addictive and replayable as you strive to make do with what you’ve been dealt in a poker-esque manner. The game also doesn’t shove ads down your throat; it has its own little internal pop-up offers here and there, but third-party video ads are 100% optional to gain some additional gold, gems and Arena turns daily. It’s also been sitting at a fairly respectful size of around 1 GB for me, it’s not one of those that starts out at under 1 GB from the app store but then quickly bloats itself with updates to like 20 GB.

The main appeal of the game is likely going to be making money off of GPT offers, at least in its early going, but it’s a solid choice if you want a mostly single-player card battler with zero time pressure. It also seems like a good entry point for getting your head around card battlers in general if you’re new, between the total self-pacing and the relatively simple rules and limited set of deck types that don’t really interact with each other in terms of building.

Links

Official Reddit sub

Simple guide for GPT offer goals

More in-depth strategy wiki

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Gameplay Video

Original Release: IGT, 2002 (? – definitely pre-2010)
Other Releases: PC/Mac (part of IGT Slots Collection), 2010

A slot that’s probably considered “vintage” now from the early video era, but remains a presence on casino floors due to relatively low volatility and low-roller generosity

Wolf Run (IGT, 2002)

Review by: C. M0use

One of IGT’s bigger hits from the 00s early era of video slots, Wolf Run’s simplicity is part of the ongoing appeal. It’s a 5×4 with only 40 possible paylines, but regular line wins are pretty frequent as are bonus games. For my trial run of it I went up 200% in just 10 minutes, so it definitely made a positive first impression!

Of course, as with all slots, that’s not a typical play session. But it does seem like a very good one for low-rolling grinders looking to minimize loss possibilities while sitting on comps, drinks or whatever for a while. Just make sure you get the right one; while the original beat-up old “shorties” from 20 years ago are still scattered about on casino floors, there is a newer version in a taller and shinier cabinet (just spotted it at Vegas Planet Hollywood recently) that has a much higher minimum bet and not-as-favorable odds. The original is a true penny slot, with its analog buttons allowing for as little as 1 cent for the center line going up to 20 cents per line.

I’ve seen numbers around claiming its a 94.98% RTP, which is VERY high for casino floor slots, but I can believe it after trying it out. But the other thing that makes it appealing is that you don’t have to chase rare big wins in a bonus feature to even out to that RTP, it’s more of a steady state than any other slots. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for if that prospect floats your boat. It’s as “unfancy” as it gets but you really make up for that in value!

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Original Release: Konami, 2013 (?)

Another oats and horseys slot from Konami, this one implements the feature where vertical rows with three winning symbols can potentially copy themselves to other rows to quickly create a big win

Winner’s Shot (Konami, 2013)

Review by: C. M0use

Another early ’10s-era Old West themed slot from Konami? Yep, but this one adds the twist of a new bonus feature in which the first column can randomly repeat itself up to four more times, creating the potential of a massive full-screen win (not an entirely new feature in the absolute sense, it was in at least a couple other games before this, but the first I’m aware of it being used in a Konami title).

Anyway, the bonus feature is really “feast or famine” so to speak. Either you get four or five columns copied and some huge win, or you get pretty much nothing. Regular line wins are just so-so at absolute best. The three symbols that trigger the bonus game have to be on a payline, so it’s fairly rare to see it pop.

Konami was known for good value and low-roller grind-friendly titles in this period, but this one isn’t as good as others that use the same trappings. Kinda volatile in requiring you to hang in for those very rare screen-filling bonus wins to get anywhere.

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Original Release: Electronic Arts, 1988, Commodore 64
Other Releases: PC (1989), NES (1990)

So you thought the first Olympics was in ancient Greece? No, it was founded by ancient Grunk … dinosaur riding, wife tossing, fire making and more are all on the schedule.

Caveman Ugh-lympics (PC, EA, 1989)

Where to Buy: eBay

How to Emulate: MS-DOS Emulation Guide

Review by: C. M0use

An early product from Jeff Tunnell, co-founder of Dynamix and developer of a number of noteworthy titles for Electronic Arts and Activision on the side, Ughlympics is a cute prehistoric Olympics parody that suffers from odd gameplay and general clunkiness.

This was one of the games I had for my first computer as a little kid, and I remember being frustrated with not being able to figure out exactly how the controls worked for some of the events; I’m not sure if I ever even made it through a full Ughlympics. Coming back to it decades later … pretty much the same story! The threadbare manual included with the game gives you just enough instructions to work with, but not enough to tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong when they don’t seem to work. But without the manual, you’re REALLY in trouble and probably not even getting off the ground with certain events like Mate Toss and Fire Making.

The basic gist of it is that it works like popular Olympic arcade titles of the time such as Track & Field and Hyper Sports. It was designed for the one-button joysticks of the time, but you can also play with the directional pad and the “Insert” key as the substitute for the fire button. You’d think that would make things simple, but not really, because certain events rely on full and complete rotation (Mate Toss) or very specific input combinations and timing (Fire Making, Dino Race). At times it feels like the prototype of entering fussy fighting game inputs, except that’s all you do over and over.

A smaller issue is that it was also designed expressly for hotseat play. It is neat that it has a split screen in some events and two players can race simultaneously, that’s not a bad feat at all for 1988 computers and it all works pretty well aside from the iffy controls at times. However, if you try to play an Ughlympics solo you’ll find that you’re just “score attacking” each event to beat your own prior records rather than actually competing against other computer-controlled players. And as far as multiplayer goes, not every event is balanced, some have a simple trick to exploit, for example endless foot-sweeping is by far the quickest way to win in the club fight.

Add in the obnoxious honking internal speaker sound and you’ve got a package that looks cute and interesting in screenshots but is a pretty rough experience to actually play. There was an NES port two years later (as “Caveman Games”) that you would think might have improved the control issues, but various internet reviews indicate it really didn’t … but we’ll leave that one for another day.

Links

Game box and disk shots

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Gameplay Video

TV commercial

Original Release: Zoo Publishing, 2004, Gameboy Advance
Other Releases: digiBLAST (2005)

An obscure Punch-Out knockoff with nice art and a few interesting ideas, but also some major gameplay limitations

Wade Hixton’s Counter Punch (GBA, Zoo Publishing, 2004)

Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!

Review by: C. M0use

While Wade Hixton looks at first glance like a Newgrounds title that somehow escaped containment and got some publisher to try it out on a GBA cart, it actually has a bit of a backstory. It was intended as a showpiece title for the digiBLAST handheld, a little-known budget child-focused system that was only released in several European countries in the mid-00s. The release of the digiBLAST was plagued with manufacturing issues and delays, so the publisher ended up debuting Wade Hixton as a GBA cart instead about a full year early.

So anyway. Despite being a clear Punch-Out clone in an era where that franchise had been dormant for a decade, and the obvious “curb appeal” it has from screenshots and short video clips, Wade Hixton sold very poorly and was pretty much unknown until retro video reviewers started dredging it up in recent years. It does offer Punch-Out fans similar enough gameplay that they may be interested, but not quite the same overall experience.

We step into the shoes of Wade, an average Joe … actually he looks quite a bit like Glass Joe specifically. The setup is that his car breaks down near some dusty town, which actually happens to have a thriving underground boxing scene. While he’s waiting an absurdly long time for repairs, he just sort of randomly gets absorbed in fighting the town’s various contenders as a side hustle basically.

The game actually adds a mild RPG bent to the Punch-Out formula. After the first match that you’re railroaded into, you can wander about town locations via a central menu. You earn cash from your various battles which is then spent on a variety of special moves, assistance from the townsfolk (as sort of a wrestling-style ring valet who interferes for you) and a variety of silly hats for the ref.

This game seems to be pretty popular among those that have bothered to try it out, but I didn’t like it. I think the biggest issue is the core game loop – it’s a small game with only eight foes in total. That translates into a lot of padding, which comes in various forms. One is that it’s dialogue-heavy. To be fair you can skip all the text with a mere button press, but there are so many of these conversations that even wading through them with skipping is still a substantial waste of time. Now obviously you don’t come into this expecting the gritty absorbing drama of a working class loser rising from his humble circumstances to the heights of boxing fame and all that, but it seems very much pitched to kids and that silly/random humor they like in early adolescence. Absolutely what you should expect given the Cartoon Network sort of art style, but nevertheless a little grating for adults. It’s also Brits writing Americans solely from movie stereotypes, which is annoying in its own way.

The other big padding element is grinding for cash. While not strictly necessary, the very tough last two or three foes are probably going to necessitate buying at least some of the special techniques and getting a ring helper. After the first fight you get a beeper, the purpose of which is for beaten foes to challenge you once again but this time with some special condition – beat them in under a certain amount of time, without getting hit, etc and so on. They’ll bet you money on this, anywhere from $5 to $40. The thing about this is, the more advanced foes that are much more risky and time-consuming to beat don’t really offer more money! So, other than for pure love of the game, there’s no real point to grinding money by doing anything but beating up Rat Joe or Budget Dhalsim over and over and over again. And while the fights can have new conditions, old foes never add anything new to their repertoire.

Then there’s the fundamental gameplay, which is a mixed bag at best. The good thing is that it does capture the feel of Punch-Out for the most part, at least in the broad strokes, and has a solid and fair feel to it. There is some sheer memorization required with some foes, but that’s always been part of the package. It is very simplistic compared to Punch-Out, however. Despite having “Counter Punch” in the title I don’t think you’re ever able to actually do that. Every enemy attack has one specific dodge or block, you either do that or get hit. They then leave a window open for a follow-up combo. It’s that simple pattern aaaaalll the way through the game for the most part.

Also, if you like Punch-Out speedrunning, forget about that here as each match has a randomized length. That’s because there are no TKOs, the opponent can just keep getting back up forever based on seemingly a random dice roll. You, on the other hand, are probably losing the match if you get knocked down a second time. The game does track your win-loss record but it seems to be totally meaningless, other than losing optional bets there are no stakes, you can just keep throwing yourself at the next foe in the story progression over and over.

By far the best thing going here is the animations. While it’s essentially Flash art, it’s very well-done. It does seem to paper over some of the deeper flaws, though. But if you’re fiending for more Punch-Out, this gets close enough that it might be of some interest to you. I think more general and casual players will be put off, as the game’s sales indicated.

Links

Debug mode code
Gameshark codes

Videos

Gameplay Video

Original Release: Bally, mid-2000s?

Among the early progressive jackpot titles that developed a popular and long-term following, this title also helped to popularize the “blazing 7s” concept

Hot Shot Progressive (Bally, mid-2000s)

So digging around for release information for pre-2020s slots on the internet is always dicey and difficult, but as best I can tell this was the original entry in Bally’s “Hot Shot” series and released somewhere in the early-mid 2000s. It’s on the Bally Alpha S9000 cabinet which was released in 2006 (even has the date stamped in tiny print on the marquee on some models if you look closely), but I also see a “just for fun” Windows version released by Masque Publishing in 2005, and I’ve seen some references indicating this goes back to 2003. So I’m settling on “around 2005” lacking better information.

Anyway. It’s a fairly low-volatility and low-roller-friendly title if you’re looking for such things, and still commonly on casino floors (even found some in the modern Vegas Strip in a few different places circa 2025). It’s popular because small wins are very frequent, but the meaningful win you’re shooting for is one of the progressives that are accessible via the bonus game. It’s also a “true penny” in that you’re able to adjust your wager as low as one cent on just the center line, at least in the original cabinets.

You get to the bonus games by landing three symbols of any kind in any position on the reels, with each of these giving you one spin on a different video reel on the top screen (a smaller 3×3 one that has a bit better odds of landing a meaningful win than the main reel). So those bonus games land pretty often too, the thing is they can also leave you with only a small win or absolutely nothing at all. Each one has its own little gimmick, such as “diamond line” paylines being added or just boosting all regular payouts by double or triple, but they all share the quality of shooting for triple 7s of some manner to get the largest wins. The “Blazing 7s” bonus game is the one where you can win the top jackpot, if you land three special symbols on the center line.

Overall, it’s one of the closest to a “break-even” slot you’re going to find in the wild. It’s highly unlikely you’ll suffer big losses in a short time span (and you’ll almost certainly get at least close to even if you play long enough), but meaningful wins are also rare; the main point is grinding comps, or just hanging out and enjoying a drink for a while. It’s definitely a bad choice if you just want to quickly throw some money away! It does also give you the tiny chance of hitting a substantial progressive jackpot on any bet amount and spin, however. And while it’s aesthetically pretty basic the little samba music clips are fun, as are the gals yelling the names of your bonus games (as well as “Hot Shot” though amusingly it sounds more like “Buckshot” or “Buttshot”).

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Video review

Original Release: Bally, 2016(?)

This variant of the classic Quick Hit Platinum adds the bonus feature of a roof-mounted wheel spin

Quick Hit Platinum + (Bally, 2016?)

Review by: C. M0use

A variant of Quick Hit Platinum that makes the bonus feature a wheel spin mounted on top of the cabinet instead of the top-mounted second video screen or marquee the other games have. Which means you have to tilt your head back if you want to watch it play out, which I found annoying (probably not great if you have any neck issues either).

But like its forebear it’s still definitely of the “smaller but more frequent” wins school of low volatility among the Quick Hit games, especially if you’re low rolling (a 30 cent minimum bet to cover all lines, ranging up to 1.50 max with the standard configuration). I think the idea is to tempt you into betting bigger, as the wheel’s grand prize is only 15x your wager.

Of course the real money is in the Quick Hit scatter symbols that count anywhere on the playfield, as is almost always true with these games. Just 3x returns your bet, and 4x is 5x your wager, which is another big contributor to the feeling of low volatility.

The original Quick Hit Plat is one I look for on casino floors, but you don’t see a whole lot (because they don’t tend to care for 30 cent bet games that are low volatility). I’ll definitely consider playing this one lacking other options but the awkward wheel spin bonus puts me off.

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