Anthropomorphic Slots: Respin Racer by Lightning Box

Respin Racer Slot – If Looney Toons made a slot machine…

Most of us grew up watching some form of Warner Bros. cartoons. For me, Looney Toons was a highlight of my childhood years. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, Yosemite Sam… characters like these represent cartoon animation at its finest. If you never once felt bad for Wile E. Coyote, constantly being outsmarted by his speed-racer nemesis, The Roadrunner, you failed childhood!

These are the kinds of memories that came rushing back to me this morning when I launched Lightning Box Games newest online slot creation, Respin Racer. The company didn’t sign any contracts with Warner Bros. to incorporate their looniest of characters, but they sure did create a near spitting image of that expeditious bird to kick-start their character list.

We’ll take a look at this new cartoon-style creation, what it has to offer players, and whether it’s got the potential to be a long-time slots lover’s favorite.

Respin Racer Slot by Lightning Box

Deep in the mesa-riddled heart of Australia, where the open road meets the rust-tinted horizon for as far as the eye can see, the anthropomorphic creatures of the Outback gather for a competition like no other. With dust in throat, they race across the countryside in search of fame and glory, pride and profit.

The main characters, and highest paying symbols, are the roadrunner, the gas pumps, a moped riding mouse, a motorcycle riding turtle, and a mini-biking bear. The low-paying symbols are A, K, Q, J and 10, each appropriately decorated for racing.

The game’s other anthropomorphic character is the kangaroo. He rides a low-rider chopper, wears a leather jacket and blackout shades, and is the Wild in Respin Racer. He can appear in a single position, or stacked up to 3 high on a reel.

Free Respins Feature

The game’s namesake feature is Respins, triggered by landing 6 matching golden symbols on all 6 positions of reels 1 and 5. Gold symbols are those that are surrounded by a golden square. Six golden Roadrunner symbols can make the feature even more lucrative, adding 2x or 3x multipliers to reels 1 and 5 for a total of up to 9x multiplier.

When the Respin feature is triggered, all symbols on reels 1 and 5 transform into golden roadrunners before the extra free spins takes place. The player receives three free respins to start. If a wild symbol appears, it will reset the respin meter back to 3, and all wild(s) will hold in place until the feature is over. The max respins per trigger is 9, unless an Ante Bet is placed.

Optional Ante Bet

The most unique thing about Lightning Box’s Respin Racer is the optional Ante Bet. On the surface, this is a standard 5×3 reel game with 25 pay lines. As such, the player’s standard bet is 25x the chosen coin size ($0.01 coin = $0.25 bet). However, players can also choose to place an Ante Bet, increasing the total wager per spin to 40 coins.

Why bet the extra money? Reel 3 becomes a static, fully stacked wild symbol for all spins in which the Ante is placed. Also, if the Respins feature triggers while an Ante Bet is active, the game is capable of triggering a maximum of 12 respins, instead of the usual 9.

Last but not least, the theoretical return to player (RTP) is different between standard bets and bets with antes. Placing a 25 coin bet proffers an RTP of 95.43%. Tossing an ante on top (40 coin bet) increases the payout to 95.83% RTP. In all honesty, both of those levels are below the average 96% for online slots, but if you’re going to play the new Respin Racer Slot, you may find it worth the added cost to place the Ante.