Crazy Time: reading the wheel like a racecard

The field: 54 runners

Evolution launched Crazy Time in 2020. Before each spin you choose which segments to back. The wheel is divided into 54 segments of eight kinds, and how often each kind appears is the whole game in miniature.

Read it like the betting shop form: the '1' is the short-priced favourite and lands most often, the Crazy Time segment is the rank outsider that turns up roughly once in 54 spins, and the bonus games sit in between.

The top slot

Before the main wheel spins, a slot machine at the top of the screen picks one segment and attaches a multiplier to it for that round. If the wheel then lands on that segment, the payout is multiplied. It is the feature that produces the big numbers, and it lands on the segment you backed only occasionally.

The four bonus games

• Coin Flip. A red side and a blue side, each with a multiplier; the coin decides which you get. The quickest bonus.
• Cash Hunt. A wall of 108 hidden multipliers. Every player picks a target, so two players on the same round can win very different amounts.
• Pachinko. A puck dropped down a wall of pegs into a multiplier slot; a 'double' slot doubles all values and drops again.
• Crazy Time. A giant wheel behind a red door, with a flapper you choose, and the largest multipliers of the game.

What each bet returns

Evolution publishes a different return for each bet type rather than one figure for the game. They range from roughly 94% to roughly 96%, with the number segments at the upper end and some bonus segments lower. The exact values are in the game's help screen, and casinos may run settings that differ. In plain terms, betting on everything does not average out to a better deal; it averages out to the mix of those returns, and on a live game with this many options the house takes a slightly bigger slice than on a good slot.

Spreading a stake

Because you can back several segments at once, stake size is really a question of total per spin. A player backing '1', '2' and all four bonuses at 50 cent each is staking €3 a spin. With a spin every forty seconds or so, that is around 80 to 90 spins an hour and about €250 staked. Decide the total first, then split it.

1. Pick a total per spin you could lose sixty times in a row without stopping enjoying yourself.
2. Back fewer segments rather than more if you want the session to last.
3. Do not raise stakes after a run of '1s' because a bonus 'is coming': the wheel has no memory.
4. Watch a few rounds before you bet; there is no charge for spectating.

Is there a demo?

Generally not. Crazy Time is broadcast live from a real studio, so there is no play-money version as there is with a slot. Watching without betting is the nearest thing, and it is worth doing for ten minutes.

For more on live dealers and studios, see live casino in Ireland; the company behind this show is profiled on Evolution, and its roulette with a twist is Lightning Roulette. The slot-shaped cousin of the candy theme is Sweet Bonanza.

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