Despite it being a multi-billion dollar industry, spanning Las Vegas to Monte-Carlo to Macao and back again, casino gaming hasn’t changed a lot over the last century. A testament to the quality and popularity of the games, slots, table games, and card games are rather similar now to how they were years ago. With a shift to the online space, digital developers have found ways to add new games to the ever-growing collection.
One such game is Plinko Go. So, what is this new form of casino game, and why is it drawing comparisons to pachinko?
What is Plinko Go and How Does it Work?
Plinko Go is an online casino game from 1X2 Gaming. When you play Plinko, you’ll see a tower of pins, pockets at the base of the pins pyramid, and some betting options beneath. Once you’ve set your bet and picked the pockets you think will win, you hit spin and watch as digital marbles trickle down from the logo.
While the controls may seem a bit difficult to master, as they immediately showcase how the game will look with each selection before you spin, it’s simple to get to grips with. You can adjust between a Low, Medium, and High drop as well as the number of rows from eight to 14 on the next play. As you adjust, you’ll see the prizes alter.
The middlemost landing pots offer the lowest awards, while those on the far edges of the pyramid can return up to 420x when the settings selection is High and 14. Even when adjusting the board, the gameplay remains straightforward: drop the balls, see where they land, collect your winnings.
In this way, you get a game that combines the randomisation of something dropping down a pegboard, similar to the part before the pusher in the ITV show Tipping Point, and some arcade coin pushers. However, the pyramid structure of the board allows for different outcomes at different odds from the same drop point at the top.
How Does Plinko Compare to Pachinko?
Aside from some similar letters and sounds, Plinko and pachinko are starkly different games. The presentation of Plinko Go is very reminiscent of popular pachinko games, though. It’s loaded with glows, colours, and neon effects, and there are prizes to be won on the randomised game.
Some will point to the playing loop of taking little balls, putting them in at the top, and then seeing where they’ll land as they bounce off of pins on the way down. Plinko’s board has a very set structure of pins and prizes only along the bottom. In the incredibly popular game in Japan, landing spots are everywhere, and the pins aren’t uniform.
Furthermore, in pachinko, you get the whole board, drop the little balls in, and see where they land to try to win more balls. In Plinko, you get to adjust the number of pins and whether it’ll be a High, Medium, or Low style of game. Visually, the two may be similar, but in terms of gameplay, they’re certainly distinct.
Given the straightforward nature of the game, as well as the customisation options, it’s clear to see how Plinko Go is trending online right now. Comparisons to pachinko were inevitable, but don’t go much further than the presentation.
Images courtesy of unsplash.com, Freepix.com and pexels.com
