At first glance, this release didn’t make much sense. What on earth are characters as diverse as Henry VII, Churchill and Shakespeare doing on the London Underground (or “The Tube” as it’s usually called). Things soon fall into place, however, when you realize that Down the Rails by Pragmatic Play is an ode to London and British history.

In addition to the characters mentioned above, you’ll meet cartoon characters based on Sir Isaac Newton and Florence Nightingale, and the game is packed with various modifiers and features. In the base game, 5 are triggered randomly, and you can play to upgrade any bonus round you receive. There are also 5 different bonus rounds and you can win up to 5,000x your bet.

Bonus Features at Down the Rails Slot

The 5 famous British characters serve as premium symbols in this game and pay between 10x and 25x your bet for 5 matches. The Newspaper Wild pays out as much as the high-profile Shakespeare symbol, and it also substitutes for payout symbols to help complete wins. The wild can appear on any reel, but it does not substitute for bonus symbols or special symbols.

You can trigger the following 5 modifiers in the base game at random times:

• Tunnel Vision – adds randomly placed Mystery symbols that turn into a randomly matched payout symbol.
• The Big Smoke – adds 3×3 large payout or bonus symbols on reles 1 to 4.
• Wild Strike – adds random wild symbols to the grid.
• Shifting Stack – adds shifting stack wilds to the reel strips, and new wilds that land cover entire reels with an attached multiplier of x2 or x3.
• Bonus Blitz – randomly triggers 1 of 5 bonus rounds.

If 3+ scatters land in the field of view, this will also trigger 1 of the 5 bonus rounds and you can play to get a higher tier bonus out of 5 available. If you lose the gamble, you still win 4 to 24 times your bet as a consolation prize before returning to the base game. You can accept any bonus you have reached between games, and when you reach the “end of the line” you have no choice but to accept.

Pentonville rewards you with 5 free spins and all winning symbols are marked as clusters while the remaining symbols spin. The respins end only if the initial cluster has not been upgraded, and the total win from the respins round is then paid.

You also get 5 free spins in the Kings Cross bonus round, and the points on the middle reels are marked with a cross on each spin. Whenever you land a wild symbol on a marked position, all other marked positions become wilds as well.

The Buckingham Palace bonus round gives you 8 free spins and you get fully stacked Wilds that are added to the reel strips in a random way. Wilds can be shifted to cover all positions on any reel, and all premium character symbols are converted to the high paying character present on a given spin.

You also get 8 free spins in the Canary Wharf feature and character symbols award cash prizes between 1x and 50x your bet. However, to get the cash prizes, a collect symbol must be present at the cashier, and the prizes are only displayed when a collect symbol is also visible.

The End of the Line feature is a hold & respin style bonus, and you start with 3 respins on an empty grid. Each character cash symbol resets the respins count back to 3 and the cash symbols become sticky on the grid. They have values between 1x and 2,500x your bet and you can also land special modifier symbols:

• Extra Life – resets the spin count to 3 when it reaches zero, and you need to collect 3 to get 1 extra life.
• Prize Boost – the cash prize symbol values increase for every 3 collected.
• Expand – adds one extra row for every 3 collected, and 5 rows is the maximum you can get.
• Multiplier – increases the multiplier from x2 to x3 and finally to x5 for every 3 collected.

The multiplier you get during the function is applied at the end when the total win is summed up. The feature ends when you run out of respins, when you reach the win cap or cover the entire grid with cash prize symbols.

The 200 Spins Down the Rails Slot Experience

Feature-rich games are always fun, and we had a blast testing Down the Rails from Pragmatic Play. As usual, we’ve created a short and edited highlight video for you, and you can see the best moments of our 200 spins testing session below. Just click on the play button to get started right away.

Review Conclusion

The great Shakespeare himself was known to draw inspiration from many different sources, and Pragmatic Play was clearly inspired by Blueprint’s The Goonies series when creating Down the Rails. This becomes obvious when you compare the series of different features, but we don’t mind, since everything is wrapped up in a unique and interesting theme.

Players looking for a game that takes a while to fully explore are in the right place, and the ability to play for a better bonus round is a decent touch as well. The consolation prize will taste bitter, though, so be careful. The random modifiers keep the base game interesting, while the various bonus rounds offer unique challenges that can lead to payouts of up to 5,000x your bet.

Pros

5 random modifiers in the base game
4 free spins rounds of different levels
End of the Line in Hold & Win style with modifiers
Wins up to 5,000x your bet

Cons

You have to pay attention to adjustable RTP ranges

Down the Rails Slot FAQs

What is the RTP of Down the Rails?

The highest Down the Rails RTP of 96.51% is well above average. However, this release includes adjustable RTP ranges.

How volatile is Down the Rails?

This is a high volatility episode of Pragmatic Play, and you can expect fluctuations in your bankroll during longer sessions.

What is the maximum possible profit?

You can win up to 5,000 times your stake in Down the Rails, which is the solid potential of Pragmatic Play.

How do the random spin features work?

Each spin in the base game can randomly trigger 1 of 5 modifiers, and one of the modifiers triggers 1 of the 5 bonus rounds.

Is there a free spins mode in Down the Rails?

Yes, you have 5 different levels of bonus rounds, and you can play to get a boost if you want. The End of the Line round in Hold & Respin style is the highlight feature.

Can I play Down the Rails slot for free?

Yes, you can try the Down the Rails free demo game at the very top of this page (UK players must confirm age first).