Rio Express - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Rio Express Review Introduction 

Enter the world of the Wild West with plenty of fast-paced action as you board the train in Rio Express. Play on the 30 paylines and five reels as you navigate these rails to win a great cash payout. Vie for one of the four set jackpots by making winning combinations on the reels. Players can also benefit from the free spins rounds, which come with their own lucrative multipliers. Read on to find out more about this slot. 

Overall Theme 

The Rio in the title is a bit of misnomer for this slot, as it conjures up images of Brazil and tropical settings. Instead you will find yourself plunged into the heart of the Wild West, complete with desert background. Trains feature on the reels, but this is the only nod you will see to the express part of the title. The theme and symbols don’t match up totally, but the visuals have been rendered well enough for the slot to be nice to look at. You can get more action like this in the Samba Carnival slot. 

Rio Express RTP and Variance

Online slot players will never want to see an RTP below the industry average of 96%. Unfortunately, Rio Express falls well below this at 94.88%. It’s rare to see a slot with such a poor maths model, which will put a lot of players off wanting to play for real money. We also have no variance information for the game, so it’s hard to predict the risk and reward factor for the slot. 

How to Play Rio Express 

If what we’ve said so far has made you want to give this slot a spin, we’ve included a guide on how to control the reels below. 

1. Set your total bet using the up and down arrows on the control panel. 
2. Click max to set the maximum bet amount allowed by the game. 
3. The green spin button will make the reels spin once for the bet amount you have chosen. 
4. The autospin button sits next to this, where you can make the reels spin on their own. 
5. Use the hamburger menu in the bottom left corner to view the paytable and rules for the slot. 

Bet Sizes & Paytable Wins 

In terms of bets, Rio Express doesn’t have a great range. It would be better suited to those on a budget because they fall at the lower end of the spectrum. Starting bets can be set to the minimum amount of 1.50 coins for every spin. The most you can spend is 22.50 coins, which is not an amount that will appeal to high rollers. 

The paytable consists of various symbols which each give out their top prizes. Below we have detailed these top prizes on offer for landing five of each symbol group across an active payline. 

9, 10 & J - 37.50 coins 

Q, K & A - 75 coins 

Cash Bag - 112.50 coins

Train, Mining Car & Bell - 150 coins 

Dollar Sign - 225 coins 

Wild - 1500 coins 

Bull - 2250 coins 

Rio Express Bonus Features

Wild Symbol 

Rio Express is a slot with wild feature. This wild plays a lot of different roles throughout the bonus features. It will substitute in for all symbols apart from the scatter and the golden symbol frame to create more wins. The wild can only appear on the second, third and fourth reels during the free spins round. 

Free Spins 

Free spins are triggered by landing three or more of the bull scatter symbols. You will be presented with five different options at the beginning of the round which we have detailed below. 

Five free spins with a 10x multiplier on wins containing a wild symbol. 

Ten free spins with a 5x multiplier on wins containing a wild symbol. 

Twelve free spins with a 4x multiplier on wins containing a wild symbol. 

Fifteen free spins with a 3x multiplier on wins containing a wild symbol. 

Twenty free spins with a 2x multiplier on wins containing a wild symbol. 

Bonus Prizes 

There are four jackpots on offer in this game - the grand, major, minor and mini jackpots. 

Grand Jackpot - 10,000 coins 

Major Jackpot - 1000 coins 

Minor - 250 coins 

Mini - 50 coins 

You win these jackpots by forming certain combinations of symbols which are detailed in the game’s information page. Players will also need to keep an eye on those gold-framed symbols, as these will be your lead to a jackpot. The more you bet in the game, the more gold frames are put on the reels, so the more chances there are of you winning a jackpot. 

Our Verdict 

There are both highs and lows to Rio Express. The free spins round is good along with the jackpots, but the maths model feels like a bit of a letdown. 

Disclaimer: Rio Express trademark / license is owned by Ainsworth. This site is not endorsed by Ainsworth.