Track & Fieldmouse Pokie Machine
Running rodents and vaulting vermin are the theme of Microgamings’ Track &Fieldmousepokie that sees a friendly cartoon mouse performing at an athletics event. Although it looks like a standard 3 reel game, with just a single win line, there are some interesting features that place it leaps and bounds above the more basic 3-reelers, with players earning Win Spins that play out on a new set of reels, along with extra treats like Nudges, Holds and more.
The Rat Run
A nice picture of an athletics stadium populated by mice in various sports forms the background image to this pokie. There’s lots of other stuff going on here as well, with a payout table running along below the reels and up the right side, details of how Nudges play out to the left of them and a bonus indictor above.
At the bottom is a set of control buttons that can be used to adjust the amount staked per spin, with an option to go from as little as 0.10 to as much as 10.00, which is pretty normal for this type of game, while players can also set the reels to spin automatically if they want to just watch things progress without clicking a button each time.
There’s an unusual option to go for Bronze, Silver or Gold in this game, which basically means players can choose to stake more, but will receive more winning combinations as the reels spin. It’s promoted as ‘3 Games In 1’ but the amount staked and amount won stay at the same ratio, so that assertion may be pushing it a bit.
One of the most obvious differences is the paytable, which doesn’t show how much will be won when matching symbols line up across the reels, but instead shows the number of Win Spins that will be credited. These are just what they sound like, with guaranteed wins from each spin and players are taken to a second set of reels each time they earn any.
Symbols are the usual mix, with cherries awarding 5 Win Spins, lemons are worth 8, oranges 10, and the gold bars result in 12 Win Spins. Plums equal 15, the watermelons trigger 30 and the mouse symbol is worth 50 Win Spins.
Track & Field Mouse
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Rodent Rewards
They all play out in a new window that has 3 reels with 5 paylines, with a picture of a trophy-winning mouse standing next to a new set of symbols. These ones play multiples of the bet per spin, with the cheese being worth 1x, a stopwatch paying 2x, a running shoe is valued at 5x, the torch pays 10x, there’s a medal that’s worth 25x, but the jackpot symbol is the mouse who will return 500x the stake to players when he lines up across any line.
Every spin is guaranteed to result in a prize and in practice, several lines can pay out at once.
There are lots of random bonus features to make this game even more of a treat, with Nudges being the most common rewards. These allow players to move a reel up or down a bit to try and land themselves a winning line, while Holds are a feature that lets them lock a reel in place and spin the others for a second chance at a win.
If the bonus indicator board announces the Shifta, or Let ‘em Spin features have been awarded, all players need to do is click for a guaranteed win.
The Verdict
Track &Fieldmouse is one of those games where the developer thought of a funny name and built a pokie around it, but that’s OK because it’s a quality game that looks good and comes with some interesting features.
By moving constantly from the base game, where Win Spins are collected, to the second game where players win guaranteed prizes with each spin, there’s no chance of getting bored playing this pokie, while the addition of some extra freebies like the Nudges and Holds just add to the excitement.
A simple bet range, albeit one that may top out at a level that’s a bit low for some players, makes this an easy game to get started on, so anyone who has tried basic 3 reel pokies and now wants to move to more feature-filled games should try this one out.