Badge Blitz: Slot Overview

It’s time, players, to buckle on the spurs and ready the six-shooter for a bit of digital swagger. The reason is Badge Blitz, a Western-themed online slot from the hard-working crew at Pragmatic Play, packing free spins and a respin hold ‘n win round, all set against the quick-or-dead backdrop of the American wild frontier circa the 1800s. Or, at least, the casino-industry version of it.

How to say this politely? It’s entirely possible to come away feeling that Badge Blitz isn’t exactly among Pragmatic Play’s top-shelf releases. A quick look through the paytable may only strengthen any doubts sparked by Badge Blitz’s fairly generic look and feel. You know the standard Western slot routine—tumbleweeds rolling through a deserted, dusty, timber-built town somewhere like Sadler’s Gooch, Wyoming. Or somewhere similar. There wasn’t much to get excited about when Badge Blitz launched, and by the time you’re done, there still isn’t much to shout about.

Plonked into the middle of this blustery little town is Badge Blitz’s game grid. Sitting beneath 5 listed jackpot prizes are 5 reels, each with 3 rows and supported by 25 paylines for calculating wins. All standard line wins pay from the leftmost reel. Four and a half lightning bolts suggest this is a highly volatile slot (even if the win potential isn’t especially high), and players can expect, at best, a theoretical RTP of 96.5% when staking 25 c to $/€250 per spin.

On the symbol ladder, Badge Blitz uses J-A as the low-value set, followed by a hat, a pistol, a cart, a bag of loot, and the sheriff as the top pays. Five matching royals return 2-3 times the stake, while 5-of-a-kind premium symbols pay 4-8 times the bet. Stallion wilds show up on all reels except the leftmost reel. Wilds replace any regular paying symbol.

Badge Blitz: Slot Features

Badge Blitz splits its extras across a free spins round, a Money Respin feature, and a feature buy.

Free Spins

Scatters land on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game only. Hitting 3 or 4 scatter symbols awards 5 or 8 free spins, respectively. The scatter on reel 4 can appear as a double scatter, which counts as two symbols. During free spins, at least 2 full reel expanded wild symbols will land on every free spin. The Money Respin feature may be triggered from within free spins. If it does, the respins play out first, and then the free spins round continues. Free spins cannot be retriggered.

Money Respin Feature

Landing at least 6 Badge symbols activates the Money Respin feature, which begins after any line wins are paid. The triggering Badge symbols convert to Coin symbols, and the bonus runs on a reel set that can land only blanks or additional Badges. Coin symbols can show values of 0.8x to 16x the bet or the 10x Mini, 50x Minor, 100x Major, or 250x Mega prize. Coins showing Mega values pay once, after which the Mega changes into another random value. Coin symbols remain sticky.

The feature opens with 3 respins. Whenever a new Badge lands, the values of all Coin symbols currently on the reels are paid out, and the respin counter returns to 3. After that, the new Badge symbols transform into Coin symbols with a random value. The bonus ends when no respins remain or when all 15 spots are filled. If all positions fill, the 1,000x Grand prize is awarded. If the respins finish without another Badge landing, the total value of all Coin symbols on screen is paid.

Feature Buy

Players can purchase Badge Blitz’s Money Respins feature for 100x the bet, though the free spins feature is not available to buy.

Badge Blitz: Slot Verdict

Pragmatic Play puts out a huge number of slots, and plenty of them are genuinely strong—some are even outstanding. Badge Blitz doesn’t fall into that group. The phrase “filler slot” gets used from time to time, and it’s difficult to think of a better label for Badge Blitz. There’s simply no area where it truly stands out. Nothing it offers feels above the norm. The Western theme is handled competently enough, but there are much better examples of this kind of game to wander through. The soundtrack is fine (even if the dance-like section feels a little odd during win count-ups), though that’s faint praise—studios would have to work hard to ruin the moody, twangy style Western slots usually come with.

When it comes to the features, the same general story applies as with the theme. To begin with, the respins feature is decent, and the way new Badge symbols pay out all Coin values currently visible is an interesting touch. But, once again, there are far stronger hold ‘n win experiences than what Badge Blitz manages to deliver. Free spins are… fine; the idea of four full reels of wild symbols is certainly something, but even in the best case, pairing them with a reel of stacked sheriff symbols (if that is possible) still tops out at “only” 200x. With no retriggers, Badge Blitz is restricted in what it can ultimately do—hamstrung, kneecapped, however you want to put it. The same is true for most Money Respins payouts, which rarely feel particularly thrilling.

The final underwhelming note is Badge Blitz’s 3,000x the bet win cap, and if you’ve been fighting to keep your eyes open up to this point, that number might be the last nudge needed to nod off. As noted, Pragmatic Play has a deep stash of highly entertaining slots in its catalogue, but Badge Blitz isn’t among them.