Hugo, the troll character popular all over the European continent, returns for a fourth Play’n GO slot in Hugo Carts. This time around Hugo, his missus Hugolina, the witch Scylla, and the crocodilian Don Croco find themselves underground in a mine rich with gold and all sorts of other shiny gems. Will the trolls be the ones to get their hands on the loot, or will the witch beat them to the punch? It will not matter to you the player, as each character brings a special feature to the 5 reels! With a max win of up to 25,000x up for grabs it’s time to get on the highly volatile action with our Hugo Carts slot review!
Hugo Carts features a sizeable 5-reel, 4-row setup allowing for a generous 1,024 paylines. Winning combinations are formed by landing 3 or more matching symbols on adjacent reels, and always start from the leftmost reel. The betting range is pretty wide, allowing you to place stakes that can start from as little as £0.10 and reach all the way up to £100. And just as well, since the maximum win can be worth up to 25,000x your bet.
The action is highly volatile, which means fewer winning spins but greater payouts should the reels land the right symbols. The RTP is also volatile, alas - Play’n GO allows slot games to choose from a set of RTPs that can reach as high as 96.23% or as low as 84.18%. The most common RTP we’ve seen in our testing is 94.2%, so always check the RTP of the version you’re playing by clicking the “?” button found in the bottom of the screen.
Once you’re ready to play Hugo Carts with cash we recommend doing so at any of these fine UK online casino sites. Check more of our top slot sites below:
Play’n GO brings its visual A game in Hugo Carts. Check out the beautifully painted reels, designed to look like they are crafted out of wood, or the animated background with its carts crossing through the mine on perilously placed tracks. The slot constantly comes to life with animations or effects, making for a tremendously lively experience that’s well worth playing even to just take it all in for a bit.
The reels hold a total of 9 paying symbols, together with a handful of special symbols you should keep an eye out for. The helmet, lamp, pickaxe, and shovel are the high pays, while the familiar A, K, Q, J, and 10 card royals make the low pays. The sack of gold nuggets is the wild, which can substitute for all of these paying symbols in order to form more winning combinations. The dynamite, on the other hand, is the scatter. This can award you with free spins if you land 3 or more anywhere on the reels.
Reels 2, 3, and 4 hold one of the 3 Hugo characters - namely Hugolina on reel 2, Hugo on reel 3, and Scylla on reel 3. Each one of these triggers a special feature we’ll detail further on in this review. That said, let’s take a look at how much the symbols are worth when landed in payline form:
Ten
3 - 0.15x bet / 4 - 0.3x bet / 5 - 0.5x bet
Jack
3 - 0.15x bet / 4 - 0.3x bet / 5 - 0.5x bet
Queen
3 - 0.3x bet / 4 - 0.75x bet / 5 - 1.5x bet
King
3 - 0.3x bet / 4 - 0.75x bet / 5 - 1.5x bet
Ace
3 - 0.5x bet / 4 - 1x bet / 5 - 1.5x bet
Shovel
3 - 0.5x bet / 4 - 1x bet / 5 - 1.5x bet
Lantern
3 - 1x bet / 4 - 1.5x bet / 5 - 2x bet
Pickaxe
3 - 1x bet / 4 - 1.5x bet / 5 - 2x bet
Helmet
3 - 1.5x bet / 4 - 2x bet / 5 - 3x bet
Wild
3 - 3x bet / 4 - 5x bet / 5 - 10x bet
Like any self-respecting modern slot, Hugo Carts is perfectly playable on mobile devices as well as regular PCs. After all, it was developed using HTML5, the technology that allows for games that can be played on any internet browser without need for any additional downloads. Hugo Carts will even adapt to fit the size of your device according to whether you are playing in landscape or portrait mode, allowing you to truly enjoy anytime, anywhere.
The special features are where a slot truly shines, and in this case Hugo Carts includes bonuses based around the cast of the Hugo franchise. Hugo, Hugolina, and Scylla can land on their respective reel to award you with a respin complete with a special modifier, and Don Croco might even randomly show up to add dynamite scatters to the proceedings. Speaking of the scatters, there are also free spins to look forward to, so let’s get into the bonus action:
As mentioned, each character can trigger a modifier respin whenever landed during a regular spin. Hugolina is found on reel 2, Hugo on reel 3, and Scylla on reel 4. Here’s what happens during the respin once their symbol hits:
In addition to these, any random spin might see Don Croco pass by on his mine cart to throw 2 dynamite scatters to the reels, boosting your chances of triggering the free spins.
Landing 3, 4, or 5 dynamite scatters awards you with 7, 9 or 11 free spins respectively. This round starts with the random selection of one of the above characters, namely Hugolina, Hugo, or Scylla. This character’s modifier will be triggered on every free spin!
The free spins can be retriggered by landing, once again, 3 or more scatters. In the case of a retrigger then another character will be randomly selected, meaning two modifiers will be active on the following free spins. If you manage to once again retrigger the free spins then the remaining character will be activated for a bonus round with 3 active modifiers on each spin. The free spins cannot be retriggered after this.
It’s impressive to think how Hugo brought about a full-on franchise complete with games, books, and even movies, considering it started as a humble game show on Danish TV back in the early 1990s. Hugo Carts builds on this pedigree with aplomb through great visuals, exciting volatile action, and the chance to trigger a bonus feature on any random spin. The character modifiers are a great touch, and they only get more fun during the free spins!
However we still have to dock from Hugo Cart’s score due to une unfortunate Play’n GO tendency - the variable RTP. Sure, you can check the RTP before you play, but that involves clicking on the easy to miss “?” button then scrolling through reams of text. We believe it’s only fair that such important information as the RTP and volatile should be clearly labeled on a game, providing players with all the information necessary to make an informed decision about gameplay. So great slot overall, but again shame about that variable RTP.
Rating: 7.5
These are some questions we’ve been asked about playing Hugo Carts: