Build the Bank

Build the Bank: Slot Overview

At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency industry had tanked hard, exchanges were going under, rug pulls were on the rise, and the dream of using crypto to bank the unbankable was under threat. Perhaps, in the future, instead of digital assets filling the gaps, people will build their own bank instead. This is one takeaway from developer Crazy Tooth Studio's online slot Build the Bank. Here players are accompanied by a construction-minded robot in a game where the main feature is a hold n' win style round called Mega Pile.

Build the Bank takes place in the not-too-distant future in a city experiencing a raging building boom. Assisting the inhabitants with raising skyscrapers, and the bank, are robots, like the one hovering next to the game grid, like a sort of hard hat version of Clippy the Paper Clip. He points out scatter symbols when they land and generally provides companionship throughout all phases of the game. The overall atmosphere is a sort of futuristic, industrious world, with a touch of Art Deco in places and a touch of EDM in others. A place that's constantly looking forwards and building upwards, John Galt would possibly feel right at home here. Being a Crazy Tooth Studio production, there's a uniqueness to the whole show that has to be seen in person to form a full impression.

Available on any device, Build the Bank's base game is played on a 5-reel, 5-row grid with 3,125 active ways. It uses an Any Adjacent Pays system to award wins, where three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels trigger a payout – wins do not have to start from the left side of the grid, in other words. It's medium volatile and comes with a trio of RTP settings of 96.09%, 94.18%, and 92.16, while stakes of 25 p/c to $/€50 per spin may be selected.

Certain Crazy Tooth Studio games of the past have come with unusual symbol values, and Build the Bank is another one of them. For the lows, it has J-A royals paying 0.08x the bet for five of a kind, bumping up to 0.12x the bet for five of the premium shovel, gold bars, hammer, and helmet symbol types. Wilds are not used in Build the Bank.

Build the Bank: Slot Features

Build the Bank is divided between its base game which possesses no features or modifiers, and its Mega Pile bonus round. The Mega Pile comes in two forms; both are played on a 5x7 game board. If it is triggered by 3 scatter symbols that do not contain a Respins Upgrade, then 3 Mega Pile spins are awarded. If one of the triggering scatter symbols is the Respin Upgrade, the Mega Pile round will continue to play until there are 3 consecutive spins that do not land active symbols.

Triggering scatters display Credit Awards, Multiplier Symbols, Special Awards, or the Respins Upgrade. They carry over to the Mega Pile, where they drop to the bottom of the reels. On each spin, new active symbols may or may not hit. When they land, they also fall as low as possible on their reel. This continues until the round ends, then all values in view are awarded.

Credit Awards have values of 0.04x to 20x the bet, whereas Multiplier symbols get values of x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10, applied to Credit Awards symbols in the direction they display. Special Awards place Credit Awards in adjacent positions in the directions the symbols indicate.

Also, filling the bottom three rows awards the Mini Bank prize, filling the bottom four rows awards the Midi Bank Prize, and filling the bottom five rows awards the Max Bank Prize. Bank Prizes are periodically increased, but the base value for the Mini, Midi, or Max is 25x, 250x, or 2,500x the bet, respectively.

Build the Bank: Slot Verdict

It's been a while since the last Crazy Tooth Studio review, and Build the Bank did not disappoint. This is one studio you really have no idea where they will lead players next. Where online slots often focus on breaking banks and so on, Crazy Tooth does the total opposite and bases a slot around building a bank. This might be going against the grain, but, like a lot of what Crazy Tooth does, there are niggles, as well. Are they enough to be deal breakers? In some ways, yeah.

One gripe was the ludicrously low prize values. In Build the Bank, they appear on the Credit Awards blocks with their minuscule 0.04x and up, or the meh 0.12x for five of the premium symbols. Sure, Build the Bank has a lot of ways. However, even a full screen of the most valuable symbol in the game comes out at 375x; the paytable specifically notes this. As a comparison, it's less than a five-of-a-kind hit in a regular 'Book of' game, where just one payline is needed. Max win in Build the Bank might be circa 4,000x the bet, but it constantly felt like a low win, low thrill game.

And yet, even after applying cold mathematics, there was something strangely interesting about Build the Bank as well. So often, online slot makers stick to using tried, true, hackneyed, stiflingly unoriginal, safe ideas in their games, so it is so refreshing to know some have a creative spirit that can't be kept in check. Such are the slots Crazy Tooth Studio turns out on a regular basis, Build the Bank being one which sits proudly among its siblings.

Moreover, does anyone load up the latest Crazy Tooth Studio creation in the hopes of finding some bland three-line joker game? Unlikely. Crazy Tooth Studio is like the ruffled-haired scientist running their experiment for the 10,000th time, hoping it will work, the eccentric hatter at the slot designer tea party, the friend who doesn't speak much yet when they do totally blow your mind with their singular slant on reality. The world has plenty of room for dreamers and makers like Crazy Tooth Studio. The games it makes, like Build the Bank, might not be amazing or overly playable, but it's nice to know there are creative types out there tacking against the wind of conformity.