Blueprint Gaming Turns Back The Clock With Cash Strike Release (Interview)

It's hard to put into words just how much online slot games have evolved over the years. Modern gameplay mechanics and features have made the slot game market more competitive than ever before. Sometimes, however, it's nice to revisit the classics - which is exactly what Blueprint Gaming thought when they developed Cash Strike!

We spoke to Blueprint Gaming's Head of Marketing, Alex Naspe, to find out more about this retro release!

You don’t often see many new three-reel slots nowadays, Cash Strike is quite the rarity in this sense. What was your thinking behind this game and is there an audience for this type of slot?

First and foremost, yes there’s a strong audience for retro-style slots. Like everything in life, there are people out there who enjoy anything that lets them roll back the clock - slots are no different. Blueprint Gaming has always been vocal about boasting a varied portfolio of titles. We’re keen to give players contemporary experiences, such as games from our King Kong Cash series and sometimes we like to take a step back in time with titles such as Cash Strike.

Cash Strike has all of the qualities of a good old-fashioned three-reel slot, but if you look under the hood, you’ll quickly realise that it has so much more to it when it comes to bonus features.

Cash Strike combines retro design and mechanics with some modern features. Can you talk us through each of these modern features?

Cash Strike has three main features, these are Cash Collect, Cash Strike and Gold Strike. All three deliver a modern twist to classic gameplay, ensuring that it remains fun and competitive. On every spin, cash symbols are active on reels one and two. Should a collect scatter symbol land anywhere on the middle reel at the same time then the sums are collected and paid out. Cash Strike is triggered when cash symbols land on reels one and three and a collect symbol lands on reel two.

This launches a feature in which players receive three spins in the style of a hold and spin feature, however only the collect symbol is held. Every cash symbol that lands increases the overall prize and resets the spins. Finally, any collect, cash or cashpot symbols that land in view are added to the cash strike logo, potentially awarding the Gold Strike feature. If the Gold Strike feature is triggered, symbols are added to the reels which guarantees the Cash Strike bonus.

We live in a world where old things often come back into popularity, do you think this might well be the case with retro slots in 2024?

I don’t think they’re going to come back into popularity, but that’s only because they never fell out in the first place! Retro-style slots have always had a very loyal following, especially in certain non-UK territories, and any time we combine old-school design with modern features and mechanics we have a winner on our hands.

I have confidence in the fact that Cash Strike won’t be the last retro-style slot you see from Blueprint Gaming this year, and it certainly won’t be the last retro-style slot from any supplier, they are most certainly a pivotal part of the iGaming ecosystem. I would argue that they are just as important as cluster pays, jackpot, Megaways™ or Hold & Win slots. Offering variety to slot players is absolutely key to remaining a top games provider and something we pride ourselves on.

What’s next for Blueprint Gaming? Can we expect another retro-style slot like Cash Strike soon?

While we can't reveal too much at the moment, we can say we’re working on a fantastically full roadmap of titles that has something for everyone. We know games like Cash Strike are still incredibly popular with so many players and we’ll keep developing games that live and breathe that theme while offering the kind of player engagement features that we know work. We’ve got some great launches coming up so, as always, stay tuned for more details.