Spin and Win

The bright lights and gaudy fonts of the seaside amusement arcade have drawn us all in to their neon lair at one time or another. It might not be the coolest of hangouts, but the two-penny shoving machines and the smell of overpriced burgers has some kind of unpleasant but alluring tug.

Spin and Win, to all intents and purposes, evokes the kind of feel of the coin-eating end-of-the-pier machines of a misspent youth, though it owes as much to the middle-of-the-day TV quiz show and the chip shop fruit machine. Essentially it collects together some very simple games of chance that populate less reputable casinos, and links them through one simple central premise.

Those who know the television show Wheel of Fortune will be immediately familiar with Spin and Win's core system. Using your phone's '5' or 'action' button, you randomly stop a huge rotating wheel. Around the wheel's outside edge are a number of symbols that lead you to various mini-games, rewards and forfeits. As the wheel stops, a marker highlights the challenge that awaits you.

You begin with 20 spins, though some of the wheel's symbols add or remove turns, and some games earn them. While this all sounds quite appealing, the mini-games themselves are so basic they do little to engage you. The most intricate is the classic 'pairs' where you upturn cards in pursuit of matching doubles.

There is also a traditional one-armed bandit, which requires nothing more than a single button press per go, and a minimal reaction testing challenge where you must press a button with split-second precision to earn points. Other sub-games include a particularly dull scratch card pairs affair and slightly more appealing number game that requires you to use 'more' and 'less' clues to guess a specific digit.

Earning points, of course, is the point. Each successfully passed mini-game rewards you with a different amount depending on your performance, which is usually down to luck. And that's the problem. Spin and Win feels like the simplest of gambling games without any real feel of the risk that real money adds.

Other cash-free gambling games reward brave players with progress and unlockables, but here all that you can chase is a high-score table and some fairly unexciting trophies. Throw some crisp but very uninspired graphics and an audio score that is easily forgettable into the mix, and you have a recipe for disappointment.

If you find crane grabber machines and blustery windswept seaside towns appealing, there might be something about Spin and Win's particular aesthetic that will grab you, and if you like your gaming really very straightforward it could serve you well as a faithful distraction on public transport. But for those expecting a more intricate experience there is little on offer here.