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KA Gaming Freeplay SlotsThis classic 90’s gem is all about keeping your car on the road and out of trouble. The bonus trail’s a right laugh, leading to unexpected run-ins with the old bill. With its colourful artwork and car-themed sounds, Road Hog’s a belter that’ll take you back to the good old days in the boozer.
Last Updated on 3 May 2025 by Xavier C
This is a shortened and summarised version of this page — we have included key points and important information.
Road Hog (Barcrest) Fruit Machine Review
Road Hog Fruit Machine Review – Table of Contents
Introduction:
Ah, the 90s – a time when arcades and pubs buzzed with clinks, beeps and flashing lights, and fruit machines were the main event. Among the classics lining those walls was Road Hog by Barcrest, a machine that quickly became a firm favourite for regulars. With its 90s boy racer theme, colourful cabinet and instantly recognisable soundtrack, it was hard to walk past without dropping in a few quid.
What made Road Hog stand out wasn’t just its charm – it offered a solid mix of easy-to-follow gameplay and rewarding features that kept you engaged without overcomplicating things.
A 90s Boy Racer Theme
Road Hog’s theme revolves around tearing up the roads and causing mayhem. I definitely get boy racer vibes from the fact you’re constantly evading the police at every turn! The artwork features a smiling hedgehog as part of the main logo, which perfectly captures the playful spirit of 90’s fruit machines.
Who can forget those classic sound effects, including the auctioneer trying to sell your car, the old bill’s sirens when they’re hot on your heels, and the satisfying roar of your engine when you finally get the special feature board.
Oh, and who can forget the winning jackpot tune – a “re-imagining” of the classic Beatles track “Ride my car” – Baby you can drive my car and maybe I’ll love you… Beep-beep, beep-beep. Spoiler alert – we’ve got a video of it down below!
The Basics:
- 20p per play
- 3 x 3 reels
- Single win line
- 5 different win symbols
- Nudges + holds
- Feature exchange
- Hi-Lo on wins
- Feature board starts with 3 tyre symbols
- 9 x feature wins on the board
- Jackpot win of £6 (in tokens)
Classic Gameplay
At its heart, Road Hog is a traditional fruit machine with three reels and a single win line. The symbols include differing value bar symbols in green, pink and yellow, plus the illustrious blue and red Super 7s – the latter being the classic jackpot symbol of that era. You also have random tyre symbols on certain reels, and if you match 3 tyres then you’re off to the Road Hog special feature board. Vrooom!
One of the standout aspects of the Road Hog fruit machine is its simplicity. The game doesn’t overwhelm players with complicated rules or mechanics. You’ve got your basic holds and nudges, hi-lo gamble, then your 3 feature symbols that are added to random main symbol reels, plus you’ve got the main payout symbols, lowest being mixed 7s, highest being red super 7s, but be prepared to get a lot of mixed 7s for a win of a quid!
Nudge and Hold Features
Who doesn’t remember the old “holds after a nudge” secret – if you’ve got 2 symbols lined up after you nudge – let them spin and you’re guaranteed to match all 3 on a win line.
Another “hidden” win feature to watch out for – if you get 2 matching symbols on the reels and there’s the same symbol on the “losing” reel, but it’s in the line above, and all your reels are flashing – hold all 3 reels to guarantee a nudge on the next go, allowing you to nudge down your missing symbol on the losing reel.
Also, the standard 3 holds in a row on 2 matching symbols and the next spin after the third hold is a guaranteed winner.
Road Hog was one of those ubiquitous fruities that most pubs had at some point or other. I remember playing this on a win-streak, got about £100 off my first £10 in. The bloke who played it before me was crying into his pork scratchings.
Greg “G-Man” (long-term fruity player)
Hi-Lo Gamble Feature
After a win, players have the option to gamble their winnings in a high-risk, high-reward game. You simply predict whether the next number (on the hi-lo reel) will be higher or lower than the current one – as is normally the case, the numbers go from 1 to 12. If you guess correctly, your winnings are upped to the next level, but if you’re wrong, you lose it all.
Road Hog Fruit Machine Bonus Board
One of the most beloved features of Road Hog is the bonus feature board. This trail of lights moves along as you progress up the motorway with each spin (random steps from 1 to 12), leading to various bonus games and prizes.
Landing on specific trail positions can trigger exciting bonus games (although most are shit), but be careful of speed traps, oil spills, MOT tests and the ever-present rozzers on your tail who can also progress up the board on random spins.
If you ever land on a splatted hedgehog symbol, that’s it – game over!
Here’s a quick video of a Jackpot win on the bonus board:
Road Hog Fruit Machine Bonus Features
If you’re lucky enough to enter the bonus board, you’re in for a rough ride trying to land on something that pays out more than a couple of quid. There are some helpful features along the way, although most are pretty lame when it comes to payouts.
- Cash Toll: The numbers 1 to 12 scroll through on the dice display – you need to stop the dice on the highest number possible to receive that number of 20p wins. e.g. 11 x 20p = £2.20 win.
- Turbo Cash: A game of timing, as the board tiles light up you must stop the light when it reaches a cash prize. Once that cash prize is won, you move to the next prize. It progressively gets faster as you make it to higher amounts.
- Money Belt: A row of four cash amounts scroll through on the LCD display – you need to stop the scrolling when the amounts are as high as possible. e.g: 60+40+40+20 = £1.60 win.
- Cash Climb: Starting from the lowest cash prize, each amount flashes until you press the start button to match when the amount lights up – you get three chances to match the timing. For each one you get right, you progress to the next amount.
- Reel Skill: The reels progressively move down one step at a time, sometimes showing a winning line – you need to stop the reels on the best win available (there’s normally at least 2-3 wins available to choose from).
- Golden Hold: All three reels slowly move up and down – you need to hold each reel on the matching symbols with the highest win – if the reels are in the right positions to start with, you can easily get the £6 jackpot from this feature.
- Cash Drive: The board lights up as it travels up the board to random cash amounts – this can sometimes be short-lived and only go up the board twice to low amounts.
- Token Blitz: Random cash amounts are lit, awarding that prize. This is for a random number of wins, sometimes as low as 1 or 2, sometimes as high as 6 or 7. All wins are in tokens.
- Top Gear (top bonus feature): The win amounts to the right of the reels flash intermittently – you need to just press the start button to stop the light on a win (guaranteed) – there can be multiple wins per feature. There’s also a chance of multiple repeats. You can easily win more than the £6 jackpot if it repeats multiple times.
Road Hog Fruit Machine – Personal Reflections
Playing Road Hog again made me realise how much I love the history and variety of proper British fruit machines – they really didn’t make them like that elsewhere in the world (I’m looking at you America). At some point we’re going to write our own article, but for now, this history of slot machines covers most of the important stuff.
Road Hog will always hold a special place in my heart as a classic from my youth – there’s something special about those 90s fruit machines from back in the day. The combination of nostalgic sounds, charming artwork, and interactive features make Road Hog a timeless classic that I always enjoy revisiting.
There’s something incredibly satisfying about nudging the reels into a winning combination, especially when you’ve been eyeing that elusive jackpot – three red Super 7s have never looked so good!
