My review of the DoubleDown Casino app explains why those who enjoy real casinos love this free app, what I didn’t like about their coin packages, and the few quirks that seem really out of place.
This app does NOT pay real money. It’s meant only for entertainment purposes although you can buy virtual coins in order to extend your play.
There’s plenty to like and they certainly scored much better than the past two competitors I’d analyzed.
When I saw my old favorite, Triple Stars, was available I almost forgot I was supposed to be doing research. It brought back great memories of a trip to Luxor in Las Vegas years ago.
That is, I’m sure, what the creators hope all new players feel when they download this app to their phones and see names of some of the most popular slot machines ever played in real life.
Davinci Diamonds, Wheel of Fortune, and even Triple Double Wild Cherry (which really took me back) are all here in several versions.
There are newer, video slots, too, besides a number of other nostalgic 3 reel slots.
A few things caught my attention and I’ll get into those but let’s take a look at their score in my model and then I’ll get into the specifics.
SlotGiants Review Score
| Double Down Casino | |
|---|---|
| Slot Giants Score | 86.3% |
| # of Slots | 234 |
| Free Spin Bonus Slots | Yes |
| Bonus Coins | 1,000,000+ |
| Daily Free Coins | 1,000,000+ |
| 3rd Party Ads | No |
| Level of Ad Annoyance | Low |
| Friend Coin Gifting | Yes |
| Minimum Bet | 9,000 |
| Level Unlocks Required | No |
| # of Levels | N/A |
| Side Features | Yes |
| Screen Layout (scale 1-5) | 4.5 |
| High Dollar Slots | Yes |
| Auto Spin Feature | Yes |
| Multiple Account Option | Yes |
| Cost of Additional Virtual Coins | $9.99 for 1,400,000 |
| In App Community | No |
| Compatibility | Desktop, iOS, Android |
| Date Launched | April 2010 |
| Creator | DoubleDown Interactive LLC |
| Headquarters | Seattle, WA |
| Support Options | Yes |
| Facebook Page | Facebook Page |
| YouTube | YouTube |
| Addiction Support Opt Out Option | No |
New Player Bonus
DoubleDown Casino gives new players 1,000,000 in bonus chips to start their play and there were a couple of other steps one could take for more coins such as liking the app’s Facebook page and connecting the app to one’s Facebook profile.
Almost immediately I was shown the opportunity to go through a tutorial which would also reward me with free coins.
Agreeing to follow the tutorial opened a slot machine with explanations of the icons and buttons on the screen and asked me to give it a spin.
The spin did reduce my stash of coins by 10,000 and as soon as I completed the spin the little arrows and instructions that had been part of the lesson disappeared and there was no note about what I was supposed to do next.
Only after staring at the screen for a minute or two wondering how and when I would get the promised coins did I notice a little counter in the upper right corner that said “1/5”.
I took that to mean that I needed to spin 4 more times to finish the lesson and, sure enough, each spin showed up in that counter.
When I reached the 5th spin the counter turned into a “Collect Reward” button and I was given another 100,000 bonus coins which was double the amount of coins used to make the 5 spins.
It did feel like the whole tutorial process could have been better communicated to the player.
One shouldn’t have to sit there trying to figure out what to do next.
After the tutorial I went back to the lobby and was shown a message about a new “Mission”. This was really a task list of three items with bonus coins awarded for completion of each and more when the total list was done.
Returning to the lobby screen revealed other bonus coin options.
One was a pop-up asking if I would join their email address for another 1,000,000 coins.
There was an explanation that doing so would result in daily emails with free coins, notifications of new slot announcements, free chips, fun events AND MORE (which I am sure is code for sending you ads about coin packages).
I skipped that step.
A timed bonus was also ready to be collected based on an icon on the lower right. When I clicked that icon a wheel came up, spun, and awarded me additional coins.
You can collect your daily timed bonus up to two times a day – once every 12 hours if you collect it as soon as it’s ready.
Awarded with the wheel bonus was a Daily Friend Bonus which awards coins based on how many of your Facebook friends are also connected to the app and a Return Bonus which rewards you for consecutive days of play.
At the end of all of this I had 2,581,600 chips with which to start – enough for 258 spins at a bet of 10,000.
Game Selection
There are a total of 234 slot machines including four video poker games (Jacks or Better, Double Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker, and Double Double Bonus Poker), 11 slots that are available in their regular version and as a Megabucks version, and one slot that is only available in the High Limit area (Gold and Dragon II).
At least 115 of these slots are straight from IGT (International Game Technology) a name that any Vegas casino regular would recognize.
Depending on your familiarity with that particular set of slots this app will make you feel like you’re at the casino but playing for free and in the comfort of your own home.
I felt like I’d traveled back to MGM about 15-20 years ago.
The slots that do not show an IGT license or trademark have rich, colorful graphics and lots of exciting features like sticky wilds and bonus free spins. Whoever created these did a great job.
You can also play Blackjack and Roulette. The links to those can be found by scrolling through the list of slot machines.
For those who want to play slots they know with some new options, too, I’d rate this one at the top of the list.
Daily Free Coin Options
Besides the timed bonus mentioned earlier you can complete daily Missions that award you coins for completing the included tasks.
One thing that was not made clear is that you have to complete the tasks in the order in which they are listed.
The first set of challenges for a new player is referred to as the Welcome Mission.
My first task item was to make 3 bets of at least 50,000 coins each. The second was to play 3 different slots.
I was eager to check out the games so I played 5 or 6 of them right away but that didn’t count as completion of my 2nd task item because I hadn’t yet completed the first – 3 bets of 50,000 coins.
Trying to find a slot that had a bet option of 50,000 was not easy. Most slots had a minimum bet of 10,000 or 12,000 coins with a next bet level of 25,000 and then a steep jump to 100,000 or more (1000 per pay line as in the image below).
I’m sure I could have spun at 100,000 and it would have counted for the Mission but as I was new to the app I wasn’t comfortable increasing my bet by that much. It felt like a trap – like they were hoping I’d lose a bunch of coins right away so I’d have to buy some. I’m always a little wary about things like that.
I did finally find a slot with a bet option of 50,000 coins, completed my mission and received 700,000 coins as a reward.
Once you’ve completed the Welcome Mission and reached level 3 you get a new Mission each day.
There are also seasonal quests and challenges that provide rewards and you can collect coins several times a day from the app’s Facebook and Twitter profiles.
If you connect your DoubleDown Casino app to your Facebook account and any of your Facebook friends also have the app you can gift coins to each other. It’s not much but every little bit helps.
Leveling Up – All Slots Unlocked
All slots are unlocked for all new players so the only benefit to leveling up is that you receive free coins when you do.
Every spin you make earns you experience points that go towards your next level.
You can click on your current level to see the percentage of progress you’ve made towards the next and the coin reward you’ll receive when you get there. I think that’s pretty handy.
I’m currently at level 5 and I can see that I will get 500,000 coins when I reach level 6. The rewards increase every few levels.
Entertainment Factor
I consider this one of the most important elements of any social casino app. If it isn’t fun the app should be deleted as you’ll surely be able to find one that’s better.
I define entertainment as having a chance to win a decent hit with some level of frequency.
To test this app I spun 100 times on 5 different slots and kept track of the number of winning spins, the amount of each winning spin, and the number of bonuses.
Every spin was done at the minimum bet amount for each slot.
| Slot Name | % Winning Spins | # of Bonuses | Total Coins Spent | Total Coins Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triple Stars | 12% | N/A | 1,000,000 | 590,000 |
| Lucky Larry's Lobstermania 2 | 30% | 1 | 1,200,000 | 783,000 |
| Cleopatra | 31% | 1 | 1,000,000 | 1,342,000 |
| Day of the Dead | 34% | 2 | 1,000,000 | 1,108,000 |
| Wheel of Fortune Triple Triple Cash | 10% | 0 | 1,200,000 | 480,000 |
After 500 spins I was down a net of 1,097,000 but I’d also leveled up a couple of times and earned additional free coins. In the end I was roughly where I’d started.
That’s not bad at all and I had a blast playing slots I hadn’t played in years.
Not 5 minutes later I had the top hit on Blazing 7 for 2,500,000 coins. Woohoo!
Max bets even for a new player are pretty high. On one slot the max was 100,000,000 coins.
Betting too high is how you run out of coins too quickly. I always suggest betting the minimum until you work up a safe amount of free coins with which to bet higher.
Ease of Use
DoubleDown has the standard layout for a casino app with a top row for icons and status information, a bottom row for additional icons and rewards, and tabs on each side of the home screen.
The slot games are in the center and you can scroll through them from side to side.
The top of the home screen shows the app’s logo, your profile image with a link to your Diamond Club status, your level, your level status bar, a link to the store for coin purchases and the menu icon.
The menu icon provides access to the sound settings, the swipe-to-spin setting, support, terms, the logout option, and a link for changing your password.
On the left are three tabs:
- What’s Hot – Shows you popular slots and information about current events
- Favorites – Provides 30 spots where you can store the slots you like best for quicker access
- All Slots – An alphabetical list of all slots
Users are definitely going to want to use the Favorites tab. When you click to leave a slot and return to the lobby you are brought to the beginning of the list of slots rather than positioned at the slot from which you just exited.
If your intention was to exit the slot and play one nearby or exit the slot and then go back into it you have to scroll back to find it again. That takes extra time.
You can click and hold on any of the slot icons to place them in your Favorites tab and then just head to that tab to play the ones you want.
The right side of the home screen has a tab you can click for quick access to your Challenges, quests, and gifts.
The bottom of the screen shows a link to the High Limit area along with the number of days until you have access, your timed bonus wheel icon with the amount of time left until it’s ready to collect, and your inbox icon.
You do have to click to download most slots and that’s meant to save storage space on your phone. When you click a slot icon to start the download process it actually shows you the MB size of that slot.
The colors are bright and very vivid, buttons respond well, and the slots load quickly.
The sound effects are also easy on the ears yet enjoyable.
Each slot does have an auto-spin button so you can play hands free.
There are a few little oddities – glitches? – which seems bizarre for such an established mobile app.
First, there is some lack of direction, as I mentioned earlier, regarding what to do next in the tutorial.
I saw that again with the Welcome Mission where I wasn’t clear that the tasks had to be done in order.
Same when I clicked to go into the Card Games & Roulette section. Once in, it wasn’t easy to see how to go back to the main screen. There was no lobby icon. After a bit I realized that an arrow on the left side was the exit.
Every time I’d let the game sit for a few minutes my connection timed out and I had to click to reconnect. This forces you to go back through the 3-4 pop-ups that are shown each time you open the app.
I have to wonder if this isn’t set up specifically so that you have to see those ads again in the hopes that maybe you’ll buy a coin package.
In the All Slot tab there is an icon for “Betty White’s Twisted Tales” which, when clicked, restarts the app. Apparently there is no such slot. Since it restarts your app you have to, yet again, go through the 3-4 pop-ups that occur when launching the app.
Plus, that puts you back on the What’s Hot tab instead of the All Slots tab where you started.
For any win that was slightly above average the sound cut out every second or two until the win is done counting up. That just seems odd.
Some slots have a round spin button while others have a rectangular button that has the word “spin” on it. Yet another slot had a blue oval as a spin button. Why are they different?
It’s like they hacked coding together from different programs instead of building a consistent layout.
I was able to stop the reels by clicking the spin button on some slots, like GreenLuck, but not on others.
One slot had the screen aligned to the left and a lot of blank space on the right while most others were centered.
Maybe some of this was intentional with the idea that slots you play in a real casino are all different, too…but I doubt it.
I would think an app creator would want to provide a consistent layout. That allows players to get going more quickly. I don’t think it’s standard practice to slow your users down by moving things around on them.
This is one area that caused their score to drop but just a bit since it doesn’t really detract from being able to enjoy the slots themselves.
In-App Ads
There are in-app ads in DoubleDown Casino but they only pop-up on the home screen and there are only 3-4 of them.
There are no 3rd party ads and no pop-ups interrupt your slot play.
The only negative regarding the ads are the issue with having to reconnect periodically which causes the ads to be shown again.
Coin Packages
Selling coin packages is how these apps make their money.
Some give you more for your money than others. DoubleDown Casino is pretty high-priced.
For each app I review I look at the # of spins you can purchase for the $4.99 package if they bet the lowest amount possible.
This app does not have a package at that price.
The minimum price was $2.99 for 300,000 chips + 3 LP. It then jumps to $9.99 for 1,400,000 chips + 10 LP.
Since there was no $4.99 offer I extrapolated the price per chip for the $2.99 package and calculated out the number of chips you would get at $4.99. It would be enough for 55 spins.
You can get more value for your money on other apps.
However, those other apps aren’t likely to have the well-known, true Vegas slots you can play on this one.
This is certainly the primary hook this app has with consumers and why they charge more than others.
When I logged out of the app after playing a few slots and then logged back in I was presented with an offer for 4,000,000 coins + 3 boosters for $7.99. That offer now also sits in my in-box and shows an expiration date of a few days.
The second day I logged into the app there was yet a new message about a “4X Chip Sale”. Each standard package shown in the store was now giving 4x the chips it had the day before.
These apps are like working with old-school car dealers. Never take the first price.
What really blew me away, though, was the price of the most expensive package which was $349.99. I’ve seen $299 before but not over $300.
I feel they charge more than similar apps but might be justified in doing so because they know they’re offering something you can’t get anywhere else in an app – a large selection of IGT slots.
Diamond Club Rewards Program
DoubleDown Casino offers a reward program for players called “Diamond Club”.
New players start at White Diamond and can advance through Yellow, Pink, Blue, Red, Black, Cosmic, Fire, Orchid, and Supernova to reach the top level of Royal.
You can only earn the LP points needed to advance through coin purchases.
Each level comes with a set of benefits such as extra Daily Wheel spins, an increased Daily Gift Limit, VIP Vouchers (exclusive deals – presumably on coin packages), Special Vouchers (even more exclusive offers), and High Limit Room Access (grants access for exclusive wins and bonuses).
You can also buy coin packages that come with boosters which temporarily increase your club level so you can enjoy the benefits of that higher level.
These rewards and club points have no cash value and no value outside of the app.
You can preview what a booster will get you by clicking the Preview button on your Diamond Club screen.
For example, because I’m at the White Diamond level the preview button shows that a booster would leave my Extra Spin per Day the same, would increase my daily gift limit from 3 to 6, and would give me access to the High Limit area.
High Limit Area
There is a High Limit area and if your club status does not include access you can earn access by playing three days in a row. On the 4th day you’ll have access for 24 hours.
Slots in the High Limit area have 2x wins on top jackpots, a high limit wheel, and higher max bets. This is also where the creators may place new slots before they’re made available to all in the All Slots tab.
You can still enter the High Limit area to see the available slots even if you don’t have access to play them.
When I first downloaded the app I swear I counted just over 30 slots in that section. Later in the day there were more than 50. I’m not sure if I miscounted the first time or if they add more slots as a new player levels up.
At the time of this writing only one of the slots in that section is not also available in the All Slots tab (Gold and Dragon II). So you can still play all but that one without High Limit access – just not with the added benefits that come by playing in the High Limit area.
History
DoubleDown Casino has an interesting history. It was first launched by DoubleDown Interactive, LLC, out of Seattle, Washington, as a Facebook app – the first casino game on the social media site.
It was then sold to IGT in 2012 which is when it was able to introduce the real casino slots we know and love.
It was sold again in 2017 to current parent company, DoubleU Games in Seoul, South Korea. Part of that deal allowed for several years of cooperation between IGT and the new parent so that IGT licensed games would still be available on the app.
The company currently has offices in both Seattle, WA, and South Korea.