What are crash games?

Every now and then, a new type of casino game is born, something unique with rules that are nothing like we’ve seen before.  

The latest game format to emerge is something called crash games. They have very different origins to most casino games, and they’re becoming more and more popular.

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Crash games may be new to you, but they’ve actually been around since 2014. The first crash game was made for the bitcoin gambling world, where games traditionally had awful graphics and gameplay that felt more like 2004 than 2024. 

They mirrored the experience of investing in bitcoin itself and other crypto tokens, where they hoped the value of their coins would take off and go to the moon, but more often than not, would crash and burn.  

That’s the backdrop to the emergence of these games. Now to what they actually are! 

How do crash games work?  

The first ever one featured a plane. Nothing else. No characters, no reels, no playing cards. All you had to do was place your bet, and then the plane took off.  

This plane represents the game’s payout odds. Just think of it like a horse with constantly changing odds. The longer the plane stays in the air, the higher the payout odds.  

The aim of the game with crash gambling games is simply to cash out before the end of the game. That decision – and the way we envision the outcome before and during games – is what defines crash games. How long do you wait, before you cash out? That’s the big question.

As the name suggests, that plane (or superhero, in the case of the FlyX game above) is gonna crash. And when it does, any player who has not yet cashed out, will lose their stake.  

The plane could reach 2000x, but it could also crash at 2x or even 1.2x.  

What does that mean? Well, the plane starts at 1x – that’s your bet. If it gets to 2x and you cash out then, your return is 2 times your bet.  

The difference between crash games and slots, is that in crash games YOU are the one who chooses what multiplier to target. Sometimes you’ll get it, and sometimes you won’t. Head to our game guides to learn more about how to play crash games.

How many crash games are there? 

Well it is still early days. You can play roughly 20 different crash games at PlayOJO. Some are from fairly unknown providers that specialise in this type of game, and some are from the big boys, like Pragmatic Play and Playtech.  

Aviator was the first crash gambling game to be released in the UK in regular online casinos and it is still the most popular, for now at least. 

Most crash games like Aviator and Maverick still use the plane theme. But there are some new crash games that have pushed the boat out (literally, in the case of Big Bass Crash).  

There’s Spaceman, one of my favourites, and Circus Launch, which uses a rocket instead of a plane. And there are others coming out all the time, like Stormy Witch, where a character takes off on a broomstick. There’s a new game called Super Samba where the footballer plays keepy uppy, and the game ends when the ball hits the floor.  

And maybe best of all, there’s a new live game show from Evolution Gaming called Cash or Crash, a lotto ball style crash game where you need to cash out before a red ball is chosen.