Exclusive Interview: Inside Hearts Highway's Launch with Push Gaming

Your first title of 2024 is Hearts Highway, can you tell us more about what players should be expecting from its base game before launch?

Blending retro themes with modern mechanics, Hearts Highway offers various exciting elements for slot enthusiasts to enjoy and enhances some of the mechanics popularised in last year's hit game 10 Swords. The base game is played across 5x3 reels with symbols depicting classic slot machine icons such as cherries, bars and sevens. These must form a matched combination across the title’s 20 paylines to award a win. Helping players to gain these wins are wilds which substitute for the base game symbols and follows the fun vibrant and retro theme of the title.

We have also filled this game with instant wins, offering players a way to win up to 10,000x in the base game! At least four heart symbols must be landed on the gameboard to grant a minimum instant win, with each additional heart landed progressing players up an incrementally increasing prize ladder that we are confident players will adore.

There is also a slot machine feature present in the base game, can you tell us more about this?

A mini slot machine can be landed on reels one and five in both the base game and the bonus. This can substantially increase the number of hearts that are already present on the gameboard. When landed, the mini slot machine symbol will spin and its one row and three spaces can either land on a dud symbol or a heart symbol. Each heart landed will be added to the cumulative number of hearts that players have gained so far, which will bring you closer to the maximum win of 10,000x.

Increasing the win potential further, landing two mini slot machines at the same time will see them converge to create a six-reeled slot that can land dud symbols, hearts or double hearts. Any hearts landed will be held in place and trigger a respin, boosting the chances of landing more instant win-awarding hearts. This feature in conjunction with the heart symbols landed naturally in the base game creates a lot of excitement in each base game spin.

What features are available within Hearts Highway’s free spins round?

The free spins round increases the excitement further and will be sure to get players' blood pumping. Here, all base game symbols are removed with only hearts and duds available, increasing the likelihood of landing these icons.

Each of the middle reels now has a progression ladder attached to them with three golden hearts needed to fill these. Each reel filled will hold three normal hearts in place throughout all subsequent spins and grant an additional spin, creating a crescendo of excitement and potentially awarding up to nine hearts every spin.

The mini slot machines present in the base game receive an upgrade in the bonus and can now grant golden hearts and double golden hearts which will be added to the progression meter on middle reels. These provide various ways to climb up the prize ladder to claim the title’s 10,000x max win and will keep players entertained long after release.

Following Hearts Highway what other titles do you have on the horizon?

In 2024, we are introducing more titles than ever before for players to sink their teeth into and Hearts Highway represent the first of these releases. It will be quickly followed by Big Bite, a fishing-themed adventure where instant cash prizes and jackpots can be collected and each of these collection symbols will also award retriggers and increasing multipliers.

After that, we will be causing a swarm of excitement with Wild Swarm 2, the sequel to one of our most iconic titles that modernises the formula and adds some extra fun to the popular gameplay which will see players through into March (yes that’s three games launching in February alone!)

Shamrock Saints lands just after that and in time to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day with its fun leprechaun theme, which will be closely followed by Samurai’s Katana, a cyberpunk-inspired Japanese thrill ride, home to some familiar mechanics that have received a fun twist. With a packed roadmap of fresh games, mechanics and upgraded sequels there is no better time to be a fan of Push Gaming and we look forward to coming back and discussing these games in more detail closer to the time of release.