Crash Games Explained: Aviator, Mines, Chicken Road, Plinko & Co.
7 min read
Crash games are the fastest thing in an online casino lobby. A multiplier climbs, and you have to get out before it crashes. Aviator and its relatives have almost no other rules, which is why they are so popular and so easy to misjudge. This guide covers how the six best-known titles work, what the maths says, and why every “predictor” app is a scam.
What is a crash game?
Each round starts at 1.00x. The multiplier rises, sometimes only to 1.20x, sometimes past 100x. Press cash out before the crash and you receive your stake times the multiplier. Wait too long and the whole stake is gone. The crash point is fixed before the round begins, so you never influence the result. You only choose how much risk to take.
Instant games such as Mines and Plinko are close cousins: no reels, no paylines, a round over in seconds. You can try all of them as free demos in our crash and instant games category.
Aviator: the plane game by Spribe
Aviator came out in 2019 and made the genre mainstream. A red plane takes off, the multiplier rises, and at some point the plane flies away. You can place two bets in the same round and cash them out separately, one early at 1.50x and one later, for instance. RTP is 97%. A live chat shows what other players cashed out at, which adds pressure to stay in longer.
Mines: reveal tiles, avoid the mines
A grid of 25 tiles hides a number of mines, and you choose how many. Every safe tile raises the multiplier; one mine ends the round and takes the stake. With 3 mines the first pick is safe 88% of the time (22 in 25). With 10 mines that falls to 60%. More mines mean bigger jumps per tile and shorter rounds.
Chicken Road: one lane at a time
In Chicken Road by InOut Games you walk a chicken across a road lane by lane. Each lane crossed increases the multiplier, and you can cash out after any step. If the chicken gets hit, the stake is lost. Four difficulty levels from Easy to Hardcore set how dangerous each step is and how fast the multiplier grows.
Plinko: a ball through the pegs
A ball drops through a triangle of pegs and lands in a slot with a multiplier. The centre slots pay little, often below 1x, while the edge slots pay a lot and are rarely hit. You pick the number of rows and a risk level: on high risk the edges become huge and the middle nearly worthless. Try it in the Plinko demo.
Spaceman: crash with a partial cash-out
Spaceman by Pragmatic Play plays like Aviator with one addition, the 50% cash-out. You lock in half your stake at the current multiplier and let the other half ride. That smooths the swings without changing the expected value. RTP is 96.5%.
JetX: the retro predecessor
JetX by SmartSoft Gaming predates Aviator and looks like an arcade game: a jet climbs until it explodes. Multiple bets per round and automatic cash-out are available here too. RTP is 97%.
Provably fair and RNG in plain words
Every result comes from a random number generator (RNG). With “provably fair”, the result is calculated before the round and published as an encrypted fingerprint, called a hash. After the round the game reveals the inputs, and you can check that nothing was changed afterwards. Note what that gives you: verification after the fact. It does not give anyone a way to predict the next round.
Predictor apps, signal bots and “hacks” are scams
Search for “Aviator predictor” and you will find apps, Telegram channels and supposed hacks claiming to know the next crash point. None of them work. The result is generated on the operator’s server and secured cryptographically; an app on your phone has no access to it. The schemes follow the same patterns:
- Paid apps and subscriptions that display random numbers
- Signal groups that push you to one particular casino through an affiliate link and earn a share of your losses
- APK files carrying malware that steals logins and payment details
A signal that “hits” now and then proves nothing. About two rounds in three reach 1.50x anyway.
The maths of auto cash-out
With a 97% RTP there is a simple rule of thumb: the chance of reaching multiplier x is about 0.97 / x.
| Auto cash-out | Chance of reaching it | Expected return per CHF 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1.50x | approx. 64.7% | CHF 0.97 |
| 2x | approx. 48.5% | CHF 0.97 |
| 10x | approx. 9.7% | CHF 0.97 |
| 100x | approx. 0.97% | CHF 0.97 |
The last column is the point. Wherever you cash out, 97 centimes come back per franc on average. A low target wins often and small; a high target wins rarely and big. No “best” exit exists, and doubling after a loss changes this no more than it does at roulette. Our guide to RTP and volatility explains the background.
Why the pace makes crash games risky
A round often lasts 10 to 15 seconds, which means 250 to 300 rounds an hour. At CHF 2 a round you wager about CHF 600 an hour, and at 97% RTP that is an average loss of CHF 18 an hour, with wide swings either way. Add the near-miss effect (“it crashed at 1.98x and I wanted 2x”) and the stream of other people’s wins in the chat. Both push players to chase losses.
FAQ
Can Aviator or other crash games be predicted? No. The crash point is set randomly on the server and cannot be seen before the round. Any app claiming otherwise is a scam.
Which auto cash-out is best? None, mathematically. The expected value is the same at every target. Low targets give calmer sessions, high targets long dry spells.
Can I play crash games for free? Yes. Demos run on play money with the same mechanics as the real-money version. For the legal background see online casinos in Switzerland.