Nostalgia Casino Review

IMPORTANT REVIEW UPDATE: The owner of Nostalgia Casino has gone into liquidation - read more here Online-Casinos.com and this review will be updated as soon as we know more about what happens to the casino and it's customers. I am convinced that all affected players will be paid the money they have in their accounts (perhaps by the software provider Microgaming). I also predict that another group will take over the affected online casinos and poker rooms as this group has always had a good reputation among players. Obviously it is not possible to play at these casinos and poker rooms at the moment.

Nostalgia Casino is part of the Casino Action group, which operates a number of Microgaming venues to choose from, including Challenge Casino, Golden Reef, Music Hall, UK Casino Club and IBig Casino (and of course - Nostalgia!) With a fun 50's/60's theme and a solid list of games, I decided it was time to give this relative newcomer to the online casino world a try and review.

The Website looked good, continuing with the nostalgic theme and well laid out. Contact methods available were live chat support and an e-mail option (which says replies will be received in 30 minutes or less.) I would have liked to see a contact number available for those that prefer it, and some additional information on the games available and how to play them would have been welcome as well.

While quite a few Microgaming venues now offer a no-download casinos, Nostalgia appears to offer only a downloadable client at this time. That said, after a quick tour of the Web site I downloaded the installer, which was very light (weighing in at less than 400k). Running the installer proceeded to continue the download, but a nice feature was that I was able to go through the registration process while this took place. Registering was easy enough, and by the time I was through entering my details the 'base' installation had finished, and I was able to log in and view the casino lobby.

With the casino installed it was time to fund my account. There were a number of depositing options to choose from, and I proceeded to add $100 to my bankroll. At the time of my review Nostalgia was offering a 'Double Up Bonus', which implied to me that a 100% match was available. In fact, it's really a 25% bonus that's available on your first and second deposit of up to $200 - 'double up' refers to the fact it's available twice; not the amount.

As is the case with most Microgaming venues, there were a good number of slot machines to choose from in a wide variety of types and themes, from 'classic' 3 reel machine-style slots all the way up to 40 line video slot machines. There are also a handful of 'MegaSpin' machines which allow the player to play 4, 6, or 9 three reel games consecutively with just 1 spin. As far as slots go, it's hard to beat the variety and quality of the games offered at Nostalgia, and I really enjoyed a lot of the video slots especially.

One of the newer additions, Path Of The Penguin in particular rewarded my play with quite a few bonus rounds. It was a 'cute' video slot in which 3 or more scatters (frozen penguins) initiated a bonus round, in which you choose 3 penguins to chop a block of ice, and win either free spins or cash bonuses for each pick. I must have hit 4 bonus rounds in less than 20 minutes, and with that my bankroll was up a good $100 even at just a $1 a spin.

While I didn't have the same luck as I continued to run through some more slots, most of the machines appear well made and featured nice, vivid reels and well thought out themes, and I had a good time playing. Some of the slots also had very low minimums, with some three reel slots accepting coins as low as a penny, making for some very affordable spins.

Blackjack is offered in a number of different variations, Atlantic City, Big Five, Bonus, 'Classic', Double Exposure, European, Pontoon, Super Fun 21, Triple 7's, Vegas Downtown, and Vegas Strip Blackjack. As if that wasn't enough variety, each of these games is also offered in a classic and a 'Gold' version; though the only real difference between the two types is the appearance (the 'Gold' series are the updated versions and feature slightly better graphics). Each of the games had a nice low betting minimum of just a buck a hand, but I was surprised to see that the table maximums were also fairly low at just $200 a spot.

Roulette was available in not only American and European versions, but also in French, and also as a progressive game called 'Roulette Royale'. The progressive jackpot is paid in the event that the same number hits 5 times in a row, and costs an extra buck a game to play. Only the European version is available in a 'gold' version, which looks significantly better than the older versions of American and French Roulette, although European is the way to go when you're playing Roulette, so that was ok with me. Minimum bets were again just a dollar on each of the roulette versions available (not including the side bet required when playing Roulette Royale).

Baccarat was available only in a 'regular' version, and while the game played well enough, it did look a little dated when compared to the newer gold versions of blackjack and roulette that were available. On the bright side, it has the lowest table minimum I think I've ever seen on a Baccarat table at just $.50 a pop, making it a great place for new players to try out the game and for low-rollers to enjoy. High Limit Baccarat is also available on a separate table, though the maximum wasn't posted and I didn't have anywhere near the bankroll to see how many chips I could lay out on the felt.

Craps was another game that wasn't available in a Gold version, though it looked pretty good as is so perhaps Microgaming didn't feel the need to upgrade. I found the voice overs calling out each roll a little annoying, but these could be turned off in the options (look for the little 'gears' icon to the right of the balance) if desired.

There were a number of other table games available as well, including 3 Card Poker, Pai Gow, Casino War, Cyberstud, Poker Ride, Red Dog and Sic Bo. Most of these games were not part of the 'Gold' series updates, so while they certainly looked and played well enough, they didn't have quite the polish of some of the newer games.

The Video Poker selection was very good; there were 17 different variations of 'standard' machines, pretty much every type you could imagine. Nostalgia (well, all Microgaming venues) call multi-hand video poker games 'Power Poker', which can be played in 4 hand, 10 hand, 50 hand and 100 hand denominations. While not every type of game can be played as Power Poker, there is still a good variety in the multi-hand versions compared to most casinos; with 7 different games available in 100-hand versions for example. While the presentation on each of the video poker games is rather simple, they all play very well, and the variety is hard to beat.

In another section in the game lobby Nostalgia has what it labels 'Unique Games', in which you'll find Keno and 'Scratch Cards'. I'm really not a big fan of Keno, though I suppose it played well enough for what it is. "Scratch Card" games online seem pretty unsatisfying to me in general, and the one offered here was definitely no exception.

After completing my tour of the games I ended up going back to the very same slot machines that had been treating me well earlier, and after another hour or so of fighting with the one armed bandits I ended up losing what was left of my bankroll. While it would have been nice to log a win this time around, I still had a good time playing at Nostalgia, and got a fair amount of play time in before the house edge kicked in.

Would I recommend Nostalgia to other players? Yes, I think I would. With a great variety of games to choose from, a fun theme and lots of competitions and promotions, I could see few downsides here other than the lack of a telephone number posted and the somewhat misleading bonus name.

Click Here To Visit Nostalgia Casino