Ferris Wheel: how it plays, odds and payouts

Ferris Wheel is a cash-out game with a gentle first half. Your car rises through 12 stops in one turn of the wheel, each stop raises the pay a little, and you can hop off at any stop after the first. Its unusual rule is a safety net: once you are past the top, a stall pays your bet back instead of taking it.

How a round works

1. Set your bet and tap Ride. The car starts moving and the multiplier clock runs.
2. Each stop is a checkpoint. Passing it raises the amount Cash out (locking in the multiplier you hold) will pay, from 1.1x at stop 1 to 10x at stop 12.
3. Cash out at any time after stop 1 to take the pay of the last stop you passed.
4. Stop 6 is the top of the wheel. A stall before it loses the bet; a stall after it returns your bet (1x).
5. Reach stop 12, back at the platform, and the ride pays 10x automatically.

One revolution lasts about 23 seconds, with stop 1 arriving roughly 2 seconds after the start.

Pay table

"Chance of getting past" counts from the start of the ride. In the first half (stops 1 to 6), a row's chance multiplied by its pay is 0.97. Later rows multiply to less, for example 0.054 x 10 = 0.54 at stop 12, because the refund paid on a stall after the top supplies the rest of the 97%.

Worked example

Take stop 9, which pays 3.2x. A bet of 100 coins cashed out there returns 320 coins, and the car makes it to that point in 22.0% of rides.

Now check the safety net. Standing on stop 6 you hold 2x. Riding on to stop 7 has a 76.9% chance of passing (the chance of the car making stop 7 once it has made stop 6), paying 2.3x, and a 23.1% chance of a stall, which pays 1x. The average is 0.769 x 2.3 + 0.231 x 1 = 2.0x, so riding on is exactly as good as staying. The refund does not give you an edge; it changes the shape of the risk. After the top you can only fall back to your bet, never below it.

The chance of passing each stop, taken one at a time, runs from 88.2% at stop 1 through 85% at the top to 50% for the final stop.

Max win and limits

Ferris Wheel tops out at 10x the bet, in 5.4% of rides. The game-wide cap of 50,000x the bet and 250,000,000 coins per round is not reachable here. Volatility is low: even the best result is modest, and the stall refund means a long losing run is less deep than in games with no safety net.

What matters and what does not

• Cashing out before the top: it is the only phase where a stall costs the whole bet, so early stops pay little for a real risk of loss.
• Cashing out after the top: the loss is capped at the bet, but you give up nothing on average either way.
• Tap timing: you are paid the stop you last passed. Waiting for the next stop to show before tapping is the only decision.

Over many rides every plan returns 97%. Treat the wheel as a way to pick your own comfort level, not a pattern to read. If a streak of stalls has just happened, the next ride is unaffected.

How it differs from other cash-out games

Dunk Tank has only five dangerous moments and a 25x top. Ferris Wheel spreads the risk over twelve small stops and softens the second half. For the full idea behind cash-out games, see how crash-style games work.

Play with limits

Coins are virtual, have no cash value and cannot be withdrawn or exchanged for prizes. For adults (18+), for entertainment. Set a limit on your time before you play; see playing safely in Cashout Arcade.