Penalty: How It Works, Odds and Payouts

Penalty is a football shootout cash-out game. You take up to five penalties; each goal raises the multiplier, and a save ends the round with the bet lost. After any goal you can cash out and keep the multiplier shown.

The goal is split into five zones. Before each shot the keeper covers some of them, and you score if you aim at an open zone. Coins are virtual with no cash value.

How a round works

1. Choose a difficulty: Easy, Medium or Hard.
2. Pick one of the five zones and take the shot.
3. If the keeper has not covered that zone, it is a goal and the multiplier rises.
4. A save ends the round. After a goal, cash out or take the next shot, up to five in total.

The keeper's covered zones for all five shots are decided on the server when the round starts. They are a fresh random choice each shot, so there is no pattern to find, such as a keeper who always dives left after a right-footed shot.

Difficulty and odds

The difficulty sets how many of the five zones the keeper covers on each shot.

Every shot on a difficulty has the same chance, so the odds of scoring the third penalty are the same as the first. The chances in the table are only small for the top multiplier because it needs five in a row.

Payout table by goals scored

The percentage in brackets is the chance of scoring that many in a row. The multiplier is 0.97 divided by it. Every row has the same return to player of 97%. The shared limits are on the odds page.

A worked example

You play Medium with a 300-coin bet, so the keeper covers two zones each shot. You score the first two penalties (36% chance) and the multiplier reaches 2.69x, worth 807 coins. You can bank that, or shoot a third: it goes in with 60% probability and takes you to 4.49x (1,347 coins), while a save leaves you with nothing. The average of shooting on is 0.6 x 1,347 = 808 coins, which equals the 807 you already hold, apart from rounding. In other words, the game never pays you to keep shooting or to stop.

Max win and caps

Hard's 94.72x for five goals is the biggest possible Penalty payout, under the game-wide limits of 50,000x and 250,000,000 coins per round.

What is the same as other cash-out games

The structure is a ladder like Road Hop: How It Works, Odds and Payouts and Tower: How It Works, Odds and Payouts: a fixed chance per step, a multiplier that rises with each, and a cash-out any time. The difference is a short ladder of five steps, which caps the top multiplier far below Tower's. The family overview is Cash-Out Ladder Games: Road Hop, Tower and More, and How cash-out games work explains the pricing.

Tips that hold up

• Zone choice is theatre. Pick the corner you like; the odds are identical across zones.
• The difficulty is the real decision. It sets your chance per shot.
• Banking after two or three goals is not a trick. It steadies your results; it does not change the 97% average.
• A hot streak is not a read on the keeper. The keeper's choices are re-drawn independently each shot.

Play with limits

A short ladder can feel like a quick decision with no consequences. Keep an eye on how many rounds you play in a row, and see Play Safely in Cashout Arcade: Limits and Breaks for ways to set limits. Cashout Arcade is for adults aged 18+, uses virtual coins and has no real-money prizes.