Upgames · 95.9 to 96% RTP · Play at MyStake
Dino by Upgames: Full Review of the Crash Minigame, and Where to Play It
Dino is the crash minigame that established Upgames as a studio. Released in 2018 as the company's first instant title, it has since been adopted by more than 700 operators and remains the most played game in the MyStake minigames lobby.
The premise is straightforward. A dinosaur hatches, then runs. A multiplier climbs as it runs. A meteor falls at a point determined before the round begins, and everything depends on whether you have cashed out by then.
This review covers the mechanics in full, the two betting systems, the maths behind the maximum win, and where to play Dino minigame.
- 95.9 to 96% RTP
- Up to 10,000x
- Two bets per round
- Stakes 0.20 to 1,000
- Demo available
Dino minigame specifications
- Game
- Dino
- Studio
- Upgames (formerly Upgaming)
- Released
- 2018
- Format
- Crash
- RTP
- 95.9 to 96%
- Minimum multiplier
- 1.01x
- Maximum multiplier
- 10,000x
- Maximum payout per round
- 10,000 in account currency
- Bet range
- 0.20 to 1,000
- Bets per round
- One or two
- Auto bet
- Yes
- Auto cashout
- Yes
- Round history
- Last 100 rounds
- Demo mode
- Yes, at identical RTP
- Operators carrying it
- More than 700
How the Dino game works
The round follows a fixed sequence.
01The betting window opens while Dino hatches
The egg animation is the timer. Bets must be placed before it completes, and once the run begins the round is closed to new stakes.
02Dino runs and the multiplier climbs
It begins at 1.01x and rises continuously. There is no fixed rate and no pattern to the progression.
03A meteor falls
The point at which it lands is the crash number, and it is determined at the start of the round rather than in response to player behaviour.
04You cash out, or you do not
For a bet to pay, the cash-out point must be above 1 and below the crash number. Cashing out at 2.4x on a round that crashes at 7.1x pays 2.4 times the stake. Failing to cash out before 7.1x on the same round returns nothing.
That is the entire game. What separates competent play from poor play is not prediction, which is impossible, but the discipline applied to the exit.
The two betting systems
Dino provides two controls that most crash games do not offer together, and using them properly is the difference between a considered session and a reactive one.
Auto bet
Repeats a fixed stake automatically on every subsequent round until switched off. It removes the need to press the bet button between rounds, which in a game with turns this short is a genuine convenience rather than a novelty.
Auto cashout, described in the game as Auto Collect
Sets a multiplier above 1 at which the win is collected automatically, provided the meteor has not landed first. The manual cash-out button remains available, so an auto cashout set at 5x does not prevent taking 2x by hand mid-round.
Two bets on the same round
Dino permits one or two stakes on a single run, each with its own cash-out setting. This is the feature that gives the game its tactical depth.
The standard application is a hedge. A larger stake carries a low auto cashout that resolves in the great majority of rounds, while a smaller stake runs on for a higher multiplier. The first covers the cost of the second, allowing a longer run to be attempted without risking the session bankroll on it.
The arithmetic is worth setting out. A 10 stake with auto cashout at 1.20x returns 12 when it lands, a profit of 2. A second stake of 2 on the same round is therefore funded by the first, and can be left running.
This does not improve the return to player, and no configuration does. What it changes is the distribution of outcomes: more rounds resolve at a small profit, fewer resolve at a total loss, and the high-multiplier attempts cost less when they fail.
The maximum win, explained properly
This section covers the point almost every Dino game review states incorrectly.
Two separate limits apply, and they are frequently reported as one:
Both are true, and they constrain each other. The multiplier ceiling can only be realised in full when the stake is small enough that 10,000 times it remains within the payout cap.
| Stake | Multiplier at which the payout cap is reached | Effective ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| 0.20 | 50,000x | 10,000x, the full multiplier range |
| 1 | 10,000x | 10,000x, exactly at the cap |
| 2 | 5,000x | 5,000x |
| 10 | 1,000x | 1,000x |
| 100 | 100x | 100x |
| 1,000 | 10x | 10x |
The practical consequence: at the maximum stake of 1,000, the payout cap is reached at 10x. Any multiplier beyond that point pays nothing additional. A player staking 1,000 and holding for 50x receives the same 10,000 as a player who cashed out at 10x, having carried substantially more risk for no additional return.
The 10,000x figure quoted throughout the internet is therefore accurate only at stakes of 1 unit or below. It is not a headline that applies across the betting range, and anyone playing at higher stakes should set their auto cashout with the cap in mind rather than the multiplier.
RTP and what it means here
Dino sits slightly below the highest-RTP titles in the Upgames catalogue, several of which run at 99%. It sits comfortably above a typical slot, which returns 94 to 96%.
Upgames states an RTP of 95.9 to 96% for Dino. Third-party sources quote figures between 95% and 96%, and a small number claim the return varies with cash-out strategy.
In a crash game the house edge is built into the distribution of crash points, and it applies uniformly regardless of where a player chooses to exit. Cashing out at 1.10x and cashing out at 50x carry the same long-run return. What differs is variance: the first produces frequent small wins and occasional total losses, the second produces frequent total losses and occasional large wins.
A consideration specific to the format. Crash rounds are short. A game that resolves in under thirty seconds applies its house edge far more often per hour than a slower one, which means the difference between a 96% game played quickly and a 96% game played slowly is considerable in practice even though the percentage is identical.
Playing Dino well
No system alters the odds. Crash points are generated before each round and are unaffected by previous results, by stake size or by cash-out behaviour.
What follows is therefore about managing variance and decision-making rather than about beating the game.
Set the exit before the round starts
Auto cashout exists for this reason. A multiplier chosen calmly before a run and a multiplier chosen while watching one climb are rarely the same number.
Match the target to the stake
Refer to the payout cap table above. At higher stakes there is no reason to hold beyond the point at which the cap binds.
Use the two-bet structure deliberately
Hedging a low auto cashout against a longer run is the most sensible application of the feature, and it is what the feature was designed for.
Disregard round history as a predictor
Dino displays the last 100 rounds. This is useful for understanding the distribution of outcomes and useless for anticipating the next one. A sequence of low crashes does not make a high one more likely.
Treat martingale with caution
Doubling after a loss is the most commonly suggested Dino strategy and it fails the way it fails everywhere. A run of losses meets either the bankroll ceiling or the 1,000 maximum stake, and one such sequence removes a long stretch of accumulated small wins.
Dino minigame in action
Demo mode
Dino is available in a free demo running at the same RTP and volatility as the real-money version.
The demo is the appropriate place to learn the timing of the egg animation, test auto bet and auto cashout combinations, and establish which multiplier targets suit a given temperament. Twenty minutes there is more instructive on this game than any written guide, since the entire skill component is a matter of timing under pressure.
Dino demo
- Identical RTP and volatility
- No download, HTML5 build
- Auto bet and Auto Collect available
Where to play Dino minigame
Dino is distributed to more than 700 operators, so it appears in a large number of lobbies. Three criteria distinguish a sensible venue from an indifferent one.
Does the operator carry the full Upgames catalogue?
Dino alone indicates a licensing deal. Dino alongside Chicken, Chicken Cross, Aero, Icefield and Penalty indicates a genuine minigames section, which usually means better placement, working demos and a lobby that receives new releases.
Is the demo available?
Not every operator carrying the game enables free play.
Is the minigames section a real section?
Some casinos bury instant games beneath the slots. Others build the lobby around them.
MyStake
MyStake is the operator most closely associated with Dino. MyStake casino launched in 2020 and gave minigames and Originals their own top-level navigation entries at a point when most operators treated them as filler between slot rows. MyStake Dino became the way a large proportion of players first encountered crash games at all.
The MyStake minigames lobby carries roughly forty titles, including the full Upgames catalogue, alongside several thousand slots, more than 200 live dealer tables and a sportsbook covering over 35 sports.
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Similar games
For players who like Dino, the closest titles in the Upgames catalogue and the wider MyStake minigames lobby:
Aero
Upgames. Winner of Best Crash Game at the SiGMA Europe Awards in 2023. The same rising multiplier in a cleaner, faster presentation.
Chicken
Upgames. A 5x5 grid where you set the number of bones from 1 to 24 and reveal plates one at a time. Runs at 99% RTP, the highest in the catalogue.
Chicken Cross
Upgames. A lane-crossing format with selectable risk levels, where each lane survived raises the multiplier.
Icefield
Upgames. A yeti crossing a frozen lake. Structurally the closest thing to Chicken with a different presentation.
Penalty
Upgames. A penalty shootout format and one of the fastest titles in the lobby.
Raccoon
Upgames. One of the studio's newer releases and among its rising titles.
Plinko
A ball dropped down a pegged board, with adjustable risk and row count. No in-round decision at all.
Mines
The grid format Chicken derives from, in its original presentation.
Aviator, JetX and Spaceman
Third-party crash titles carried alongside the Upgames catalogue, each with a different rhythm.
About Upgames
Dino did not come from a slot studio experimenting with a side format.
Upgaming was founded in 2014 as an iGaming solutions provider, incorporated in Zug, Switzerland, with its operational base in Tbilisi. For four years it built platforms rather than games: sportsbook, aggregation and turnkey systems for operators.
Dino arrived in 2018 as the company's first minigame and established the template the rest of the catalogue follows: player-set risk, a cash-out decision as the entire mechanic, rounds under a minute, and a character rather than a symbol set. Chicken followed and became the second signature title. In 2023 Aero took Best Crash Game at the SiGMA Europe Awards.
On 16 July 2025 the minigames division was separated into Upgames, a standalone studio with its own catalogue and roadmap. It now lists over 20 games and more than 220 partner operators.
Frequently asked questions
A crash minigame by Upgames in which a dinosaur runs while a multiplier climbs, and a meteor lands at a point set before the round begins. The player must cash out before the meteor to collect.