Key facts
- Before each drop you set three things: stake, number of rows and risk level. BGaming and Hacksaw Gaming both offer 8 to 16 rows.
- Published returns: Spribe 97%, BGaming 99%, Hacksaw Gaming seven versions from 88.20% to 98.98%. Over a long run, the lowest Hacksaw version is built to keep about A$11.80 of every A$100 staked; BGaming’s version, about A$1.
- Snopes rated ads for a MrBeast “Plinko” cash app a scam on 20 May 2024: no such app was on the App Store or Google Play.
- The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal to offer online casinos to people in Australia, and that Australian regulators cannot help if such a site withholds your winnings.
What Plinko is
Plinko is an instant-win casino game with no reels: a ball or disc falls through a triangle of pegs and lands in one of the slots along the bottom, and each slot carries a multiplier of the stake. Spribe, one of the studios that makes it, describes the game as “originated from popular American game show” and says it “found a new life in cryptocurrency casinos” before spreading to online casinos generally.
The show is The Price Is Right, where Plinko is a pricing game that premiered on 3 January 1983, according to Wikipedia’s list of the show’s pricing games.
Online, Plinko is not one game but several that look alike. Spribe, BGaming, Hacksaw Gaming and SmartSoft (Plinko X and Plinko X Classic) each publish their own version, with different rows, risk settings, top multipliers and returns. The studios file it under different labels: “Mini Game” at Spribe, “Casual” at BGaming, “InstantWin” at Hacksaw Gaming.
How a round works: rows, risk and edge multipliers
You choose a stake, the number of rows and a risk level, then drop the ball; the slot where it lands pays the stake times that slot’s multiplier.
- Rows. BGaming: “Players can choose the number of lines from 8 to 16.” Hacksaw Gaming: rows of pegs “from 8 to 16”. Spribe says the player “can adjust number of pins and therefore difficulty level”, without giving a range.
- Risk level. BGaming offers high, normal and low, which change the cell values. Hacksaw Gaming offers low, medium and high, which “affects the volatility of the game”. In Spribe’s version each of three coloured buttons drops its own disc.
- Edge multipliers. BGaming: “Higher multipliers are placed near the board’s edges”, with cell values that “increase from the center to the edges”. Hacksaw Gaming puts its top prize, 3,843.3x, in the leftmost zone.
To reach an edge slot, the ball has to be deflected the same way at nearly every row, so edge slots are the rare outcomes and the large multipliers are paid least often. That is general probability for a peg board, not a statement by any studio.
BGaming’s version has Manual and Auto modes and Spribe’s has Autoplay, so rounds can run one after another without a click each time; the stake per round stays the same, the number of rounds grows.
Plinko RTP by studio
Published Plinko returns range from 88.20% to 99%, set by the studio and, at Hacksaw Gaming, by the version the casino runs. Return to player (RTP) is the share of all stakes a game is built to pay back over a very large number of rounds.
| Studio | Published RTP | Top multiplier | Rows | Risk levels | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spribe | 97% | Not stated | Adjustable, range not stated | Not stated (three coloured buttons) | Not stated |
| BGaming | 99% | x1000 | 8–16 | Low, normal, high | 28 January 2019 |
| Hacksaw Gaming | Seven versions: 98.98%, 98.28%, 97.27%, 96.02%, 94.30%, 92.03%, 88.20% | 3,843.3x | 8–16 | Low, medium, high | Not stated |
| SmartSoft (Plinko X, Plinko X Classic) | Not stated on the game pages | Not stated | Not stated | Risk level choice | Not stated |
Hacksaw Gaming’s page lists the seven RTP versions but does not say which one a given casino runs. Open the game’s info or rules screen at the casino to see the figure that applies.
The spread matters in money. On A$100 of total stakes, the 98.98% version is built to keep about A$1.02 and the 88.20% version about A$11.80. These are long-run averages; a single session can end well above or below them.
“Provably fair”: what the studios say it means
“Provably fair” is the studios’ term for a round whose result can be checked afterwards against cryptographic seeds. BGaming says its Plinko “runs on provably fair technology, allowing players to verify every round’s outcome through unique server and client seeds.”
Spribe describes the same idea for its games: a server seed from the operator and client seeds from players are combined and hashed with SHA512, and “Fairness of each game round can be checked and verified.” Both are the studios’ own descriptions; we have not tested the verification ourselves.
A verified round shows that the result matches the seeds. It does not change the return the game is built to pay, and it does not tell you which RTP version the casino has installed. A 97% game checked round by round is still a 97% game.
Plinko apps that “pay real money”
Ads promising cash from a Plinko app on your phone have been rated a scam. On 20 May 2024 Snopes (published via Yahoo) checked ads for a MrBeast “Plinko” casino app and found: “However, no such casino game app exists on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.” The ads used a cloned news host and sent viewers to a download link.
The pattern to recognise is a celebrity, a news-style video and a link to install an app from outside the official stores. Plinko games from the studios above are played inside online casinos, not as cash apps.
Free Plinko is a separate product. Our free pokies guide explains how free and demo versions of casino games work and what they do not show. Searches for “plinko unblocked” (about 1,400 a month in Australia, Ahrefs estimate, September 2026) look for free browser copies, which we do not link to. For a game with a rising multiplier instead of pegs, see our guide to Aviator and crash games.
Is it legal to play Plinko in Australia?
Plinko for real money is an online casino game, and ACMA says “The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia”, with online casinos among the banned services. Its list of illegal online services includes “casino-style games”.
ACMA states the risk to the player directly: “If you use an illegal service, Australian regulators will not be able to help you if … the service provider withholds your winnings.” It also asks internet providers to block such sites, and warns that you “may not be able to log in and access your existing account.”
Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 on 19 August 2026; ACMA says most of the reforms commence on 1 January 2027. Our page on Australian online gambling law covers the detail.
Safer play. Gambling Help Online is free and confidential, 24 hours a day, on 1800 858 858 and at gamblinghelponline.org.au. You can self-exclude from all licensed Australian wagering at betstop.gov.au. Set a limit before you play. You must be 18 or over. More contacts are on our support resources page.
Plinko FAQ
Does Plinko really pay money?
Plinko for money is a casino game, and the studios that make it publish its return: 97% at Spribe, 99% at BGaming and 88.20% to 98.98% at Hacksaw Gaming, depending on the version. Phone apps advertised as paying cash for Plinko are different: on 20 May 2024 Snopes rated ads for a MrBeast “Plinko” app a scam and found no such app on the App Store or Google Play.
Can I play Plinko for real money in Australia?
Real-money Plinko is offered by online casinos, and ACMA says the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal to offer online casinos to people in Australia. ACMA also says Australian regulators cannot help if such a site withholds your winnings, and that blocked sites may lock you out of your account.
What is Plinko’s RTP?
It depends on the studio. Spribe publishes 97% and BGaming 99%. Hacksaw Gaming publishes seven versions from 88.20% to 98.98% and does not say which one a casino runs, so check the game’s info screen at the casino.
Is Plinko luck or skill?
Luck. Your only choices are the stake, the number of rows and the risk level; Hacksaw Gaming says the risk level “affects the volatility of the game”. Where the ball lands is decided by the game’s random result, which BGaming says can be verified from server and client seeds.
Sources and method
- Spribe, Plinko (origin, how it plays, RTP 97%) and Provably Fair, checked 11 October 2026
- BGaming, Plinko (RTP 99%, release 28 January 2019, x1000, rows, risk levels, provably fair), checked 11 October 2026
- Hacksaw Gaming, Plinko (rows, risk levels, seven RTP versions, max win 3,843.3x), checked 11 October 2026
- SmartSoft, Plinko X and Plinko X Classic, checked 11 October 2026
- Wikipedia, List of The Price Is Right pricing games (Plinko premiere, 3 January 1983), checked 11 October 2026
- Snopes via Yahoo, fact check on MrBeast “Plinko” app ads, 20 May 2024, checked 11 October 2026
- Australian Communications and Media Authority, checked 11 October 2026: About the Interactive Gambling Act (updated 21 August 2026); Protect yourself from illegal gambling operators (updated 6 March 2025); Blocked gambling websites (updated 20 July 2026)
- Search volume for “plinko unblocked”: Ahrefs, Australian keyword data of 19 September 2026 (estimate)
- Money examples are arithmetic from the published RTP on A$100 of total stakes
Written by: Helene Berner · First published: 11 October 2026 · Last updated: 11 October 2026