A CRT TV. A slot machine. Eight spins, or maybe more. A stray cat who helps, or doesn't and a last round that looks nothing like the first.

This machine has never paid out a penny and it never will. It deals in points. PixiReels is an indie cosy pixel-art roguelike about abusing coin stats until a score of four hundred becomes a score of four million. You can also replace the default symbols for new ones you earn through your runs (more points!). But don't forget the cat — you know how cats are.

Unlock coins with rolled stats, earn the cat's trust, make the place cosier, watch the weather turn. And when you're done for the night, leave it running on a second screen and let the cat get on with his evening.

THE SLOTS

• Five reels, eight spins (or more), one target a round. Miss it and the run is over, which is the machine's favourite outcome.

• And there are not only fruits, you can upgrade your reels with better foods to earn more base points.

• Hold the reels you like and respin the rest. Now a near miss is your fault, which is somehow worse.

• The Score is base × multiplier. Both go up. One of them goes up stupidly.

• Thirty rounds, each asking for a bigger number than the last. The score you finish on is the only prize here, and the only one worth having.

• Clear all thirty and it stops setting targets, and simply lets you find out where your ceiling is.

• The longer you play the better it gets. Some of it is easy to miss. Keep an eye open.

• Many strategies can be used to achieve the end.

STRANGE LOOKING COINS, AND WHAT THEY DO TO IT

• You do not put coins into this machine. It has never taken one in its life. You collect them, and they rewrite what it does.

• 90+ coins to discover and unlock with your runs. 

• Coins that score best when nothing matches. Coins that multiply the multiplier. Coins that give you more spins. Coins that quietly change what counts as a win. And, obviously, coins for the cat.

• Stats are rolled within a range, so the same coin is never quite the same coin. Some of them care what the weather is doing. Some of them care what the cat is doing.

• Every run deals you different ones, so every run is a slightly different machine with slightly different problems.

• The best combinations look like mistakes right up until they don't.

THE CAT

• He has affection, and how you treat him decides whether he helps or gets in the way.

• He naps on the spin button. He steals score. Occasionally he shreds a coin and holds eye contact.

• He brings you things. Sourcing unclear.

• He enjoys the things you buy him, once you've unlocked them for him.

• Earn his trust and he starts working in your favour. On a timescale of his choosing.

THE ROOF

• The machine isn't the whole game, well sort of but hear me out.

• Earn the roof, then the house, then fill both: wall lamps, a window, wallpaper, a garden, a terrace.

• The cat will find them fun to use (even if you don't notice it due to lack of budget)

THE CITY

• Since you are on a rooftop, you have the background skylines for yourself.

• Rain, snow, storms, fog and wind roll through, and the lighting answers.

• Other things you can discover.

• Nothing is on a timer and nothing is waiting for you. Stay as long as you like.

Enjoy the game as you like!