Vending Machine (Hacksaw Gaming) Slot Demo & Review

How about this for a slot machine idea… a cash vending machine?! Sounds ridiculous, right? You put money in, and it gives you more money back out… or nothing at all. Actually, that sounds just like every other slot machine I’ve ever played, but I still like the idea in principle! The diagram shown on the paytable makes the Hacksaw Gaming slot Vending Machine look like a ‘connected payways’ machine at first, but it isn’t quite that, as there are several paths from left to right, which won’t result in a win. Instead, the game uses an unusual setup of a 5×5 playfield with 35 fixed paylines, offers a top win of 5,000x the total bet, and has a 96.28% RTP. As always, Hacksaw calculates their RTP figures using 10 billion round simulations, so you can always be sure they are correct.

The background details given in the information pages are a little curious for a game based around a vending machine – “Vibe check! Feeling good? Then kick back and relax for a while”, it says… not that I’ve ever known anybody to chill out by the vending machines down at the local swimming baths, but hey… whatever you’re into I suppose Hacksaw! The game features rows of multiplier lights which boost the value of the numbers shown on the paytable – combined with the lightning bolt multiplier boost symbol; my guess is that it is almost impossible to ever receive a win that isn’t multiplied in some way. Beware the blackout skull, however, as when this lands, it will deactivate the multiplier for that row completely. Feeling flush? Filling the vending machine with a whole bunch of coins can buy you direct access to the games Lo-Fi Spins and Spin and Chill features.

So, what’s your verdict on the cash vending machine? Is it any more ridiculous than the gold bar vending machine… or the one that sells you Bitcoin? I guess you’ll have to try our free Vending Machine demo slot and make your own mind up!

Vending Machine Slot
ProviderHacksaw Gaming
Reels5
Rows5
Paylines35
Bonus Rounds1
Bet Range0.10 - 100
VolatilityHigh
Max Win5,000x
Bonus BuyYes
RTP96.28%
Our Rating7.5

Casino Bonuses


Vending Machine Demo Slot


Vending Machine Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

Vending Machine Slot Paytable
Vending Machine slot paytable

The last few Hacksaw games we’ve been looking at here at Demoslot were all part of their ‘dare2win’ series of table or casino games – not standard slots, essentially – so it’s nice to see the developer returning to their roots with this release. Not that there’s anything wrong with Plinko, Mines, or Hi-Lo, but some of my favourite slots have been made by Hacksaw and Vending Machine could well be another one to add to the list! Let’s not be premature though – I haven’t had enough time to test the game thoroughly enough just yet, but it looks great – I especially love the black-outline cartoon symbol graphics – and it pays well too. It’s just a shame that the top jackpot is capped at 5,000x, which seems to be becoming close to an industry average at this point. Come on guys, give us 10K at least, please!

As for the paytable, the numbers don’t look hugely impressive at first – don’t be fooled, though, as this game is all about the multipliers! The highest-paying symbols are the Milkshakes, offering a maximum payout of 20x the current stake for a full payline of five of a kind, followed by 10x for the Milk Cartons, 6x for the Soda Cans, and 6x again for the Ice Creams. As for the low pays, these pay 2x the total bet and are all represented by Sweets… or a Half-Eaten Sandwich? Who on earth wants somebody else’s half-eaten sandwich? I think the refilling technician is trolling us guys!

The minimum/maximum permitted bets have been set at €0.10 and €100.00 per spin, respectively, with a fair amount of other bets between those limits – as long as you’re betting low, that is. High rollers will have to put up with jumps of up to €25.00(!) between the amounts they can bet.


Base Game & Modifiers

Vending Machine Slot Base Game
Vending Machine slot base game

Whilst most video slots use a fairly typical five-reel, three-row layout, Hacksaw often likes to mix things up with weird and wonderful reel layouts backed up with equally strange numbers of pay lines. Vending Machine utilises a 5×5 layout – a common size for a grid slot but much less frequently used in traditional payline-based games.


Multiplier Lights

Each row has an inactive multiplier displayed on the left-hand side of the screen before you begin to play. When you hit spin, these multipliers will light up with random values ranging between 2x and 10x. When winning combinations form on the reels, the multipliers on every row that includes symbols in the winning combination will increase by the number of winning symbols on that row. Every winning symbol will increase the multiplier by 1x.

If a multiplier boost scatter symbol lands anywhere on the playfield, it will double the value of the multiplier, which applies to symbols on that row. There’s also an ‘epic’ version of the multiplier boost scatter which doubles the value of all multipliers on every row.

Now for the disappointing part – you’ll need to land a lightning bolt activator symbol for the winning combinations to have the multipliers applied to them. These symbols show up relatively frequently, but it can still be extremely frustrating to see big multipliers appearing at the start of a spin, only for them to be rendered useless by the lack of activator symbols.

The blackout skull symbol is even worse, as this can deactivate a row even when a lightning bolt symbol is present on the screen! I never actually saw this happen whilst I was testing the game – the blackout skull showed up a few times but never on the same row as a lightning bolt. Hopefully, that’s a common scenario, and I wasn’t just incredibly lucky!


Vending Machine Slot Bonus Features

Vending Machine Slot Free Spins Feature
Vending Machine slot free spins feature

Hacksaw likes to include a couple of different bonus rounds in their games, and Vending Machine is no exception. Hitting three scatter symbols will award you the less generous Lo-Fi free spins feature, whilst four scatters trigger the enhanced Spin & Chill Free Spins.


Lo-fi Free Spins

This is an interesting free spins feature because you don’t begin with a limited number of spins on your remaining counter. Instead, three rows will be activated right from the start, and the free spins will only end after all row multipliers have been deactivated by the blackout skulls.

Essentially then, the Lo-Fi spins are a war between the lightning bolts and the blackout skulls – you’ll need to stay ahead of the game to keep your bonus going and the wins rolling in, but if you are successful in doing this, the feature can go on for a very long time.


Spin & Chill Free Spins

Need a little extra advantage in the war between the bolts and skulls? Aha, then what you need is the Spin & Chill Feature! In this mode, all five rows are activated right from the start, which makes it quite a challenge for the skulls to make sufficient appearances to wipe out all of the multipliers before more lightning bolts can reactivate them. Of course, all good things do come to an end eventually, but if you’re using the bonus buy facility, then I’d definitely say that this option is worth the extra cost.


Bonus Buy

Speaking of the bonus buy facility, you can pay 3x the normal price per spin for a 400% increase in the odds of triggering a free spin bonus round, or go all the way by paying 100x/200x for direct access to the Lo-Fi or Spin & Chill features respectively.


Pros

  • Great-looking slot with an immaculate presentation.
  • The four-scatter bonus offers a very noticeable advantage over the standard bonus round.
  • Huge wins are possible even during the base game.

Cons

  • The regular payouts listed on the paytable are nothing special.
  • A 5,000x jackpot cap is only average – this game deserves a bigger jackpot!

Vending Machine Slot Review Final Thoughts

I’m not sure about that half-eaten sandwich, and the 5,000x jackpot could have done with a little boost – I’m grasping at straws really though, as this is a fantastic fun little game that is sure to please both Hacksaw fans and high variance slot fanatics alike.

7.5

Good


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