Expanded reels have been showcased in Hacksaw Gaming’s new game mechanic, Stackways, which debuted in the studio’s latest jungle-dwelling slot title, Mayan Stackways, to claim our Slot of the Week title.
With a 5×4 reel set, Mayan Stackways utilises the mechanic to offer up to 100,000 ways to win. While having medium-high volatility, the slot offers an RTP of 96.23 per cent with a maximum win of up to x10,000 the player’s bet.
To introduce Stackways, special red stack symbols can appear anywhere on the reels, displaying a number between two and 10.
These symbols will then expand to fill their respective reels with identical symbols that correspond to adjacent reels to create winning formations, adding between two and 10 symbols to its reel, depending on the number it displays.
The stacked symbol is chosen depending on the symbols around the reel on which the Stackways is featured, with it choosing the symbol which would create the most ways to win.
Furthermore, gold skull scatters can drop into play, triggering 10 free spins if three land at once or the Mayan gold feature if four land on the same spin.
During these free spins, there is a higher chance of landing Stackways symbols.
Reel activator scatters can appear in the free spins, causing the reel it lands in to guarantee that a Stackways symbol will land in it on every remaining turn.
Landing three scatters on the same free spin will award an additional four spins.
In the Mayan gold bonus game mode, players are taken to an empty reel set where bronze, silver and gold coins can appear on the reels, each displaying monetary values.
Bronze coins can appear with values between x1 and x5 the player’s bet, while silver coins can appear with x10, x15 or x20 and gold coins drop in displaying values between x25 and x1,000.
When coins land on the board, they will attribute their values to a meter above their columns. Multipliers can also drop into play during this game mode, multiplying the column value by either x2, x3, x4 or x5.
Stackways symbols also drop into play, and are key for the game mode. When these symbols drop into play, they reveal a value between two and 10 and then expand across the reel to fill the reel with between two and 10 coins displaying the column’s total value.
When this occurs, these enhanced reels will lock into place and can no longer spin to reveal new coins.
The game mode ends when Stackways symbols have been activated in every reel. Once this occurs, the player will receive the accumulated value of all coins across the locked Stackways reels.
If five scatters land on the same spin during the base game, then the Mayan gold feature will be triggered with a value of 50 guaranteed in every column at the beginning of the game mode, massively increasing the feature’s win potential.
Readers wishing to test Mayan Stackways for themselves can click here to be directed to Hacksaw Gaming’s official website.