Play Joker Bombs | RTP: 96.48% & Max Win: 5,000x

Slot Description

Joker Bombs is a candy-themed game with 6 reels and 5 rows. Interestingly, Pragmatic Play’s Sweet Bonanza also has a similar layout. Even the payout structure looks similar. The slot lets go of traditional paylines or ways-to-win systems. Instead, it deploys anywhere pay or Scatter pays mechanics. As per this payout mechanic, hitting 8 or more matching symbols anywhere on the reels qualifies players for wins. But before discussing payouts, let’s look at the wagering requirements. Players can start the action from a minimum bet of 0.20 coins, while the maximum bet amount is pinned at 100 coins per spin.

At its best, the slot has the potential to squeeze out 5,000x the stake, which is by no means the highest sum we have seen in a Hacksaw game. But provided it’s a medium volatility slot, rated 3 out of 5 by the game provider, one can go easy on the max win prize. Thankfully, the Return to Player percentage is in much better shape as Joker Bombs RTP is a solid 96.48%. This suggests players can eventually expect 96.48 coins returned to them for 100 coins wagered in the long run. Although the short-term figure might be way off the mark since these RTPs are calculated over millions of spins.

Even though Joker Bombs runs on medium variance, frequent winnings were not exactly on the table. As we found out, the game’s hit frequency falls around 23%, which is not impressive, especially compared to another mid-variance Hacksaw slot, Double Rainbow (Hit Freq. 39%). But other than that, the slot has a few extras to pull up a moment of surprise. Let’s find out what those extras are and how much of an impact the slot makes from all these aspects.

Theme, Design, and Sound

Okay, so get ready to enter a color-fused amusement park of Joker Bombs. Hacksaw has incorporated elements like the Ferris Wheel, a roller coaster, a tent, a few balloons, etc., to give the impression that we are actually in a theme park. While the intended attempt is to render a sweet, innocent charm with the candy-themed slot, unfortunately, the game suffers from being derivative. Seeing Hacksaw generalize the design like this is a bit disappointing.

Much of the background is static except for the floating balloons and rippling water. The background score also sounds generic and offers nothing new or remarkably good for ears. If design contributes to tempting players to a game, then we don’t see Joker Bombs doing any great job to lure them.

Symbols and Payouts

Joker Bombs has 9 paying symbols divided into low and high-paying categories. Among the low-paying ones are balloons of varying shapes, offering 0.10 to 15x the stake for landing a collection of 8 to +15 matching symbols. At the higher end are four premium symbols made up of colorful candies that offer 1x to 200x the stake for landing 8 to +15 identical symbols anywhere on the grid.

Even though there are no wild symbols in the game, we get Free Spins scatters to trigger the bonus feature. Also, there are three multiplier bombs with the potential to multiply your wins to make it a big one.

Features and Bonuses

A lot goes into Joker Bombs that rely on multiplier bombs. There’s also a free spins feature that you can take advantage of.

Cascading Reels

Whenever a win emerges, winning symbols are removed from the reels. Meanwhile, the remaining symbols drop down to fill the gaps, and new symbols fall from above to fill the remaining positions. If another win emerges from this rearrangement, the entire process repeats itself. As a result, cascading reels can help you land multiple wins from a single spin.

Multiplier Bombs

After hitting any win, the winning amount is displayed as a pending win amount at the top of the grid. The win amount gets updated as you land more wins from the cascade. If multiplier bombs occur during this procedure, they accumulate at the top, too. Once the spin concludes, the total win amount gets multiplied by the total multiplier value.

Joker Bombs has 3 types of multiplier bombs:

Normal Bomb: It has a visible multiplier value. Upon hitting the reels, Normal Bomb explodes and adds its value to the pending win multiplier. Possible multiplier values could be x2, x3, and x4.
Revealing Bomb: Lands with a question mark, explodes, and adds its value to the pending win multiplier. Possible multiplier values could be x5, x10, x25, and x50.
Epic Bomb: Represented by an X character, it explodes upon landing, reveals its value, and gets multiplied by the pending win multiplier value. Multiplier values could be x2, x3, x4, x5, and x10.

Note that Normal and Revealing Bombs only add their value to the pending win meter when a win has occurred on the current spin and there’s a pending win amount showcased above the reels.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 scatters, represented by the Joker symbol, anywhere on the reels on the same spin awards 10 free spins. There’s a better chance of landing more and higher value multiplier bombs during free spins. Also, landing 3 scatters during the bonus round awards 5 additional free spins.

Buy Bonus

Buy Bonus provides a straightforward way to trigger the Free Spins bonus segment without playing the base game. Simply pay 100x the stake to activate 10 free spins from the buy bonus menu. Remember that the bonus purchase option is not available in some regions.

About the Game Provider

Hacksaw Gaming has earned a name for creating visually stunning online slots with creative game design, innovative mechanics, and an impressive payout range. The expanding portfolio of Hacksaw shows how prolific the game provider is, especially considering the company was released only in 2017. Even in its first decade of operation, Hacksaw has achieved several igaming feats and has become a trusted industry brand.

The company recently entered the US igaming market and has as much positive impact there as it did in the European market in the initial stage. Now that we are talking about geographical regions, it is noteworthy that Hacksaw Gaming slots are available in over 20 regulated markets worldwide. And with +300 global partners, the company looks rock solid for years to come. Other than slots, Hacksaw also makes scratchcards and instant win games.

Final Verdict

Joker Bombs does everything decently without any exceptionality about it. The use of multiplier bombs catches the attention, but other than that, the gameplay has no shine to it. This has much to do with Hacksaw’s lack of experimentation in Joker Bombs. Instead, it looks like the game provider is playing safe in the genre already known by a handful of top guns like Sweet Bonanza, Candy Blitz, or even Gates of Olympus. But be that as it may, Joker Bombs seems to be a better rendition when compared to Hacksaw’s following year's release, Double Rainbow.

Now, coming to payouts, it doesn’t take long for players to throw away the game’s innocent appeal to reveal a slightly tough-going mechanic. Wins do come eventually, but their size is often disappointing. However, multiplier bombs are great rescues and help pull up small wins above the average mark. But relying too much also doesn’t help, as their actual use depends on landing a winning combination.

The show's star is Epic Bombs, and when matched with either Normal or Revealing Bombs can take your winning potential to lucrative heights. Also, getting free spins via buy bonus only comes in handy if your winning expectations are average. Our best run after playing 6-7 buy bonus sessions was winning 184.4x the stake, which gives an idea about how much to expect from this feature. However, when it didn’t go our way, the buy bonus fetched us no more than 4x the stake. So, one must be highly cautious while opting for this option.

Overall, Joker Bombs is not a bad slot. It has its strengths, and they do unfold agreeably. However, expectations from a Hacksaw slot always remain high, and this one might disappoint many who have grown used to the kind of games Hacksaw has been releasing over the years. Even a simple game like Stack ‘Em has a crispness about it. And yet, those drawn by a bunch of multipliers might develop affection for the simple yet colorful charm of Joker Bombs.