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23 July 2024 
Keep ’em Cool Slot Review 2024
Hacksaw Gaming are flying us to a beautiful tropical island loaded with yummy fruit, glorious views and beach piggies, in Keep ’em Cool!
Hacksaw Gaming are once again hanging up their darker side for something a little more friendly, in Keep ’em Cool. Get ready to put your feet up and unwind under the suns rays, where a cocktail of exotic fruits are being served chilled.
Will we be able to keep our cool in the heat of the moment? Let’s play on and find out!
Keep ’em Cool Base Game and Features
Keep ’em Cool is a 5×5 Video Slot with a Cluster Pays mechanic. Winning combinations are formed when 5 or more of the same symbols land either Horizontally or Vertically across the grid.
The minimum bet available here is £/€0.10 per spin and the maximum bet available is £/€100 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. Keep ’em Cool has a theoretical RTP of 96.19% and a max win cap of 5,000x.
In terms of symbols, the highest paying regular symbol here is the Strawberries, followed by Dragonfruit and Plums. Low-paying symbols fall to Cherries, Oranges, Bananas and Apples. There are no Wilds available here.
Each time a winning combination forms, all winning symbols will be removed from the grid and new symbols will drop down from above via a Cascade, filling all empty grid positions.
Frozen Symbols
Each of the symbols from the paytable will land in 1 of 3 states: Fully Frozen, Partially-Frozen or Unfrozen. Each time a winning combination forms, all Unfozen symbols that are part of the win will be removed from the grid.
Once all winning combinations have been awarded, all Unfrozen symbols will be removed from play, regardless of whether they formed a win or not.
All symbols that are Fully or Partially-Frozen will remain on the grid during this time, even if they were part of a winning cluster.
All symbols that remain will change state. Fully Frozen symbols will now change to Partially-Frozen, and all Partially-Frozen symbols will transform into Unfrozen symbols.
Once this happens, a Cascade will occur and new symbols will drop into all empty positions. This will continue until no new winning combinations are formed.
Cocktail Glass
If a winning cluster is formed whilst there is a Cocktail Glass present on the grid, all symbols of the winning cluster are Re-Frozen to a fully frozen state. Please note, more than 1 symbol can be re-frozen at the same time.
The number visible on the Cocktail Glass reveals how many Re-Freezes can trigger, starting at a maximum of 5. When the number counts down to 0, the Cocktail Glass will be removed.
Blender
During any random spin, a special Blender symbol can land in view. Once active, it will randomly choose one symbol type to Absorb.
All present symbols chosen by the Blender symbol will be automatically absorbed, triggering a Cascade that will drop new symbols into the empty positions. This will continue until there are no symbols of the chosen type left in view.
At the end of the spin, the Blender will award a Cash Prize that is equal to the cluster of the absorbed number of symbols. The Blender will always start with a count of 2 and adds +1 to its counter for each absorbed symbol.
Keep ’em Cool: Sunset Picnic Bonus
Landing 3 Picnic Basket Scatters across the grid during any base game spin automatically triggers the Sunset Picnic Free Spins round, awarding between 9 and 15 Free Spins.
During the Sunset Picnic Bonus, there is an increased chance of landing both the Cocktail Glass and Blender symbols. Landing a picnic basket Scatter during this time will award an additional +2 to +5 Free Spins per Scatter.
Keep ’em Cool Bonus Buy
Those outside the UK will benefit from a Bonus Buy option.
Hacksaw Gaming has granted players access to 2 Bonus Buy options, as follows.
- Bonushunt Featurespins – Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger the Sunset Picnic Bonus for a total cost of 3x your current bet. (RTP 96.25%)
- Sunset Picnic Bonus – Awards the Free Spins round for a total cost of 100x your current bet. (RTP 96.22%)
Keep ’em Cool: Our Verdict
Keep ’em Cool has a pleasent theme, great graphics and an exotic soundtrack, but what did we think about gameplay?
If you’re familiar with ELK Studios’ Pacific Gold, the Blender symbol shares similiarites to that of a ghost box, although not identical. Like the ghost box, the Blender symbol is a little hard to track down, failing to be appear that often, if at all. The Frozen symbols and Cocktail Glasses were interesting, yet we found ourselves somewhat indifferent to Keep ‘Em Cool and all of it’s features. Sure there were moments where it showed its stuff, and overall we can certainly see the appeal, but it just doesn’t grab you in a way that some of Hacksaw’s previous games did.
Sometimes with Hacksaw Gaming you’re getting somewhat of a statement piece with a slot that screams ‘all eyes on me’ but Keep ’em Cool feels rather average in comparison.
Perhaps the little pig in Keep ’em Cool is content with living out his days on a warm beach, and who could blame him? He’s as carefree as Keep ’em Cool is, but the nonchalant attitude won’t give Keep ’em Cool the fire it needs to make it into the hall of fame.
Welcome Bonus
