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21 November 2024 
Shaolin Master Demo
Shaolin Master Slot Review
Strike hard, fast, and show no mercy! Step into the Dojo and meet your master in Hacksaw Gaming’s latest release, Shaolin Master!
Put your mind and body through vigorous training and cross the path of illumination in Shaolin Master. Focus your breath as you spin the reels through cascade sequences and mind-bending mechanics, where up to 10,000x in max wins are within your grasp.
Shaolin Master is the first of its kind from Hacksaw Gaming, but the Shaolin theme has appeared in many slot titles throughout the years. One in particular that has made quite an impression is Shaolin Panda from Octoplay, which introduced the groundbreaking Chaos Reels mechanic.
In almost every new Hacksaw release, we’ve been spoiled with new and innovative mechanics or features. With this in mind, we’re eager to set foot in Shaolin territory once again and find out what Hacksaw Gaming has cooked up this time.
Shaolin Master – Base Game
Base Game & Features
Shaolin Master is a 5×6 Video Slot featuring a Cluster Pays mechanic and varying bet sizes between £.€0.10 per spin and £.€100 per spin. Other statistics of interest include an overall RTP of 96.31%, a Medium Volatility rating, and a generous max win cap of 10,000x your bet.
Wins consist of 5-15+ matching symbols that come together across the grid, awarding varying payouts between 0.1x and 60x your bet. When a winning cluster is visible, it is removed and replaced with new symbols via a Cascade Feature, potentially enhancing or creating additional winning clusters in a single spin.
Chi Orbs
Chi Orbs are special symbols that act as Wild Multipliers. When in view and part of a winning cluster, its multiplier value is applied to the win. There are 3 types of Chi Orbs available – these are as follows:
- Blue Chi Orb: Appears with a Multiplier of x1 which can increase by +x1 every time it is part of a winning cluster.
- Red Chi Orb: Holds a Multiplier value of x1 which increases by +x1 for each symbol that is part of the winning cluster.
- Balance Chi Orb: This orb is only available during the Cascade Feature. When in view, it will appear with a Multiplier that is the product of any Red and Blue Chi Orbs on the grid. If part of a win, it will apply its Multiplier to wins and disappear from the grid.
If multiple Chi Orb symbols are part of the same win, their current values are added together and applied to the win. Blue and Red Chi Orbs do not remove with winning symbols during Cascades but are persistent until the end of the spin.
Bonus Buy
- Bonushunt Featurespins: Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a Free Spins mode (3x your bet)
- The Student: Awards 10-12 Free Spins (100x your bet)
- The Master: Awards 3 refilling Lives (200x your bet)
The Student
Landing 3 or 4 FS Scatters in the base game triggers The Student Bonus, awarding 10 and 12 Free Spins respectively.
In this round, all paying symbols can reappear from the base game, along with a special Green Chi Orb and an individual Multiplier Modifier symbol.
Each spin is fitted with Multipliers below each reel. Multiplier values increase when winning clusters are formed, increasing by +x1 for each winning symbol on the corresponding reels. In addition, Multiplier values can also be enhanced by special Multiplier Modifier symbols, between x2 and x10.
When the Green Chi Orb hits, the Multiplier for that reel will activate, causing its value to become Global. All activated Multiplier values are added together to multiply the value of each winning cluster. When a Multiplier is activated, an additional +3 Free Spins are awarded.
Shaolin Master – The Student Bonus
The Master
Landing 5 FS Scatters in the base game triggers The Master Bonus, awarding 3 refilling Lives. In this round, all paytable symbols are replaced by special Stone symbols.
Similar to The Student, this round features Multipliers above each reel. Each multiplier value increases when a special Multiplier Modifier Block lands in view, which can be either Adding or Multiplying.
There are 2 variants of modifier blocks (Normal & Epic), which affect either the multiplier in the reel they land or all multipliers.
- Adding Blue Gem: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x
- Epic Adding Blue Gem: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x
- Multiplying Green Gem: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x
- Epic Multiplying Green Gem: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x
When an Ice Block appears in view, it will be crushed and cause a Multiplier Block to drop from above the reels. The value in each multiplier block will equal the value of the reel multiplier where it drops from. Multiplier blocks drop to the bottom of the grid at the end of each drop, after which they stick and stack on top of each other.
In addition, a special Crusher Block can fall through all other blocks until it reaches the bottom of the grid, destroying all Multiplier Blocks in its path. When it reaches the bottom, it transforms into a new Multiplier Block with a value equal to the total of all destroyed Multiplier Blocks.
Each time a Multiplier, Modifier, or Crusher Block appears in view, it will reset the remaining spins to 3. At the end of the round, the payout will equal the sum total of all Multiplier Blocks times your bet level.
Shaolin Master – The Master Bonus
Our Verdict
Shaolin Master is in essence a copy of Hand of Anubis. If you enjoyed that, then you’ll like what is on offer here…or will you? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – Hacksaw Gaming excels brilliantly with darker thematic tones. Shaolin Master is a lot lighter, and a lot more PG. For us, it’s a downgrade artistically, but perhaps we’re just overtly attracted to the sombre darkness that Hacksaw portray so well.
It’s statistically identical with its win cap, but slightly different and more favourable here as far as RTP is concerned. We’re not sure the slightly improved top level RTP will suffice in making it a more desirable game, it doesn’t for us.
Mr Miyagi would find Shaolin Master superior in every way, but the jury is out on whether you will. Make no mistakes, Shaolin Master is extremely capable and tremendously exciting, but it’s a little lazy from Hacksaw Gaming to reskin another game.
Many are guilty of a reskin or two, so we can forgive Hacksaws lack of imagination for this one and hope that it’s a token offering while they work on something bigger.
Welcome Bonus
