Bouncy Bombs: Slot Overview

Not long ago, it felt like every other slot that came along was powered by Big Time Gaming's immensely popular Megaways game engine. Some studios made great use of it; others seemed to try to use it in an attempt to be cool by association. At the time of writing, scatter-paying slots were all the rage, as developers eyed the mechanic's success with envy as they tried different ways of incorporating the system into their own games. Software provider Hacksaw Gaming has had a go in its online slot Bouncy Bombs. It won't be any surprise to see the scatter effect has been joined by multiplier symbols and cascades, but the studio has also included a lengthy list of bonus buys, and the multiplier symbol alterations is something for scatter specialists to check out.

Remember when Hacksaw Gaming first appeared in the slot game, dropping cute release after cute release, often as part of its Pocketz range? Stick 'Em, Om Nom, Cubes, and the like? Bouncy Bombs is like a trip back to that era where a bunch of Toonz-like characters inhabit a gaming grid located in a dreamy blue and pink-hued world. A big blue jelly mushroom, with a smaller blue jelly mushroom sitting on its head, accompanies players as they try their luck, and the whole production oozes adorability.

Hacksaw Gaming isn't in the business of designing adorable mathematics, however, and Bouncy Bombs is a medium-volatile slot capable of bouncing in any direction. It has an RTP of 96.22% as its default mode, though three lower models have been made, as well. Squishy wee symbols land on a 6-reel, 5-row gaming panel that does not have ways or paylines. Instead, winning combinations are created by landing at least 8 identical pay symbols on any of the board's positions. Winning symbols are removed and replaced by the cascading wins feature. Getting started means picking a bet from 10 c up to $/€100 per spin.

Red, orange, green, blue, and purple sweets are Bouncy Bombs' low-pay symbols; its highs are the eyeballed strawberries, oranges, apples, and berries. An 8 OAK scatter win pays out 0.2 to 2 times the bet, while a 19+ scatter win is worth 50 to 400 times the bet. Solid values considering the multipliers on offer, though no wilds appear in Bouncy Bombs to help create wins.

Bouncy Bombs: Slot Features

Bouncy Bombs' features are a blend of cascade, multiplier symbol, and free spins, though Hacksaw has played around with the multiplier symbol part. There are also five bonuses on offer at the feature buy menu.

Bomb Multipliers

At the end of a spin, if there has been at least one win, any bomb multipliers in view explode. They add their multipliers together, then use that total to multiply the spin's total win. There are three types of multiplier bombs:

• Normal Bomb – lands with a visible multiplier value of x2, x3, or x4.
• Revealing Bomb – the bomb's value of x5, x10, x25, x50, or x100 is revealed when it explodes.
• Cascading Dynamite Bomb – lands with its initial value of x5, x10, x15, x20, or x25 revealed. The bomb's value doubles on every new cascade.

Bombastic Bonus Feature

Landing 3 FS scatters in the base game activates 10 Bombastic Bonus free spins. During this bonus, there is an increased chance of triggering the mechanics from the base game. Hitting 2 FS symbols awards +2 extra spins, while 3 FS symbols awards +4 extra spins.

Bombastic Fantastic Bonus Feature

Landing 4 FS scatters in the base game activates this bonus feature with 10 free spins. In this one, a Bomb Multiplier is guaranteed to land on every spin. Retriggering the feature is possible the same way as the previous one.

Bonus Buy

Bouncy Bombs provides access to a number of feature buy options. All are low volatile:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins – each spin costs 3x the bet and is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game. RTP 96.38%.
• Normal FeatureSpins – each spin costs 25x the bet to guarantee at least one bomb and one win. RTP 96.27%.
• Revealing FeatureSpins – 75x the bet for a spin, guaranteeing at least one revealing bomb and one win. 96.27%.
• Bombastic Bonus – 100x the bet. RTP 96.29%.
• Bombastic Fantastic Bonus – 200x the bet. RTP 96.27%.

Bouncy Bombs: Slot Verdict

It's going to be impossible to talk about Bouncy Bombs without comparing it to a certain Pragmatic Play scatter-paying megahit. Since Gates of Olympus exploded onto the scene it's become something of a benchmark to judge a lot of the scatter-paying games which have followed. One reason why is that the features in Bouncy Bombs closely resemble those found in Gates – i.e., cascades, scatter wins, multiplier symbols, and free spins. Like lathering Nutella on a waffle, it's a very successful combination and one that's been replicated on numerous occasions. However, Hacksaw Gaming, being the creative bunch they are, has played around with the features to give gamblers something, if not white-hot new, at least something different to experiment with.

Of the two slots, Bouncy Bombs came across as the more challenging game, while Gates of Olympus felt more balanced, despite being highly volatile compared to Bouncy Bombs' medium rating - or low when buying features. Dead Spins/small win spins rained down in Bouncy Bombs while the balance dissolved like a candy left on the tongue, making the base game drag at points. FeatureSpins helped speed the journey to free spins, as they are designed to do, though. Bonus rounds differ, too, in that there is no persistent total win multiplier. Multiplier symbols might be more frequent than in the base game, but you can't build a total win multiplier as the feature progresses. You hit them big on a single spin, or you don't.

Hit real big, and Bouncy Bombs can award wins all the way up to 10,000 times the bet in all game modes. Some of the symbol values are desirable, and let's not disregard the higher multiplier values, so technically speaking, Bouncy Bombs certainly has the capability to blow up. It can easily swing the other way, too, meaning specialists get a scatter slot that is in some ways familiar, in others quite a different challenge to surmount.