Keep ‘Em Cool: Slot Review and Free Play Demo

Keep ‘Em Cool Review

You can almost smell the bacon the way these pigs are basking in the sun on their favorite tropical island, but this is more of a fruit slot than a wealth-themed release. The pig family is obviously wealthy enough for a nice beach holiday though, and Hacksaw has come up with an interesting Cascading mechanic twist in this game. Symbols are basically frozen, half-frozen, or unfrozen, and this determines their destiny per cascade.

You get idyllic cartoon-style visuals, and the almost hypnotic sound of the waves washing in will make you long for your next vacation. You get 2 interesting modifier symbols that will prolong or beef-up your winning streak in different ways, and these appear more frequently in the bonus round. This is another medium volatile installment in Hacksaw’s more lighthearted series, but it still comes with a 5,000x potential. If you’re looking to dream yourself away for a while, it’s hard to go wrong with a game like Keep ‘Em Cool.

Keep ‘Em Cool Slot - Reels Screen

Keep ‘Em Cool Slot Features

You win by landing 5 to 21+ matching symbols in the same cluster anywhere on the 5x5 grid, and 5 of a kind pays between 0.1 and 1 x your stake. Landing 21+ symbol wins pays between 400 to 5,000 x your stake, which is solid, and there are no wild symbols to help you out in this game.

Each pay symbol is either not frozen, half-frozen, or fully frozen, and only unfrozen symbols are removed from the grid if part of a win. In fact, all unfrozen symbols are removed whether they partake in the win or not, and the half or fully frozen symbols drop to the lowest possible positions to remain in play for the next cascade. This happens whether or not they are part of a win, but they do change states.

This means that frozen symbols become half-frozen after a cascade, while half-frozen symbols become unfrozen. The cascading mechanic drops a new batch of symbols to fill the gaps, and this whole process repeats for as long as you keep winning. When no more winning clusters are formed, you start all over again with a new paid drop.

If the Cocktail Glass symbol is present, all winning symbols are turned into fully frozen symbols. This can happen to multiple symbol types simultaneously, and each Cocktail Glass comes with a number attached. This number indicates how many more times it can freeze winning symbols, and up to 5 freezes per Cocktail Glass is possible. The symbol is removed after its re-freeze counter drops to zero.

The Blender Symbol randomly chooses one symbol type, and it basically removes that symbol type from the grid by absorbing it. This triggers the cascading mechanic, and the feature goes on as long as you keep landing symbols of the chosen type. You win a payout equal to the number of symbols the Blender has absorbed in total, and it starts with a count of 2. You get +1 per added symbol, and the paytable determines how much you win from the total amount.

You need 3 Picnic Basket Scatters in view to trigger the Sunset Picnic Bonus Round, and each basket opens to reveal a number between 3 and 5. The total amount of free spins you get is equal to the sum total of these numbers, and you can expect more frequent Blender and Cocktail Glass symbols during the bonus round. You win between 2 to 5 extra free spins per Picnic Basket Scatter that appears in the bonus round.

The Bonus Buy menu is available in some jurisdictions, but not in the UK for sure. If eligible, you can pay 3x your regular stake for the BonusHunt FeatureSpins feature. This makes it 5 times more likely to trigger the bonus round on each spin, and it comes with a top-tier RTP of 96.25 %. The Sunset Picnic Bonus Round will set you back 100x the stake, and it comes with a top-tier RTP of 96.22 %.

The 200 Spins Keep ‘Em Cool Slot Experience

You get a decent taste of the regular base game, before we turn on the BonusHunt ante bet feature after a while. We came close, but no cigar, so we decided to simply purchase the Picnic Bonus Round instead. This happens around 2 minutes into the 3:50-minute highlights video, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

The pigs seem a bit out of place in this setting to be honest, but apparently this is the tropical island where pig families go for holiday between figuring in different wealth themed slots. The frozen, half-frozen, and unfrozen system is an original twist on the regular cascading mechanic, and this is a lighthearted fruity game that does not require too much of you as a player. The base game does its thing, which is enjoyable enough, and you get 2 decent modifiers to boot.

The Cocktail Glass keeps re-freezing winning symbols to prolong your cascading winning streaks, while the Blender absorbs a random symbol type for larger payouts. How much you win from the latter largely depends on which symbol type is chosen, of course, and you basically get more of the same in a more lucrative way in the bonus round. This is part of Hacksaw’s less brutal mid-range series, but you can still win up to a decent 5,000x your stake. Keep ‘Em Cool will keep you entertained on a rainy day, and it’s a fun game to play on the go as well.