Mayan Stackways Slot by Hacksaw Gaming 🎰 Free Demo and Review

Mayan Stackways Review

Hacksaw has finally gotten around to releasing a Mayan-themed game, although they have visited the Mesoamerican jungle before, in the innovative Aztec Twist. Mayan StackWays™ is an innovative release as well, and it revolves around a brand new dynamic grid mechanic. Reels can get stacked with up to 10 matching symbols, and this only happens when you’re guaranteed to win. Up to 100K ways to win can be produced via this mechanic, which means you can crack the 10,000x potential also in the base game.

The stone symbols drop down inside a jungle temple of sorts, which is hardly unusual for this genre, and a zombie-looking Mayan shaman is by your side at all times. You get even more StackWays action in the Stack Spins bonus round, and there is also a Mayan Gold feature to look forward to. It’s all about accumulating coin values that get attached to stacks for the final pay spin, and there is even a Golden version that starts you off with 50x per reel.

Mayan Stackways Slot - Reels Screen

Mayan Stackways Slot Features

You win by landing 3+ matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the uttermost left, and the premium symbols pay between 2 and 4 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. There are no Wild symbols in this game, but you get plenty of features that we will cover below.

The Stackways symbol can appear on all reels, and it stacks between 2 and 10 matching symbols onto the affected reel or reels. This increases the number of win ways accordingly, and you can get up to 100,000 ways to win if all reels are stacked to the max. The symbol that’s chosen to be stacked is the one that will make the longest win line, and the stacking feature only happens if it will result in a win.

You trigger the Stack Spins Bonus Round when you land 2 skull scatters anywhere in view, and this gives you 10 free spins. This feature comes with more frequent Stackways symbols, and you can activate reels via the Reel Activator symbol. Activated reels are guaranteed to land Stackways symbols on each spin for the remainder of the bonus round, and you win +4 extra spins when you land 3 skull scatters on the same free spin.

Mayan Stackways Slot - Mayan Gold Bonus Round

The Mayan Gold Bonus Round triggers from 4 skull scatters in view, and you will land blanks and Coin symbols. The Coin symbol adds their value to the counter above each respective reel, and there are 3 levels of coins. The bronze coins add 1-5 to the counter, silver coins add 10, 15, or 20, while gold coins add values between 25 and 1,000. You can also land an ‘X’ multiplier symbol that boosts the current reel counter value by x2, x3, x4, or x5.

After a while you will start to land Stackways symbols on different reels, and this fills the relevant reel with stacked coins of the current reel counter value. Stacked reels stop spinning, but you can also land a Collect scatter on other reels. This symbol collects all the coins on the stacked reels, and stores the total value in a vault below. This unlocks the involved stacked reels. When all reels are stacked the total value of all coins (and the vault) are summed up as your win.

In addition, there is a Golden Opportunity version of the Mayan Gold feature, and it triggers from 5 skull scatters in view. Each reel starts out with a value of 50 in this golden version of the bonus, and it can only be triggered organically.

The Bonus Buy menu is available in some jurisdictions, but not in the UK for sure. It comes with 4 options this time, and these are as follows:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins (high volatility and RTP of 96.33 %) - pay 3x your stake to be 5x more likely to trigger one of the bonus rounds.
• StackWays FeatureSpins (very high volatility and RTP of 96.27 %) - pay 40x your stake for a spin with 2 guaranteed Stackways symbols (keep in mind that 2+ Stackways symbols does not guarantee that the feature triggers, as this only happens if you’re guaranteed to win).
• Stack Spins Bonus (high volatility and RTP of 96.32 %) - pay 110x your stake to get this free spins round. Mayan Gold (medium volatility and RTP of 96.32 %) - pay 200x your stake to get this bonus round.

The 200 Spins Mayan Stackways Slot Experience

You get a brief taste of the base game, before we purchase and trigger the Stack Spins round at 0:30 into the 3:20-minute highlights video. We purchase the Mayan Gold feature right after, and it triggers at 1:19 to be precise. You can see for yourself how it all played out by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

We have to say that the trademarked StackWays mechanic is a clever innovation, and it provides a dynamic grid experience that triggers on a regular basis. Similar things have been seen before, of course, not least from NoLimit City and ELK, but StackWays™ still comes across as a unique and fresh way to increase the win ways. More importantly, it can deliver solid payouts also in the base game, which keeps the whole experience more tense and interesting.

Unlike with the Megaways engine, you are also guaranteed a win whenever the reels get stacked and the win ways increase, and the only question is how much it will be this time. This adds to the excitement, and you get even more of that in the Stack Spins round. The Mayan Gold feature has higher average payouts judging by the bonus buy price, but you probably need the golden version to spike up towards the 10,000x potential. We prefer the Stack Spins feature, really, as it can deliver solid payouts out of the blue.