Le King

Le King Review

Hacksaw Gaming’s Le King follows closely in the footsteps of the original Le Bandit, with a similar core feature and bonus round tiers. This time, you’re taken to the strip of Las Vegas, simply referred to as ‘Spin City’ in this game, with Smokey the raccoon character getting groovy with it as an Elvis imitator next to the 6x5 grid. He’s a moody dude that has no trouble expressing how he feels about wins or losses, scratching his butt with the microphone when nothing is happening.

Anyway, you start by choosing your bet level between €0.10 and €100 per spin, catering to most types of players. You win by landing 5 to 12+ matching symbols in a cluster anywhere on the grid, and clusters connect vertically and/or horizontally. The top-tier symbol is a roulette wheel, followed by stacks of casino chips, a mic, dice, and a watermelon. These premium symbols pay between 6x and 50x your stake for 12+ in a cluster, while the royals pay 1x to 2x for the same.

Le King Slot - Reels Screen

The Golden Squares feature steals the show in Le King, offering coin prizes of up to 500x that can be multiplied and collected for a respin. All winning positions turn into golden squares after the winning symbols have been removed and replaced via the Cascading mechanic. The golden squares require a Neon Rainbow symbol to be activated, however, and in this game, you can also activate Jackpot Markers for even larger prizes.

Hacksaw is hardly known for jackpot games, but in the Le King slot, the top-tier jackpot delivers the 20,000x max win. The golden squares feature becomes progressively more lucrative for each bonus round tier, offering persistent squares and guaranteed Neon Rainbow symbols per free spin in the top-tier Viva Le Bandit Bonus. This is a medium volatility installment scoring 3 out of 5 on Hacksaw’s scale, and the top-tier RTP is 96.14 %.

Le King Features

Fans of the original Le Bandit will recognize the features in Le King Hacksaw. However, we’ll walk you through everything below anyway, not least to get newcomers up to speed. Let’s dive in!

Cascading Wins & Golden Squares

Winning symbols are removed from the grid and replaced by existing and new symbols dropping down to fill the gaps. This Cascading mechanic repeats indefinitely as long as you keep winning, and winning positions are turned into Golden Squares. Golden Square positions are activated after the cascading sequence has finished, but only if a Neon Rainbow symbol is present.

The activated Golden Squares reveal gold, silver, or bronze coins, revealing values between 0.2x and 4x, 5x and 20x, or 25x and 500x your stake, respectively. Golden Squares can also reveal Green Clover symbols, which boost adjacent prize coins or treasure pots by a multiplier of x2 to x20 The Golden Clover applies its multiplier (2x to x20) to all present coin prizes and treasure pots. Treasure Pot symbols absorb the value of all other coins and treasure pots while triggering a respin of the golden squares.

Jackpot Markers

The Jackpot Markers will either be revealed by Golden Squares or land organically. Either way, these jackpot markers reveal a Mini, Major, Mega, or Max Win jackpot worth 10x, 100x, 1,000x, or 20,000x your stake, respectively. You can land only one of the jackpots on any given spin, and the jackpot is only awarded if the Neon Rainbow symbol is present. Treasure Pots do not absorb the value of jackpot markers and the jackpot is collected after all other prizes.

Spin City Free Spins Bonus

Landing 3 FS scatters on the same base game spin (or in the same cascading sequence) triggers the Spin City Bonus Round, awarding 10 free spins for starters. It plays out similarly to the base game, but with all Golden Squares sticky until activated by a Neon Rainbow symbol. You win +2 or +4 extra free spins from 2 or 3 FS scatters in view, respectively, and this goes for all 3 bonus rounds.

Jackpot of Gold Free Spins Bonus

Landing 4 FS scatters in the base game triggers the Jackpot of Gold Bonus Round, once again awarding 10 free spins. The feature plays out similarly to the Spin City Bonus, but with Golden Squares that remain until the end of the bonus round. This means they can be activated up to multiple times by Neon Rainbow symbols.

Viva Le Bandit Hidden Epic Free Spins Bonus

The Viva Le Bandit Hidden Epic Bonus Round requires 5 FS scatters to be activated, giving you 10 free spins to start with. It plays out like the Jackpot of Gold feature but with each spin guaranteeing a Neon Rainbow symbol. In addition, the bronze coin prize has been removed, meaning more lucrative prizes.

Le King Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players will find the Bonus Buy menu via the yellow ‘Buy Bonus’ button, and it comes with the following options in Le King slot:

• BonusHunt Feature Spins - pay 3x your stake to increase your bonus round chances by 5 times.
• Shamrock & Roll FeatureSpins - pay 60x your stake to be guaranteed a winning spin that includes a Neon Rainbow symbol.
• Spin City FS Bonus - costs 80x your stake.
• Jackpot of Gold FS Bonus - is priced at 250x your stake.

Theme & Graphics

Le King takes you on a Las Vegas adventure with the grumpy raccoon character, Smokey, dressed up as an Elvis imitator complete with slicked-back hair and mic in hand. As you’d expect, Spin City (a clever play on Sin City) is filled with towering neon signs and bright colors, and the cartoon-style visuals should be familiar to fans of this series. On the reels, you’ll find a somewhat strange mix of watermelons, dice, mics, and casino chips, but the soundtrack is surprisingly subdued, lacking the iconic punch that would've made the real King proud.

Pros and Cons of Le King

Our Verdict

It's been fun to follow this charismatic and volatile raccoon character from the original success, Le Bandit, to adventures in both ancient Egypt and the Viking era. Smokey does not like losing spins or bonus teasers, and his reactions are hilarious each time something goes down. You really feel that this little guy is in your corner, which he literally is, but unlike so many slot characters that simply stand there looking “cool” or “mean,” Smokey plays on a whole register of emotions.

Still, I have to say that the theme of Le King could’ve been done better. I do love the Elvis makeover and all, but the Vegas backdrop is a bit of a cliché. However, the biggest issue for me was the soundtrack. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but the soundtrack just didn’t deliver the kind of upbeat energy I feel this game deserves. The watermelon symbol also feels a bit out of place, but overall, these are minor issues if you’re a fan of the ‘Le’ series.

It cannot be denied that Le King is pretty similar to the original Le Bandit, at least in the feature department. Unlike the two follow-up releases, this game sticks with the original recipe of cluster pays and golden square prizes. It’s a highly effective system for potentially multiplier-boosted wins, now with the added benefit of jackpot prizes of up to the game’s max win. Speaking of, the 20,000x win cap is a new record for this series, making Le King a solid alternative to the original game.

The 3 bonus rounds are similar to what’s on offer in Le Bandit, which may disappoint some players (myself included). Don’t get me wrong, the features are highly entertaining and potentially lucrative, allowing the core golden squares mechanic to shine brighter for each tier. However, we’ve learned to expect something new from each Hacksaw release, and this feels like a missed opportunity to do something original. As it stands, Le King is worth playing due to the math model upgrades and jackpots, but I prefer the theme of Le Bandit over this.