Hacksaw Gaming was perhaps the first gaming company to really try and make scratchcards popular online. And truthfully, they made it. And they did it so well that most other gaming companies, who had hitherto abandoned the idea of scratchcards online, started producing ones of their own.
But that’s not all that you’ll find here. The company also offers fixed prize games and online slots. The selection is strong across the whole platform, which is why these games can today be found on almost all online casinos, and on most casino content platforms. Their unique selection of games is in high demand. They have taken steps to make it even further, and it might just be this is one of the big gaming companies of the future.
Join us as we take a deeper look into the company, where you can play their games in Canada, what the history of Hacksaw Gaming looks like, and what the future holds for them. Or, just select one of our suggested online casinos and try the games right away!
The Origin Story
Depending on the source you might read that Hacksaw Gaming was founded in either 2017 or 2018. We’re learning towards the former, with the company going public in 2018. The fact that they received a Malta Gaming Authority licence in 2018 suggests that the reels had been rolling for a while already.
Pretty much immediately the company started producing branded games, together with several dozen different scratchcards. Given at the time these games were really rare, there being almost no other companies that produced them, Hacksaw Gaming was able to easily partner up with some major platforms. This included Relax Gaming, Softswiss and other content platforms in 2019 together with LeoVegas, Betsson and other famous Maltese online casinos.
The success prompted the company to start producing online slots too. These were launched with some fanfare, often being exclusive to select casinos for a time. Later on in the year, the company was granted a UK Gambling Commission licence, and an ISO certification. It’s quite a success story really, and they have all the awards available to prove it.
Read our exclusive interview to learn what the team thinks about their success.
Compared to this explosive start the later years have been somewhat uneventful. In truth, the company has simply continued on the same path. More awards from industry events, more licences and presence in more markets, and more successful slots and scratchcards launched. Interestingly enough, the pace for launching new games seems to have been much faster in the early years, with the company now concentrating more on ensuring the highest quality for all their new products. Still, they seem to average two new games per month these days.
All The Different Games
Overall, the number of games has already crossed the line of one hundred. As the years go by we expect this to grow, though perhaps not into astronomical numbers. Though the company does have one of the biggest selection of scratchcards, they arguably also have a selection that is close to its limits.
That is unless they figure out a way to revolutionise the way scratchcards work. Perhaps that is why the company has lately concentrated more on developing new slot games. And clearly, they are not afraid to try new things or abandon such things if they do not work out.
The company has also taken steps to create its own content platform called OpenRGS. This is aimed at smaller gaming studios. The idea is that they can take advantage of all the underlying software, and at the same time get their games distributed to pretty much all available jurisdictions.
Take A Look At The Scratchcards
Scratchcards, also called scratch tickets, are a very simple form of gambling. The name comes from the fact that you scratch off the surface to reveal the results of the card. Most commonly these cards come with a set of symbols or just numbers. The purpose is most often to match three such symbols or numbers, which will then result in the associated prize.
In slots, you try to create different combinations, with dozens of different possibilities, often accompanied by features that require some heavy maths to figure out the end results (thankfully done automatically). Scratch-off tickets are very simple in comparison. There are usually no more than ten different prize categories, and all of these tend to be divided amongst the number of scratchcards printed. There might be a million such tickets, and only one of them contains the main prize.
Some Scratchcards To Try Out:
- Tiger Scratch – Top win $400 000
- Football Scratch – Top win $250 000
- Summer Scratch – Top win $200 000
- Cash Pool – Top win $150 000
- Snow Scratcher – Top win $100 000
- Prince Treasure – Top Win $10 000
When playing online the setup is a bit different, so that there is no set number of tickets available. The underlying win possibilities however remain the same. These details can be found in the help section of each game from Hacksaw Gaming. Likewise, the games always have a set bet that players cannot change. Generally, this correlates with the main prize. The higher the bet, the higher the top win. That’s not always the case, so feel free to check out different games.
The gameplay itself is pretty simple to access the selection. You simply need to match three prize symbols, and having done so you will get paid the win. There are, at least not so far, any other bonus features or specials that affect the gameplay. The major difference to the tickets you buy from land-based shops is that in these games the RTP is actually considerably higher. Not a match for online slots though.
Learn All About The Online Slots
Now if you feel the scratch-off tickets lack variety and specials you might want to check out Hacksaw Gaming online slots instead. These are designed with the more adventurous player in mind, and obviously, also come with a lot more options when it comes to selecting your desired bet size.
Popular Hacksaw Gaming Slots:
- Chaos Crew
- Hop ‘N’ Pop
- Outlaws Inc
- Cash Quest
- Forest Fortune
- Xpander
- RIP City
- Dork Unit
- Hand of Anubis
- Cubes 2
Payout percentages, or RTP, in these games, is quite a bit higher than in scratch cards (lottery games tend to be lower), and well within the industry norms. However, the biggest possible wins are somewhat lower in most titles. Of course, you can place the bet whichever way you want, which can in turn lead to massive wins. Most of the games hover on either side of ten thousand when it comes to the biggest possible individual win. The real big winners are to be found under their own categories.
We are quite fond of the graphics too. There are quite a few different styles in use, and some of these differ a lot when it comes to the standard use of bright colours and cartoon-like graphics. The sound effects and music conform to different themes, creating a nice background atmosphere.
It’s not just the audiovisual spectacles that bring players to enjoy these slots. And not even the lineup of big wins. Entertaining gameplay plays a big role, and in that special features tend to take the limelight. And this is something that Hacksaw Gaming has clearly noticed.
These online slots usually come with several features each. Some of these are rather familiar, such as simple bonus spins, mini-games, multipliers, wilds, and scatters with their natural effects. But more often than not, one of these features is boosted to a whole nother level. This is done by adding specials on top of specials. Most often these are tied to bonus spins, which can gain additional modifiers to boost the wins even further. But this isn’t always the case in these games, and there are plenty of different setups to explore.
What Are Fixed Prize Games?
The definition of a fixed prize game is simply that the amounts players can win don’t change between draws or rounds. Compare this to progressive jackpot slots which grow with each bet made.
However, it’s not all that clear to us why these are separated into their own category of games. Some of the titles found within this category are slots, others are scratch cards, whilst others offer special gameplay. The one common factor that all these games have are massive wins, which can grow into ten million or so.
There’s an additional category here too, called instant win games. Traditionally, these would be games where you instantly know whether you win or not. Compare that to national lotteries, where it might take a week or more until you know whether your ticket wins or not. Again, this doesn’t really make sense since the category covers pretty much everything but lotteries, live casino and sportsbetting.
It would make more sense to call these instances special games. Especially as they do stand out as something quite different from the ordinary selection of casino games. For example, you can play minesweeper, clicking away until you cash out your wins or blow up on a mine. Or simply bet on the flip of coins. The more coins you flip the bigger the wins, and the smaller the chance of scoring them.
Whether it’s unique gameplay or those massive mega wins, these games found outside the usual categories are worth seeking out. Especially if you’re after a different sort of gameplay. Hopefully, Hacksaw Gaming will end up expanding these categories, though understandably it is very hard to come up with completely new concepts and games that utilise them. It goes to show that they can think outside the box, and surprise the player time and time again.
The Legal Side of Things
Hacksaw Gaming is licensed in Ontario. They are also partnered with Loto-Québec, so we feel it’s pretty evident that their games are completely fair and square to play when it comes to Canadian casino players. On top of that, know that the company is licensed for the US markets, and pretty much every major European market there is.
The games can therefore be found in Canadian online casinos, and pretty much on all offshore casinos that accept Canadian players. Get ready to enjoy the games!
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