If you had the day off work on a warm summers day, what would you want to do with it? For many people, they'd want to head out and make the most of it – perhaps heading to their favourite beer garden. There's no denying that beer gardens continue to be immensely popular, offering patrons the opportunity to enjoy some good drinks, good company and good weather.
Now Hacksaw Gaming are inviting us to soak up the sun in their beer garden – or biergarten – as they bring back one of their recently introduced mechanics, Stackways. Utilising a fresh artwork style that is completely different to the equally unique stylings of their recent release Densho, Hacksaw Gaming are putting their other upcoming release, Chaos Crew 2, to the side and inviting us to spend some time with a new character toady, in Benny the Beer.
With RTP options up to 96.17% (96.39% feature buy), this medium (3/5) volatility release can produce wins up to 10,000x bet.
Alright, I said there was a fresh artwork style in Benny the Beer, and there is, but there's no denying the immediate similarities to the Canny the Can series – Stick ‘Em, Stack ‘Em, Book of Time and Drop ‘Em all featured a character to either side of the reels and a vintage, Disney styled artwork. In Benny the Beer we lose Canny and Mona, but we do have a friendly stein of beer with a little anthropomorphic camera.
Artwork is similar for sure, but things have a more vibrant feel to them, and are definitely less ‘worn' than artwork within the Canny series. Symbols are just as strange though, with clocks, locks and keys and bombs accompanying beers and cameras. No matter what it all means, it captures our attention in a good way. It's all finished off with an upbeat and exciting soundtrack which helps to tie it all together. All in all, a nice picture.
Benny the Beer Base Features
Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Benny the Beer by matching at least 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel. Each reel holds 4 symbols initially, producing 1,024 ways to win, although this can be increased as high as 100,000 ways to win with Stackways, which we'll get to soon.
Symbols available begin with non premiums, with Js, Qs, Ks and As, awarding wins between 0.10 and 0.70x bet for matches between 3 and 5 of a kind. At the premium end we have locks and keys, clocks, cameras, bombs and beers. Land 3 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 0.50 and 1.50x bet, increasing to values between 2 and 4x bet for 5 of a kind matches.
Stackways
Keeping things simple, there's really only one feature to look out for in Benny the Beer – Stackways.
Each time a Stackways symbol lands on a reel, the reel will be filled with a stack of paying symbols. It is possible to stack up to 10 symbols on every reel, which would produce 100,000 ways to win.
There are 2 kinds of Stackways symbol.
- Normal Stackways Symbol – possible values of 2, 3 or 4.
- Revealing Stackways Symbol – possible values of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.
All Stackways symbols will reveal and stack the same symbol. The symbol revealed is chosen according to which pay symbol would create the longest winning combination in line with the symbols already on the reels.
If multiple combinations of equal length could be created the symbol will be chosen randomly from those that will create the same length combination.
Stacking only occurs if the result will create winning combination.
Benny the Beer Bonus
Land 3 FS Scatter symbols to trigger the Book of Stackways bonus game, with 10 free spins awarded.
Before the bonus game begins, 2 symbols will be randomly chosen to act as special symbols. When one of the special symbols lands on at least 3 reels during the bonus game, indicators below the reels will light up and reveal a number between 2 and 10.
This number indicates the number of Stackways (there are no Stackways symbols during the bonus game), with the special symbol then stacking the relevant number of times on these reels according to the numbers below the reels.
If more than one special symbol has landed on 3 or more reels at the same time they will stack and pay one at a time.
Stacked symbols in the bonus game will pay across all ways as if the stacked reels were connected from left to right – like a regular book game would when a symbol has expanded.
Land 2 or 3 FS Scatter symbols during the bonus game to trigger +2 or 4 additional spins. Land 4 FS Scatter symbols to trigger +4 additional spins and upgrade to the Super Book of Stackways bonus game.
Super Bonus
Alternatively, landing 4 FS Scatter symbols during the base game would also trigger the Super Book of Stackways bonus game, with 10 free spins awarded.
Everything continues in the same way during the Super Book of Stackways bonus game, except 4 symbols are chosen to act as special symbols during the bonus game.
Again, special symbols must land on at least 3 reels, at which point indicators will light up and symbols will stack and pay across all ways.
Land 2 or 3 FS Scatter symbols during the bonus game to trigger +2 or 4 additional spins.
Buy Bonus
Players in appropriate regions can take advantage of the following Buy Bonus options.
- Bonus Hunt FeatureSpins (5x more likely to trigger a bonus) – 3x bet (96.39% RTP)
- Double Stack FeatureSpins (at least 2 Stackways symbols guaranteed) – 25x bet (96.35% RTP)
- Triple Stack FeatureSpins (at least 3 Stackways symbols guaranteed) – 75x bet (96.38% RTP)
- Book of Stackways – 120x bet (96.29% RTP)
- Super Book of Stackways – 300x bet (96.33% RTP)
The volatility for every Buy Bonus option is high, with the exception of Triple Stack FeatureSpins, which is very highly volatile.
The RTP values above are based upon the 96.17% RTP setting.
The maximum win available in Benny the Beer is 10,000x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 10,000x bet will be awarded.
First Impression
If there's one thing Hacksaw Gaming are proving this year, it's that they aren't one trick ponies. From the vintage stylings of Drop ‘Em to the light watercolours of Densho and dark graffiti of Chaos Crew 2, this team are showing us that they can do anything when it comes to audiovisuals, and now Benny the Beer helps them prove this even more.
Mechanics are fun enough, giving us a taste of Stackways for the third time. Where Mayan Stackways focused more on instant prizes, Benny the Beer finds itself closer to Ronin Stackways with a new approach.
Rather than simply matching Stackways symbols, which we do still look out for in the base game, the bonus game finds us looking for special symbols. In essence, we've got a book game with a twist. When the right combinations occur, wins are possible up to 10,000x bet.
Finally, maths is medium (3/5) volatility, and RTP options are available up to 96.17% (96.39% feature buy), so as always it's worth checking this. Whether you've been convinced by Stackways thus far or not, if you're a fan of a book game and interesting artwork Benny the Beer should appeal to you.
*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.
