It's time to head to France, courtesy of Hacksaw Gaming, to hang out with Smokey Le Bandit – a charming racoon. The problem with Smokey is that he's not quite a friendly as you might expect, and he won't hesitate to fleece you for all you're worth.
Using every trick in the book, Smokey will try to take your money, but he might also lead you along the road to riches and share some of his ill-gotten gains. So, leave behind the scenery of Drop ‘Em and journey with Hacksaw Gaming into Le Bandit.
With RTP options up to 96.34% (96.40% feature buy), this medium (3/5) volatility release can produce wins up to 10,000x bet.
There's no official confirmation that we're actually in France, but with Smokey's cries of ‘bonjour!' and ‘bien!' alongside the cheese wheels and baguettes on the reels, it's a pretty safe bet.
We're in a street lined with buildings and trash, with a car to the right – just behind Smokey, who holds a crowbar and wears a flat cap. The whole thing has a sepia tone to it, with an upbeat and old-fashioned soundtrack coming in to tie it all together. Overall, it makes for a nice picture.
Le Bandit Base Features
Taking place across 6 reels, wins are formed on Le Bandit by matching at least 5 symbols in a cluster touching horizontally or vertically. Symbols pay for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-10, 11-12, or 13+ and begin with non premiums, with 10s, Js, Qs, Ks and As, awarding wins between 0.10 and 15x bet for clusters between 5 and 13+.
At the premium end, we have traps, cheese wheels, beers, baguettes and top hats. Land clusters of 5 matching premiums to see wins between 0.30 and 1x bet, increasing to values between 25 and 100x bet for clusters of 13+.
Finally, wanted posters act as Wild symbols, and substitute for all symbols except polaroid FS Scatter symbols.
Super Cascades
There are a few things to cover in Le Bandit, beginning with cascades – which in this case are called super cascades.
On every spin, all symbols involved in a win and all other instances of their symbol type will be removed from the reels, with all remaining symbols dropping down to the bottommost available position on their respective reels.
New symbols will then drop in from above to the fill the remaining gaps, with super cascades continuing until no new wins are formed.
Golden Squares
Alongside this, the squares behind the winning symbols will be highlighted as Golden Squares. If a Rainbow symbol lands on the reels, all Golden Squares will activate after all winning combinations and super cascades have been paid and finished. Golden Squares will reveal either Coins, Four-Leaf Clovers, or Pots of Gold.
- Bronze Coins – 0.20x, 0.50x, 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x bet.
- Silver Coins – 5x, 10x, 15x or 20x bet.
- Gold Coins – 25x, 50x, 100x, 250x or 500x bet.
- Four-Leaf Clover symbols – after all Coins have been revealed, Four-Leaf Clovers will activate and multiply any Coins or Pots of Gold on adjacent squares by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x.
- Pot of Gold symbols – collect the value of all Coins or other Pots of Gold and store their total value.
After the last Pot of Gold symbol has activated, all remaining Golden Squares will activate again to reveal new symbols. This process continues until no new Pot of Gold symbols land in view.
Le Bandit Bonus
Land 3 FS Scatter symbols to trigger the Luck of the Bandit bonus game with 8 spins. During this bonus game all Golden Squares remain highlighted until they are activated by a Rainbow symbol.
Land 2 or 3 FS Scatter symbols during this bonus game to trigger an additional +2 or +4 spins respectively. Land 4 FS Scatter symbols to trigger an additional +4 spins and upgrade the bonus game to All That Glitters is Gold.
Super Bonus
All That Glitters is Gold, which awards 12 spins, can also be triggered from the base game by landing 4 FS Scatter symbols. During this bonus game all Golden Squares remain highlighted throughout the whole bonus.
Land 2 or 3 FS Scatter symbols during this bonus game to trigger an additional +2 or +4 spins respectively.
Finally, land 5 FS Scatter symbols to trigger Treasure at the End of the Rainbow, with 12 spins. During this bonus game all Golden Squares remain highlighted throughout the whole bonus, and a Rainbow symbol is guaranteed to land every spin. Additionally, Bronze Coins do not land in this bonus.
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 (96.28% RTP)
- Rainbow FeatureSpins (Rainbow symbol guaranteed) – 50x bet (96.36% RTP)
- Luck of the Bandit – 100x bet (96.30% RTP)
- All That Glitters is Gold – 250x bet (96.40% RTP)
It is not possible to buy into Treasure at the End of the Rainbow.
The volatility for all options is medium, with the exception of Bonus Hunt FeatureSpins, which is high. The RTP values above are based upon the 96.34% RTP setting.
The maximum win available in Le Bandit 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
There's lots happening in Le Bandit – combining a fun theme with instant prize values that continue to prove popular among players makes for a great release. In the base game, super cascades help to free up room to convert additional symbol positions to Golden Squares, with all Golden Squares only 1 Rainbow symbol away from revealing Coin values up to 500x bet, Four-Leaf Clover multipliers or Pot of Gold collectors.
In Free Spins, a combination of features help to keep things exciting. With Golden Squares that stick until used, Golden Squares that stick for the duration of spins, and Golden Squares that stick for the duration of spins guaranteeing a Rainbow symbol on every spin, there's more than enough to play for.
With that last bonus option, in a move previously seen in Drop ‘Em, there's no option to buy into it – meaning it becomes a kind of ‘super super' feature, and one that is bound to produce results. In any part of this release though, wins are possible up to 10,000x bet.
Finally, maths is rated medium (3/5) volatility and RTP options are available up to 96.34% (96.40% feature buy), so as always it's worth checking this. It's simple really – if you like instant prizes and you're looking for a new way to approach them, Le Bandit is the perfect option.
*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.
