Dandy Diamonds

Dandy Diamonds: Slot Overview

Hacksaw Gaming is known for pulling out some of the most inventive themes in the business, from the introspective Itero, the existential Life and Death, to the Circle of Life, and beyond. However, in Dandy Diamonds, the studio has gone full Vegas on us. Not to be confused with the studio's money-motivated characters Donny and Danny, this is a slot that strips the skin back to basics, fills it with flashing lights, then attempts to dazzle with a multiplier wild feature which gets sticky at certain points. Standing on the shoulders of Ultimate Slot of America, Dandy Diamonds expands on the eagle game through various technical adjustments as well as new Bolt symbols, which are able to drive up multiplier values.

As alluded to, Dandy Diamonds is a shiny, old-school type slot, so it's not one to choose if you like being thrown into thrilling new game worlds or getting lost in lore. This is about as surface as it gets, where glowing pinks and purples background a chrome gaming area, and a generically jazzy soundtrack is there to tickle the ears. The audiovisuals are not the most inspiring Hacksaw Gaming has put out, though there is little chance the studio was going for the innovative subject matter angle. Instead, old school throwback seems more appropriate, all diamonds, crowns, cherries, a taste for yesteryear if that's your thing.

Nineteen paylines are built into Dandy Diamonds' 5x5 matrix, evaluating wins left to right from the leftmost reel. A medium volatile math model runs the back end, where the four possible RTP variants have 96.33% as the highest option. The bet range is wide, going from $/€0.10 to $/€200, with feature buys available.

Landing on the reels are 10-A royals, limes, dice, cherries, crowns, and star symbols. Landing 5 matching royals pays 1x the bet, no matter the kind, or 1.2x to 4x the stake is paid if hitting 5 matching premium symbols. Diamond symbols are wild, and they pay 20x if five of them create a winning combination.

Dandy Diamonds: Slot Features

Features time, and Dandy Diamonds has Diamond symbols, Dandy Respins, Colossal Diamond symbols, Bolt symbols, Epic Bolt symbols, three bonus rounds, as well as feature buys.

Diamond Symbols and Dandy Respins

As well as being wild, Diamonds may also land with an additive multiplier of x2 to x100. In addition, a landed Diamond symbol triggers a Dandy Respin hold & win feature. Wins are awarded after each Dandy Respin, and when more than one Diamond multiplier is part of the same win, the multiplier values are added together before boosting the win they participate in.

Colossal Diamond Symbols

If 4 or more Diamond symbols land in a square, they merge to form a Colossal Diamond symbol. When this occurs, any multiplier values are added together and applied to the Colossal symbol. A Colossal Diamond can grow if more Diamond symbols land around it to form a larger square.

Bolt Symbols

A Bolt symbol activates when it lands within a 3x3 square formation around a Diamond or Colossal Diamond. When activated, the Bolt symbol applies a multiplier or increases the multipliers of Diamonds/Colossal Diamonds within the square by an additive value of x2 to x20 before wins are awarded. After the win, the Bolt symbol spins off the grid. An Epic Bolt symbol activates when it and any Diamonds are on the grid. When activated, it applies a multiplier or increases the multiplier of all Diamonds or Colossal Diamonds in view by additive values of x2 to x20. Only one Bolt and Epic Bolt can land on the same spin.

Diamond in the Rough Bonus Game

10 Diamond in the Rough free spins are awarded when landing 3 scatters in the base game. There is an increased chance of landing Diamond symbols in this bonus. Should 2 or 3 scatters hit in this or any bonus game type, +2 or +4 free spins are awarded, respectively.

Play with Safire Bonus Game

Landing 4 scatters in the base game triggers 10 free spins in the Play with Safire round. In this round, there are no Dandy Respins when a Diamond symbol lands. Instead, all Diamond symbols and Colossal Diamond symbols are sticky till the bonus ends. Multipliers are progressive as well.

Ice and Shine Hidden Epic Bonus

Players win 10 free spins in the Ice and Shine round by landing 5 scatters in the main game. On top of the mechanics from Play with Safire, a 3x3 Colossal Diamond lands on the first free spin.

Feature Buys

The four feature buys include BonusHunt FeatureSpins, making each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus for 3x and Glamour FeatureSpins costing 50x, which guarantee at least 4 Diamond symbols land. Diamond in the Rough can be bought for 50x or Play with Safire for 200x the bet.

Dandy Diamonds: Slot Verdict

Dandy Diamonds is a throwback by Hacksaw Gaming that yanks out cinematic storytelling and ponderous world-building before replacing them with the bright lights and instant gratification of classic Vegas-style action. While this approach does give the game a shallowness, especially when compared to the studio's more thoughtful work, there is an audience who appreciates this type of game, and Hacksaw slings Dandy Diamonds right at it. Not everyone wants to mentally wrestle with the deeper meanings of life or dodge zombies when they're having a gamble, and Dandy Diamonds caters for those who prefer things simple, old school, and thematically backwards-thinking, borderline stagnant.

From a technical standpoint, Dandy Diamonds keeps the grey matter taxation low as well, with the main concern looking out for Diamond symbols. These symbols possess several important benefits, such as substitution, possible multiplication, and, in the base game and lower free spins rounds, an ability to trigger Dandy Respins to hopefully stack the screen with Colossal Diamonds. So far, Dandy Diamonds is very Ultimate Slot of America-ish, which uses Liberty Gems and Clusters to do more or less the same thing. What Dandy Diamonds has that its red, white and blue cousin doesn't is Bolt symbols, which didn't land in great numbers during the review, but are a handy way of boosting multiplier values.

Bolt symbols have not had a profound effect on the max win, though, as Dandy Diamonds' top prize is capped at 5,000x bet, half of what the eagle version has to offer. Still, amongst players who enjoy old-school slots combined with more modern multiplier mechanics, Dandy Diamonds hits its target well enough. It may not be the most artistic or memorable release Hacksaw Gaming has ever produced, but its respin gameplay and sticky wild multiplier possibilities provide enough excitement to make it a worthwhile spin for fans of this sort of thing.