Don’t Hit Plz!

Don't Hit Plz!: Slot Overview

Red Tiger buds Max Win Gaming have been on an experimental drive of late, looking into the losing spin concept and seeing if they can flip it into something positive. This the team did with Deadspins in the vampirically themed slot Midnight Thirst, and again here in Don't Hit Plz! This one picks up where the vampire slot left off, keeping a lot of the same gaming ideas while adding and expanding on them. Don't Hit Plz! also dramatically expands on the winning potential, as well as wedging in a new Junkyard Bonus round, which operates like few others do. Maybe no others.

The same can't be said for Don't Hit Plz!'s appearance. Max Win Gaming has chosen blasts of punk neon to punctuate a monochrome background, which is very different to the Gothic crypt of Midnight Thirst but very reminiscent of something Hacksaw Gaming might do. On the action front, Don't Hit Plz! has a similar thought process as Midnight Thirst, Treasure Island, and The Big Hit - you want to win, but not too often, as dead spins can be a useful ally in attempting to strike greater results.

The demo had a huge range of bet levels, from 10 c to $/€2,000 per spin, though operators in real life might not be so keen on some of those options. The RTP has been recorded as right at 96%, while the math model is a highly volatile one. A 5-reel game grid is where the symbols land in rows of 5, where there are 3,125 ways to win. Hit matching symbols on consecutive reels starting from the leftmost side, and you've got a winner on your hands.

Hacksaw-esque symbols line the paytable, containing 6 low pays - a box of matches, a spray can, a skateboard, a gas mask, a bottle of poison, and a heart-shaped grenade. Very punk rock, whereas the highs are 4 character symbols. Hitting 5 matching lows awards 0.3 times the bet, moving up to 0.8x-2x the bet when 5 matching premium symbols land on the grid. Interestingly, wild symbols are not present in Don't Hit Plz! During any phase. Winning symbols are blasted from the reels, leaving empty spaces behind. The empty spaces are filled by symbols dropping down from above, and this chaining action repeats as long as new consecutive wins keep appearing.

Don't Hit Plz!: Slot Features

Chain reactions and dead spins feed into Don't Hit Plz!'s Progress Bar/multiplier feature, as well as its free spins round and the Junkyard Bonus - both of these last two can be bought.

Progress Bar

Just to be clear, Don't Hit Plz! classes a dead spin as a spin that has no connected symbols. Consecutive dead spins fill the Progress Bar and increase the global win multiplier. Each dead spin increases the bar by +1 step. The bar's progress resets after a winning spin.

• 3 consecutive dead spins achieve Level 2, activating an x3 multiplier.
• 6 consecutive dead spins achieve Level 3, activating an x6 multiplier.
• 10 consecutive dead spins achieve Level 4, activating the Underground Free Spins bonus.

Underground Free Spins

When triggered, players win 10 free spins with a starting multiplier of x6. Here, 3 consecutive dead spins are needed to achieve level 2, where the multiplier is x13. After reaching level 2, 3 consecutive dead spins are needed to achieve level 3, where the multiplier is x25. Reaching level 2 and 3 awards +2 free spins. When reaching level 3, 4 consecutive dead spins are needed to reach level 4, which awards the Junkyard Bonus. On a winning spin, the Progress Bar resets to the last multiplier level reached. The Underground Free Spins bonus ends when there are no more free spins.

Junkyard Bonus

The Junkyard Bonus is awarded when reaching the final level of Underground Free Spins. This feature awards 3 spins, and each feature symbol that hits on the reels resets the spin count to 3. Above each reel is a Special Board displaying a prize value of x200 to x5,000. These are randomly generated. The most which can be won from the Junkyard Bonus is the total of the Special Boards. The feature symbols appearing on the reels are:

• Minus Symbol - reveals a value of -20 to -1,000 depending on the Special Board's starting value. The Special Board above the corresponding reel is reduced by the shown minus amount.
• Rip Symbol - deactivates the reel it lands on, decreasing the value of the corresponding Special Board to 0.
• Reset Symbol - resets the Special Board above its reel back to its starting value.
• Freeze Symbol - deactivates the reel it lands on, locking the current Special Board value of that reel. This amount is guaranteed to be won at the end of the bonus.

The Junkyard Bonus ends after 3 consecutive dead spins or if all Special Boards are deactivated by reaching 0 or by feature symbols.

Feature Buy

Players can right away try their luck in Underground Free Spins by buying them for 100x the bet or the Junkyard Bonus for 500x the bet.

Don't Hit Plz!: Slot Verdict

Some people pick up a Rubik's cube, twist it a few times, maybe complete a side, then end up throwing it against the wall in frustrated disgust. Others like to puzzle it out, try combos, enjoy the challenge, and keep on twisting and twisting till the darn thing is solved. Or, get the solution from the internet. It feels like the reaction to Don't Hit Plz! might be something similar (apart from getting the solution from the net, of course). Like Midnight Thirst, the spanner that having to rely on dead spins throws into the works is a fun innovation or an annoyance. It would be interesting to know what the game's hit rate was, just as an FYI, because it seemed higher than usual, though that might have been because you don't want hits to occur, or at least occur too often, hence the slot's title. Human nature, huh? Whatever we get, we want the opposite; the grass is always greener on the other side and all.

Whilst Underground Free Spins are basically an overturned version of the base game, the Junkyard Bonus is where things get really interesting from an evolutionary perspective. When the bonus flows against you, it's like accidentally betting the farm on a three-legged horse and watching the rest of the field race away, and there's nothing you can do. By comparison, in a regular bonus round, who knows, the final spin could flip everything on its head and turn into something magnificent. Not so the Junkyard bonus when it's fighting against you. When it's going well, you might start with some big values, and it could all end up okay. But, it proved to be an incredibly frustrating feature where prize values pretty much only go in one direction - down, well, with the exception of the Reset symbol, which was like gold dust. This isn't quite so bad when the Junkyard Bonus is finishing off a naturally triggered round of free spins, but it might be potentially hair-pulling if bought.

On the positive side, the Junkyard Bonus and the dead spin concept are evidence of a studio daring to be different, so let's acknowledge that. Don't Hit Plz! won't be for all gambling appetites, but it is original enough to warrant trying out an alternative way of winning or losing, particularly for those with masochistic tendencies or gamblers looking to experience the thrill of chasing winning potential of 25,000x, in an unusual flipped on its head kind of way.