Fawkes

Fawkes: Slot Overview

The year was 1605, and instead of being able to tweet dissatisfaction with the government on X, or release AI-created smear videos, a Mr Guy Fawkes was arrested guarding explosives set to blow up beneath the House of Lords, in London, England. Since then, Guy Fawkes Night has been celebrated on November 5 in the UK and a number of former British Empire countries. It has also been celebrated in the online slot Fawkes, designed by software developer Wicked Games. One question to ponder as we spin for various wild-linked modifiers and free spins features, is whether Guy Fawkes Night commemorates the Gunpowder Plot failure, or is it a reminder from the government that whatever you plebs are planning, we will find you and we will catch you?

It was nigh on impossible not to think of Peter & Sons when Fawkes hit the screen. The game logo, the general art style, and the feel of Fawkes were all very familiar. Whether P&S had a hand in the game's creation isn't clear, but if not, there are plenty of parallels, not that anyone has a monopoly on this particular style per se. The game is presented like a play, as if players sit in an audience, the curtains pull apart, and the action unfolds on stage. It's neatly done, from the historical information told at the start, to the puppet-like wild symbols, and wooden props, Fawkes is one of the best told Wicked Games' slots to date.

Using a 4,096 ways to win pay system, Fawkes is played on a 6x4 matrix. However, symbols can be split, resulting in up to 5,159,700 ways to win. It's powered by a medium volatile math model, with an RTP value of 96.23%. With ante bets and bonus buys available, the regular stake range varies from $/€0.20 to $/€400 per spin.

The paytable includes 10-A card ranks, worth 0.5x to 1x the bet for 6 OAK and keys, swords, lanterns, and two character symbols as the high pays, awarding 1.25x to 2.5x the bet for 6-of-a-kind combinations. Wilds appear on reels 2 to 6, and they substitute for all symbols except Gunpowder Barrels. Wilds are 1x4 sized symbols which may land fully or partially in view.

Fawkes: Slot Features

Fawkes' features are a Gunpowder Cache reel that can lead to various Execution Modifiers and various free spins rounds, plus ante bets, and feature buys.

Gunpowder Cache

The Gunpowder Cache is a reel that spins right to left below the main reels, displaying only empty spaces or Gunpowder Barrels. In the base game, when Gunpowder Barrels and wilds are in view, they award Execution Modifiers or free spins. Execution modifiers are only applied to the main reels.

• Hanged - 1 or 4 Gunpowder Barrels with wilds award this feature. Any partially visible wild moves to cover the entire reel.
• Drawn - 2 or 5 Gunpowder Barrels with wilds trigger this feature. Any position covered by a wild is split into 2 wild symbols, increasing the number of ways.
• Quartered - 3 or 6 Gunpower Barrels with wilds triggers this. Any position covered by a wild is randomly replicated onto an adjacent reel. Any overlapping wilds are multiplied up to x3. The multiplier represents the symbol count, increasing the number of ways.

Free Spins

Getting 4 or more Gunpowder Barrels in the Gunpowder Cache awards 11 free spins. Players may choose either Hanged or Drawn free spins. Both features trigger their respective modifier when a wild lands on the main reels. Landing 5 Gunpowder Barrels awards 8 Quartered free spins with the Quartered modifier triggering when a wild lands, while 6 Gunpowder Barrels award 5 High Treason free spins, which applies all three modifiers when wilds land on the main reels. During free spins, Gunpowder Barrels that appear under the leftmost reel reveal 1-5 extra free spins. Gunpowder Barrels appearing under reels 2-6 reveal wilds, which are considered as an additional symbol on the main reel above.

Ante Bet & Feature Buy

At 2x the stake, the Ante Bet more than triples the chance of triggering free spins, while the 10x option also triples the bonus odds and guarantees an Execution Modifier on every spin. Players may buy the Hanged or Drawn Bonus for 75x the bet, or pay 150x for the Quartered Bonus, or 600x for the High Treason Bonus. Two lucky draws may also be bought - 165x for the Buy Chance Bonus, or 240x for the Buy Chance Big Boom Bonus.

Fawkes: Slot Verdict

As far as plays or stories go, Fawkes tells a good one, from start to middle to end. It begins with a brief recap of the historical event, including a dab of poetry, before the curtains are drawn back and the scene is laid. As mentioned, Fawkes doesn't have the most original art style Wicked Games might have used, but the particular quality, the imagery, and the animations, reinforce the stage show presentation in an enjoyable way, and everything here is pleasing to the eye. While fireworks appear in slots from time to time (Fireworks Megaways, for example), Guy Fawkes doesn't get an enormous amount of attention in slots, so credit to Wicked Games for running with a lesser-used cultural event in one of its titles.

Better yet, the actual on reel action is not bad either. The Gunpowder Cache and its Gunpowder Barrels deliver a handful of useful Execution Modifiers in the base game to keep energy levels buoyant. Since there are thousands of ways to win, full reel wilds, splitting wilds, and multiplier modifiers are technically able to produce positive effects. Free spins are something to look forward to as well. First, because the regular round lets players pick their favourite of the two features, and second, because the situation potentially improves when the bonus is triggered by 5 or 6 barrels. High Treason is the round to be in since it practically throws everything the game's got at the grid, and can be bought, if waiting for six barrels to roll around sounds like too much work.

Considering the amount of powder Fawkes has in its keg, a 20,000x win cap doesn't seem like the stuff of fantasy, either. Putting aside the fact that Fawkes feels like it could have been made by someone else, it's a decent slot, and one of the more memorable to bear the Wicked Games label, with an enjoyable night out at the theatre quality boosting some fairly underused (for a slot) subject matter.