Keep ‘Em

Keep 'Em: Slot Overview

It's hard to believe now, but once upon a time, Hacksaw Gaming had a focus on producing scratch card games, with nary a slot in the portfolio. That all changed on one fateful day in September of the year 2019, when the studio let loose Stick 'Em, featuring a happy yellow chap named Canny the Can, in a cutely playable slot that gave few hints of the online slot dynamo the studio was on the cusp of evolving into. Canny popped out of hiding a little while later in Stack 'Em, followed by Canny the Can and the Book of Time, then Drop 'Em with his rodent pal Mona the Mouse along the way, and he is here again in the slot Keep 'Em, joined by his avian bud Bob the Bird.

Optically, Stick 'Em was a pretty basic-looking game, not necessarily in a bad way, and it was a debut slot, so fair enough. Previous releases thickened up the outdoor setting, giving it a deep forest feel, and this is what the studio has used again in Keep 'Em. Canny bobs around on one side of the screen, Bob the Bird on the other, so the game does look a lot like Drop 'Em or Stack 'Em. However, the gameplay is very different, and instead of a funky jazz tune, Keep 'Em rocks an epic Oompah track in the background.

Keep 'Em is played on a 6-reel, 5-row gaming grid using a 15,625 ways to win pay system. Winning combinations begin on the leftmost reel and are made up of 3 to 6 matching symbols on consecutive reels. The volatility has been classed as medium (3 out of 5), though as a Hacksaw Gaming slot, it can bounce about all over the place. Available in four RTP configurations, the default is 96.27%, and bet levels are 10 c to $/€100 per spin, while four bonus modes are available from the feature buy menu.

Coloured blocks with J-A on them are Keep 'Em's low pay symbols, awarding 0.5 times the bet for 6 OAK win, while the high pays are a snake head, a hand gripping a lightning bolt, a skull, and Bob the Bird, awarding 0.8 to 2 times the stake for a 6-of-a-kind winning combination. A little surprisingly, wild symbols are not part of Keep 'Em.

Keep 'Em: Slot Features

Prep for an 'Em overload in this section as we look at Cash 'Em, Get 'Em, Keep 'Em, Keep 'Em Comin', Keep Your Friends Close…, Keep Your Canny Closer!, and feature buys.

Cash 'Em, Get 'EM and Keep 'Em Features

• Cash 'Em - Cash symbols award a prize when they are collected. Cash symbols have values of 1x to 1,000x.
• Get 'Em - Cash symbols are collected when a Get 'Em symbol appears on the grid at the same time as Cash symbols. If more than one Get 'Em symbol is on the grid, each one collects the Cash symbols in view once.
• Keep 'Em - Reels 3 and 4 are the Keep 'Em reels. When a Get 'Em symbol, FS scatter symbol, and/or a Cash prize lands on the Keep 'Em reels, the Keep 'Em reels are activated, and 3 respins are awarded. The remaining spins are tracked by a Heart Counter. The symbols which activated the Keep 'Em reels stay on the grid till the respins end. Additional Get 'Em, FS symbols, and/or Cash prizes that land in the Keep 'Em reels lock till the end of respins, too. Cash prizes and Get 'Em symbols pay on every new respin. Through the 3 respins, there is a chance to land the Heart symbols, which resets the Heart Counter.

Keep 'Em Comin'

Landing 3 FS scatters in the base game triggers this feature, which comes with 10 free spins. In this bonus, there is an increased chance of landing Get 'Em symbols, FS symbols, and Cash prizes. Landing 3 FS scatters awards +4 free spins, or landing 4 FS symbols awards +6 free spins.

Keep Your Friends Close…

Landing 4 FS scatters in the base game triggers this feature, awarding 10 free spins. In this round, landed Cash prizes remain on the reels until they are collected by a Get 'Em symbol. Collected Cash prizes, and the Get 'Em symbol spins out at the start of the next spin. When there is a full row or full reel of Cash prizes, they are automatically collected, even if there is no Get 'Em symbol, and they spin out at the start of the next spin. If there are one or more Get 'Em symbols on the grid, they also collect the Cash prizes separately. Landing 3 FS scatters awards +4 free spins, or landing 4 FS symbols awards +6 free spins.

Keep Your Canny Closer!

Getting 5 FS scatters in the base game awards 10 free Keep Your Canny Closer! free spins. The mechanics of this feature are the same as Keep Your Friends Close…, but on top, 3 Cash prizes and 1 Get 'Em symbol are guaranteed to land on each spin.

Feature Buys

Keep 'Em's feature buy options are these, all are highly volatile:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins - each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game. The cost is 3x the bet, RTP 96.36%.
• Cantastic FeatureSpins - each spin is guaranteed to land at least 1 Get 'Em symbol and 1 Cash prize. The cost is 40x the bet, RTP 96.35%.
• Keep 'Em Comin' Bonus - 100x the bet, RTP 96.35%.
• Keep Your Friends Clos... - 200x the bet, RTP 96.37%.

Keep 'Em: Slot Verdict

It's always nice to see a familiar face return in a game (unless the face in question has reached overdone status), and it's even better when they return in a well-constructed game. This Keep 'Em is, and while it looks close to Drop 'Em or Stack 'Em at first, the gameplay is totally unrelated. Furthermore, whilst Keep 'Em is essentially a Cash symbol collect game, Hacksaw being Hacksaw has imbued the slot with clever ideas that aren't just interesting but are able to fire the adrenaline along rather well when they go ballistic.

One of the first smile points is the way Get 'Em symbols and Cash prizes, when hitting in the Keep 'Em reels, both trigger respins and are held on the reels for them. Even better is that held Cash prizes will repeatedly pay on each respin, provided there is one or more Get 'Em symbols in view, as well. Better still is when Cash prizes and Get' Ems are both held on the Keep 'Em reels. Stirring the pot further is the Keep Your Friends Close… Bonus, where all Cash prizes stick till collected, as well as the full reel, full row collection. Fair to say good luck was a factor during the test session for the rosy reaction, but Keep 'Em really stepped up at points to strut its stuff. It never managed to trigger the Keep Your Canny Closer! bonus, which looks good, too, but it's not buyable, and hitting 5 scatters, well, that's not always the easiest task to accomplish.

Of course, don't be getting the impression Keep 'Em is an easy win game. Hacksaw Gaming isn't in the business of producing broken printing machines. Just saying that when Keep 'Em pops, it is quite a thrill, and its 10,000x the bet max win is achievable in all game modes, which is encouraging. So far, Canny has a respectable track record of showing up in tidily made, fun yet fireable slots, of which Keep 'Em can count itself another one.