King Carrot

King Carrot: Slot Overview

Well, the name got us curious about this one. King Carrot, is he the ruler of just carrots, or the boss of crops in general? Does he wear a crown, and is there a Queen Carrot? Sometimes our imaginations run away with us when certain games appear from the ether. We can confirm he wears a crown and actually appears in two forms – a King Carrot variety and a rarer Epic King Carrot version. Both of these carroty monarchs are linked to a symbol transformation feature available in the base game and in a more persistent form when free spins are triggered.

King Carrot is a cluster paying grid slot played on a 7x7 sized game panel. 49 symbols pile onto the grid with each new spin, forming clusters when at least 5 matching symbols land adjacent to each other in vertical or horizontal directions. It all takes place in a peaceful glade, which has Hacksaw Gaming written all over it. Taking a moment when the reels aren't spinning lets you soak in the friendly atmosphere. Random foodstuffs bob around on the grid while they are waiting, leaves blow through from the trees, and a playful soundtrack oompahs in the background. It's almost impossible not to hit the play button and see what happens next, a feeling that amplified after we'd played a few bonus rounds and seen the symbol transformation feature in action.

Hacksaw has eased off the volatility for King Carrot, giving it a 3 out of 5 rating, putting it in the medium range. Range is a good way of describing the theoretical return values, which top out at 96.3% though it can drop significantly depending on the market. Bet levels vary widely as well, from 20 p/c per spin up to $/€100 and being a Pocketz Series slot means King Carrot is mobile-focused, though is just as playable, if not more so, on any larger-screened device.

Adorable, there's that word again, is an appropriate way of describing the symbols on the paytable. In ascending order are grapes, pears, purple things (?), strawberries, berries, lemons, apples, and watermelons worth 5-10x the bet for clusters of 14+. Larger cluster tiers can be formed of the regular carrot symbol all the way up to 500x for a full grid of 49 of them. Love heart-eyed 'W' symbols are wild, substituting for any of the regular paying symbols. Also, King Carrot or Epic King Carrot symbols substitute for the carrot symbol when evaluating wins.

King Carrot: Slot Features

Symbol transformations are the central feature in King Carrot, occurring in the base game as well as in free spins. On top of this, it is possible to score carrot-based multipliers when the Epic King Carrot appears, and be on the lookout for the Bird Attack.

King Carrot

Whenever a King Carrot symbol lands, a random paying symbol is selected to be replaced. All instances of this chosen symbol type are transformed into the highest value carrot symbol, and a win evaluation takes place. Should multiple King Carrots land, then more than one symbol type will be chosen. Every spin that a King Carrot lands on awards a respin where the symbol transform feature is active.

Epic King Carrot

When a Carrot transformation takes place, there is a chance 1 - 3 Epic King Carrots appears to replace an existing carrot symbol. For each Epic King Carrot in view, a random multiplier drops onto a random carrot symbol. Multipliers come with values of x2 to x100 and only affect a winning cluster of carrots. If two or more multipliers are involved in the same win, their values are added together before being used.

Bird Attack

Bird shadows moving over the grid indicate the Bird Attack feature is about to trigger. Birds then swoop in to remove at least one and up to all rows and/or columns of symbols, making space for new symbols to drop in. Wilds or FS symbols are not removed.

Carrot Carnage

Landing at least 3 FS symbols starts the bonus game by awarding 10 free spins. During free spins, all symbols transformed by the King Carrot remain in that state throughout the feature, and like the base game, players win a respin when a King Carrot lands on a spin.

Bonus Buy

Where possible, players have the option of buying free spins. The cost is 110x the total bet and buying the feature comes with an RTP of 96.41%.

King Carrot: Slot Verdict

King Carrot is classic Hacksaw Gaming. It's a disarmingly sweet slot that makes it tough to refrain from having just one more spin. As well as the squeaking cutie pie symbols, the fun Caribbean oompah musical mash-up creates a party mood that's easy to get swept up in. King Carrot isn't the deepest game, so it didn't take too long to see everything it had to offer, potentially shortening its shelf life compared to something more involved.

However, the compelling nature of King Carrot's transformation feature does invite repeat viewings. There's just something enjoyable about racking up multiple chosen symbols in free spins, then seeing a bunch of them transform into a big juicy win. It's not just the numerical result, but actually watching the animation of King Carrots eat other symbols when transforming them is highly satisfying.

Carrot symbols are the way. Since all the others max out at 10x the bet, everything non-carrot is pretty much pocket change, and they aren't affected by Epic King Carrot multipliers, either. On the flip side, the features did seem to trigger fairly often, balancing everything out in its medium volatile way. However, we did go through a share of dead spin patches during the review. King Carrot's replayability makes it easy to envisage users coming back to it, though, even if they'd thoroughly played the game, as a light-hearted palette cleanser perhaps or something to kill some time with while waiting in line. Potential is surprisingly high, too, at 10,000x the bet putting King Carrot in the higher Hacksaw slot bracket, so the game can burst under the right conditions.

Hacksaw Gaming are experts at creating simple, charming, playable slots, of which King Carrot is another phenomenal example. It's not one of their high impact games, lacking the depth of Wanted Dead or a Wild, as a comparison, but it has a high replayability factor and is hard not to like.