The Jade Path Hold & Win

The Jade Path Hold & Win: Slot Overview

Software provider Hacksaw Gaming has pulled out one of online gambling's cornerstone features, the hold 'n' win round, to bring mechanical entertainment to its jungle-themed adventure, The Jade Path Hold & Win. At a certain point along the way, players are actually able to choose between a hold 'n' win or a sticky wild free spins feature depending on mood and taste, adding a bit of diversity, but advance warning: this does not come across as a slot that Hacksaw Gaming has poured its innovative heart and soul into. However, not every release has to be a debauched bloodletting, so feel free to join us if staying close to the beaten path is a key concern.

With a name like The Jade Path Hold & Win, you'd be forgiven for expecting an Asian-themed slot, considering how important jade is in Chinese culture. But no, in a plot twist, Hacksaw Gaming leads the willing into a Mesoamerican-inspired adventure of headdresses, masks, jaguars and whatnot. A jade-eyed beauty stands next to the grid; that's Queen Aisha, said to be the jungle's fiercest warrior. Her job is not to act as cartoon eye candy, but to guard against trespassers, which she does with relentless vengeance. The game basically bigs her up, and to be fair, she does guard an exotic part of the jungle, even if the background is mostly blurred out and smothered by a giant gaming grid.

The grid itself is a 5x3 matrix, with 9 paylines included to evaluate winning combinations. Rated 3 out of 5, The Jade Path Hold & Win is a medium volatile slot, with four RTPs maxing at 96.19% if always choosing the Warrior Riches bonus, or 96.3% when always picking the Jade Bounty Hold & Win. The stake range is very wide, varying from $/€0.10 to a possible $/€400 per spin.

To the paytable, we find J-A and four character or mask-type symbols. When landing a 5 OAK winning combination, the payout comes to 1x for the royals, or 3x-25x the bet for the high pays. Wilds substitute all regular paying symbols. They land on all reels and pay 25x when 5 wilds create their own winning line.

The Jade Path Hold & Win: Slot Features

The Jade Path Hold & Win's extras consist of a Jade Hold & Win, two bonus rounds pickable from the Bonus Choice, and a collection of feature buys.

Jade Hold & Win

Landing any combination of 3 Coin Orb or Jackpot Orb symbols in the base game triggers the Jade Hold & Win. Three spins are granted, where only Coin Orb, Jackpot Orb, Jaguar Multipliers, and blank symbols may land. When any Orb hits, it sticks to the grid and resets the spin count. Jaguar Multipliers also reset the count. When spins run out, the feature ends. Coin Orbs have a value of 0.2x to 50x, while the five Jackpot Orbs are the 5x Mini, 25x Minor, 250x Major, 500x Mega, and the 2,500x Grand. When a Jaguar Multiplier symbol lands, it activates when there are Coin Orbs in view by applying a multiplier of x2 to x20 to all Coin Orbs. Jackpot Orbs are not affected. Only one Jaguar Multiplier may land at a time. If all positions are filled, all Orbs are paid, they then get removed, and spins are reset to 3.

Bonus Choice

Landing 3 scatters in the base game opens the Bonus Choice menu where players choose Warrior Riches or the Jade Bounty Hold & Win.

• Warrior Riches - 10 free spins are awarded where the Warrior Wild symbol is sticky and stays on the grid till the round ends. When a Jaguar Multiplier lands, it acts as a wild multiplier, and its multiplier is added to all sticky Warrior Wild symbols on that spin if there is a win. Multiplier values are removed at the start of each new free spin. Orbs cannot land, and only one Jaguar Multiplier can land per spin.
• Jade Bounty Hold & Win - Acts as the Jade Hold & Win, plus the grid has at least five special symbols on it from the start, in any combination of Orb symbols and up to one Jaguar Multiplier symbol. All Coin Orb symbols are worth at least 1x.

Feature Buys

The two feature buys are BonusHunt FeatureSpins, which make each spin 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus for 2x, or a Jade Bonus Choice trigger for 100x the stake.

The Jade Path Hold & Win: Slot Verdict

With The Jade Path Hold & Win, it didn't feel like Hacksaw Gaming chose to pour the full measure of its time and effort into coming up with a stunning masterpiece. In some ways, this just didn't feel like a Hacksaw Gaming slot full stop. Masterpiece it is not, and while it plays its assigned role to the best of its ability, by Hacksaw Gaming's standards, The Jade Path Hold & Win is quite weak. Then again, given the twists and turns the developer has made recently, maybe we should expect more of this sort of thing now as Hacksaw Gaming grasps for low-hanging fruit in its bid for online casino domination.

On the sunny side, The Jade Path Hold & Win is not without a measure of exotic jungly charm, even if much remains blurred in the background or covered by a big jackpot-lined grid. What's interesting is that the Warrior Riches feature is arguably as good, maybe even better, than the Hold & Win. It's nothing special, but the Jaguar Multiplier symbol prevents it from being a totally basic sticky wild round. The Jaguar Multiplier helps bring life to the Hold & Win round as well, when they land to increase Coin Orb values. Winning potential is nothing overly special, capped as it is at 2,500x the bet, which is low for Hacksaw Gaming, though possibly on par for the sort of gambling appetite The Jade Path Hold & Win is attempting to satiate.

Can't say there was a lot of satiation happening at the end of the review. The Jade Path Hold & Win looks fine, it's got the sort of features that should fit with a mainstream audience, and while it may have a niche to inhabit in the wider scheme of online gambling entertainment, Hacksaw Gaming OGs are unlikely to be impressed.