Hardwell

If you’re a fan of EDM, you’ve probably heard of Hardwell. A man who’s won the world’s number one DJ title not once, but twice, and continues to be active in the music scene.

He’s covered a wide range of genres, though his main focus has always been house music. And today, he receives his highest honor yet: being the star of a Stakelogic slot!

Hardwell Slot Review

This game is played on a five reel board, where each reel is three symbols tall. There are a total of twenty five fixed paylines, which cannot be turned on or off. To win, collect three or more identical icons in adjacent positions, starting with the leftmost reel. All wins must follow one of the currently active paylines, or their cash prize won’t be awarded to the player.

One look at the special features may seem intimidating at first, but don’t worry! It’s all quite simple, really. First off, there’s a free spins round that can have one of four reel upgrades active. These upgrades include multipliers, reels paying both ways, Wild fruits and expanding Wilds. There’s also a Super Spin bonus full of mystery symbols that creates a guaranteed win.

Theme & Symbols

We had hoped for something similar to NetEnt’s Guns and Roses release, which could serve as an introduction for new fans. In that slot, you had multiple songs and could swap freely between them. Something like that could have been cool for Hardwell, too. What better way to promote the artist than to let online gamblers listen to his best tracks while spinning the reels?

Hats off to StakeLogic, they made one gorgeous looking background! A fog machine creates these cool silver clouds above the dancing crowd. Massive screens in the background create various blocks which serve as cool décor for the player. The developers go out of their way to immerse you into feeling like you’re a DJ performing for a crowd!

Available icon designs include neon fruits and equipment you’ll need to be an international EDM sensation! We’re not huge fans of the fruits, but we do like their neon design. The headphones, decks and massive speakers also look quite cool. The top paying symbol in this release is Hardwell, at 20x your total stake.

How to Play Hardwell

You play this slot on a 5×3 board with 25 fixed paylines, which only pay left to right. The game has a medium variance and a jackpot worth 2500x your total stake. Of course, to actually win that amount, you’d have to get really lucky. Fortunately, the free spins round makes it possible thanks to its reel upgrades!

The best part about free spins is that you can retrigger them, including their reel upgrades… kind of. Some reel upgrades do carry over, such as fruits become Wild on reel three and expanding Wilds. But the most lucrative ones, like pays both ways and the multiplier are only effective during the initial activation. So if you’re going to land a big win, cross your fingers that it happens while you have all your upgrades active!

Changing your total bet in this StakeLogic release is quite simple. Click the Total Bet button to reveal coin value and bet per payline. By adjusting both of these, you also change the total stake you pay with each spin. In Hardwell, you can bet between €0.25 and €50 on each spin, which benefits casual gamblers and high rollers alike.

Bonus Features

• Free Spins

Collect two or three Scatters on reels one, three or five to win ten or twenty free spins. Two or three Scatters also means you will have two or three reel upgrades active at the same time! This bonus can be retriggered by collecting even a single Scatter in the right position!

• Reel Upgrades

There are four upgrades in total, and only three can be active at once. These include:

• Multiplier: All winning combinations are multiplied by a number between 2x and 10x.
• Pays Both Ways: While this upgrade is active, wins are granted both left to right and right to left. You can’t have this upgrade active at the same time as the 10x multiplier.
• Wild Fruit: A fruit icon on the reels is randomly chosen to become Wild, but only on the third reel.
• Expanding Wilds: All regular Wilds become expanding Wilds, which means they will cover the reel they landed on. This does not apply to Wild Fruits.
• Super Spin

Each time a golden disc appears, it will lock on to the reels. When you collect between six and fifteen of these symbols, they will all transform into the same regular icon. This special feature creates a guaranteed win. It may not always be the biggest score, but guaranteed it’s better than nothing!

Payouts

Hardwell has a medium variance and a jackpot worth 2500x your total stake. The slot has an RTP of 96.04%, which is barely above the current industry average.