Joker Bombs (Hacksaw Gaming) RTP review: 96.48% (configurable)
Skip if: 5,000x feels like a toy cap next to the five-figure numbers everywhere else on this site
Joker Bombs is Hacksaw playing against type, and it works. The pitch to a value-minded reader is immediate: a 96.48% default — sitting near the very top of the studio's published range — attached to a genuinely medium 3/5 profile with roughly one spin in four connecting. The fairground-themed 6x5 board pays scatter-style (eight or more matching symbols anywhere), winners vanish, replacements tumble in, and the game's namesake bombs do the damage: standard bombs revealing multipliers up to 50x, and epic bombs that multiply the round's entire total.
The Bonanza formula, retuned
Yes, the architecture is recognizably the one Pragmatic Play popularized with Sweet Bonanza and the Gates series — anywhere-pays, tumbles, multiplier objects, no conventional wild. What Hacksaw changed is the tuning: a materially higher default return than those rivals typically ship, cleaner carnival art, and a firmly capped 5,000x that concedes the moonshot in exchange for a distribution ordinary bankrolls can survive. The epic bomb's total-multiplying effect gives free-spin rounds their spike potential without demanding the 21,000x-style tail that inflates variance elsewhere in the genre.
Ladder, buy, and the fine print
Big Win Board documents operator builds at 96.48 / 94.11 / 92.36 / 88.14, with the 100x feature buy a whisker below default at 96.46%. The four-point drop to the second rung is steeper than the studio's usual two, so a downgraded version hurts more here than most — the game's entire pitch is that top figure. Confirmation lives where it always does, in the client's own info pages, and the buy never appears on GB-licensed sites under UK rules.
Where it fits in the catalogue
Nothing else in-house occupies this exact niche; the adjacent picks trade off differently. King Carrot offers similar gentleness with a 10,000x cap but a lower 96.30% figure and cluster rather than scatter pays; Densho takes the headline crown at 96.40% but pairs it with genuinely violent free spins. Joker Bombs is the compromise-free middle: high figure, low drama, honest about its modest peak.
| Slot | Provider | RTP | Volatility | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joker Bombs (this slot) | Hacksaw Gaming | 96.48% | Medium | 5,000x |
| Wanted Dead or a Wild | Hacksaw Gaming | 96.38% | High | 12,500x |
| Le Bandit | Hacksaw Gaming | 96.34% | Medium | 10,000x |
| Hand of Anubis | Hacksaw Gaming | 96.24% | High | 10,000x |
| Chaos Crew | Hacksaw Gaming | 96.30% | High | 10,000x |
The carnival closes
3.4 out of 5 — deliberately fractionally under our standard mark, because the 5,000x cap does narrow its audience and the second-rung drop is unusually punishing if you land on it. On the default build, though, this is arguably the best sustained-play scatter game the studio makes: a 3.5% edge, constant motion, and bombs that mean it.