Stack'em

First Impressions

Picture a cartoon world straight out of an old-school comic strip, complete with chunky, hand-drawn icons and a landscape that wouldn’t look out of place behind a vintage animation. That’s the heart of Stack'em. The reels here feel lively, bouncing up against a green mountain backdrop while Canny the Can, a grinning tin can with big eyes, cheers you on. There’s even a little mouse sidekick named Mona who plays a bigger role than you might expect. The soundtrack is upbeat and surprisingly understated, which keeps things moving without dominating your senses.

Hacksaw Gaming is behind Stack'em. If you know their stuff, you’ll know they’ve made a habit of putting out slots with distinctive looks and simple but bold features. Released in 2021, Stack'em is no exception—it feels both fresh and like a callback to simpler times. There’s a certain old-school energy here, but beneath the surface there’s definitely more going on than you’d find in slots from a decade ago.

Core Gameplay

At its core, Stack'em uses a 5x6 grid. Forget about standard paylines—there are none here. Instead, this game pays out for cluster wins, which means you’re hunting for at least five matching symbols clumped together anywhere on the grid. It gives a bit of a puzzle feel to each spin, especially with the way the symbols tumble and refill after every win.

Betting starts on the low side, with a minimum of €0.20, so it’s approachable if you want to try a Stack'em demo or Stack'em free play before committing cash. On the other end, you can ramp up your stake for bigger potential. The RTP lands at 96.2%, which puts it a hair above the average for most online slots. As for volatility, it’s high—you’ll notice dry spells mixed with sudden, satisfying bursts if you land something big. One spin can feel uneventful, but the next could trigger a flurry of cascading wins, so patience is a must.

There’s also an autoplay option for those who prefer to let the game run on its own, plus a quick spin mode if you like your sessions fast and punchy.

Bonus Features

Wild symbols are the workhorses here. They’ll sub in for anything except scatters, helping turn nearly-wins into actual wins. But the real magic kicks in with the cascades and the win multipliers. Every time you hit a cluster, those winning symbols vanish, and new ones drop from above, often chaining into new combos. It gets better: below each of the five reels, a multiplier ticks up depending on how many winning symbols stack on that reel during a cascade. It stacks fast if things go right, and any wins touching those multipliers get boosted. There’s no feeling quite like watching a chunky win snowball thanks to a surprise x6 or x8 reel multiplier.

Hit three or more Mona scatters and you unlock the free spins round, which gives you five shots at landing something big. What makes free spins different is that there’s now a persistent total win multiplier hanging above the reels, and every win during free spins increases it by the number of matching symbols in your winning cluster. It can grow much faster than you expect, especially if you hit one of the special symbols that drop in just for the bonus.

Inside free spins, look out for two things: the 'X' and the '?'. The X symbol multiplies any connected winning clusters by the total multiplier, which can lead to monster payouts. The question mark symbol spices things up by either giving you more free spins, bumping your multiplier up by a factor of two to five, or straight up adding up to 50 points to your multiplier. It all feels chaotic in a good way, and if luck’s on your side, you might just see those free spins stretch on, getting juicier every round.

Symbols and Payouts

Stack'em uses a set of bold, comic-inspired symbols. You’ll run into royals that have a bit more personality than usual—nothing bland or default about them. The icons that really matter, though, are the thumbs up and the snake, which pay out the most if you manage a cluster of 25 or more. The thumbs up is the top of the heap: get 25+ of them for a fat 200x your stake. The snake isn’t far behind at 100x for the same-sized cluster. Wilds themselves can fill in for almost anything, but don’t pay extra beyond their substituting power. Mona the mouse acts as the scatter, unlocking the game’s most exciting moments in the free spins round. When the symbols start cascading and linking together, and multipliers start to pop, the whole paytable feels like it can explode out of nowhere.

Pretty much everything in Stack'em looks like it jumped out of a hand-drawn comic. Characters have bold outlines, and when you win you’ll see a satisfying burst of animation. It never gets in the way, but it does make each spin feel a little more alive.

Getting Started

Bets are easy to adjust in the game screen—there are up and down arrows somewhere near the bottom. Just decide how much you want to risk per spin. Once you’ve picked your stake, hit the big spin button front and center. If you want to see what’s on offer, there’s a menu (usually three lines in a corner) to open the paytable and see exactly what each symbol is worth and how the bonus features work. Stack'em demo or Stack'em free play is a great way to test the waters without risking anything. Just hit spin and keep an eye out for clumps of matching symbols—those are where the wins come from. Don’t be surprised if the first few spins don’t blow your mind; like most high-volatility games, Stack'em’s best moments often come out of nowhere after a slow buildup.

How It Stacks Up

If cluster slots are your thing, Stack'em sits somewhere between something wild like Jammin’ Jars and simpler games like Reactoonz. Unlike classic fruit machines, though, there’s a real sense of progression here thanks to those multipliers and cascading clusters. If you're used to games like Fire Joker or 777 Burn 'Em Up and want something with a bit more depth—and a lot more volatility—this will hit the spot. And if you’ve played earlier Canny the Can games from Hacksaw, this slot feels like they took the best bits and doubled down.

Stack'em also holds its own against other high-volatility titles in terms of payout. The 10,000x top win is a genuine carrot for risk-takers, and the 6,000x base game payout is nothing to sneeze at either.

Final Thoughts

Stack'em isn’t your regular retro slot. With its sharp, vintage visuals, personality-driven symbols, and a bonus round that can pile on excitement (and multipliers) quicker than most, there’s plenty here to like if you’re into high-risk, high-reward action. The game feels fair—never too stingy, but you’ll know you’re in a high volatility slot when those dry spells hit. When Stack'em pays, it grabs your attention.

For players searching for more of this style, look at other Hacksaw Gaming slots, or give games like Reel King Megaways a spin. And if you just want to figure the game out first, take Stack'em demo mode for a whirl before you dive in. It’s a slot that rewards patience and a bit of guts—exactly what you’d expect from a modern retro slot.