Densho Slot Features

Drawn on vertical stripes of parchment is a 5x4 grid that awards prizes for matching at least 3 symbols on any of the 10 pay lines. To qualify for a payout, every combination must begin from the leftmost side of the board and continue rightwards along adjacent columns. Regular wins comprising low-value Japanese letters will pay from 0.1 to 2 times the bet while lading a sequence of premium symbols depicted by a bridge, a stork, an owl, a woman, and a samurai awards from 1 to 20 times. A standard Wild appears on all reels and substitutes for all pay icons during win evaluation. A full 5-of-a-kind line of it pays 20 times the bet.

Wild Multiplier Reels

The game offers three types of Densho symbols that can land on any reel yet are limited to only one instance per column. Densho symbols expand to cover the entire reel and award multipliers depending on their type:

• Common Densho: 2x - 10x
• Rare Densho: 5x - 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, or 50x
• Legendary Densho: 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, or 100x

All displayed multipliers are added together before applying to any line wins present.

Densho Free Spins & Super Free Spins

Landing 3 or 4 FS Scatter symbols in the same spin activates the bonus or super bonus, respectively. Both rounds start with 10 free spins and introduce a 3-point tracker above each reel, indicating the minimum guaranteed type of the Densho symbol landing on that column. In the regular version, all trackers start with 1 point, while in the super variant, with 2 points. Trackers can be increased by scoring an Upgrade symbol on the respective reel. Landing 2 or 3 FS Scatters in either bonus awards 2 or 4 extra spins.

Bonus Buy

Players can choose to activate various features instantly for a fixed buy-in. The following options are available in the Bonus Buy menu:

• Bonushunt spins with a 5-times higher chance to trigger free spins for 3 x bet
• Densho spins with at least 2 Densho symbols guaranteed for 50 x bet
• Standard Free Spins for 100 x bet
• Super Free Spins for 250 x bet

Final Thoughts

If the atmosphere and the overall audiovisual experience are something you appreciate in a slot, Densho will undoubtedly fulfill most artistic expectations. Of course, provided the strong Japanese vibe is not a dealbreaker. However, we feel that even players who aren't too affectionate toward Asian themes may easily submerge themselves in this beautifully painted world. Watching the backdrop's sides randomly change to different landscapes while stunning watercolor symbols roll along the parchment reels, sometimes expanding to create an entirely new image together, is a genuinely unique scene. As far as classic Japanese themes go, this is a masterpiece.

The slot's technical side revolves around Hacksaw's most popular mechanics based on expanding Wilds with random multipliers. Naturally, the feature can't be called a novelty since it's been used by multiple providers on many occasions, but one can't argue that it simply works and makes its potential clearly visible from the get-go. It has proven itself numerous times in the studio's earlier productions like Wanted Dead or a Wild, and it seems the producers still believe there's an appetite for it.