Danny Dollar: Slot Overview
Around mid-2024, the gambling world was introduced, courtesy of developer Hacksaw Gaming, to Donny Dough, a fun-loving kind of guy with literal dollar signs in his eyes. Apparently, Donny was only one half of the Cash Kings, and you’re about to meet his brother, Danny Dollar. Staring in a slot of the same name, Danny might share some commonalities with his brother, but features aren’t exactly one of them. We’re not heading into entirely brand new territory, though, as Danny Dollar pulls in one or two ideas from previous Hacksaw Gaming slots as it drops expanded wilds with multipliers, Nudge symbols, and a couple of bonus rounds into players’ lap for their approval, or dismissal.
It appears that Danny shares the same love of the limelight as his sibling Donny. This guy also sports dollar sign eyes and looks like some sort of money-motivated ringmaster or MC at a show as he bobs around beside a gaming grid in a heavily curtained stage-like environment. The artwork possesses a vaguely Cuphead, 1930s animated cartoon look, and the whole show exudes slapstick sass. While the two games clearly look related, similarities are in some ways only skin deep, for Danny Dollar delivers a different kind of gaming experience.
Danny Dollar’s 5×5 reelset comes equipped with 19 paylines for evaluating winning combinations from the leftmost side across adjacent reels. Rated 4 out of 5, or medium-high, Danny Dollar is a more volatile slot than its bro, though the RTP is slightly lower at 96.21% at its highest return configuration. When choosing a bet, the stake range is 10 c to $/€100 per spin, as it usually is in a Hacksaw Gaming slot.
Shiney 10 through Ace card ranks are joined by coins, coins and notes, hats of dough, drums of dough, and giant gems on Danny Dollar’s hierarchy of pay symbols. Royal 5 OAK wins pay 2 times the bet no matter the type, and a line of 5 matching premiums pays 5 to 10 times the bet. Wilds are present on all reels. They substitute all paying symbols and award 10x when 5 of them land in a line.
Danny Dollar: Slot Features
For features, Danny Dollar rolls our Dollar-Reels, Nudge symbols, a Dollar Dash bonus, a No Bills, No Thrills bonus, and feature buys.
Dollar-Reels
When a Danny symbol hits, it expands into a Wild Dollar-Reel – if the expanded wild would be part of a win. Danny symbols only expand upwards to the top of the reels, and those that do not expand count as a single wild symbol. Only one Danny symbol may land on a reel at a time, and if a Dollar-Reel expands through a wild symbol, a multiplier is applied to the entire Dollar-Reel of x2 to x200 in value.
Nudge Symbol
Any Nudge symbols on the reels activate after all Dollar-Reels have expanded. After activating, they nudge all Dollar-Reels on the grid downwards by one row.
Dollar Dash Bonus Game
Landing 3 FS scatters in the base game triggers 10 free Dollar Dash spins. This feature is played using Reel Indicators, which are markers on each reel displaying the position where a Danny symbol last landed and activated. Any new Danny symbol on the same reel cannot land higher than the marked position. If a new Danny symbol lands below the marker, the marker moves to the new position. In both bonus rounds, landing 2 or 3 FS scatters awards +2 or +4 free spins.
No Bills, No Thrills Bonus Game
Landing 4 FS scatters in the base game triggers 10 free No Bills, No Thrills spins. This feature also has the same mechanics as the base game with the addition of a Progressive Global Multiplier. All Dollar-Reel Multipliers are stored in a Progressive Global Multiplier that is always active and applies to all wins.
Feature Buys
Danny Dollar provides four feature buys. They are BonusHunt FeatureSpins for 3x the bet, where each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game and Danny FeatureSpins for 50x that guarantee at least 3 Danny symbols land on each spin. Buying the Dollar Dash costs 100x, while No Bills, No Thrills has a price tag of 300x.
Danny Dollar: Slot Verdict
So, Danny or Donny? Interestingly, despite sharing visual similarities and familial blood, they’re not exactly two sides of the same coin, or dollar bill, as it were. The first surprise was to see LootLines/Multi-Dough symbols left out of the game. Like, they’re totally absent. Not that Danny had to bring them back or anything, but shunning them entirely was not expected. What was less of a shock was to see Danny symbols expanding to the top of the reel, producing multiplier values if they passed through a wild symbol on the way. Amongst other things, this effect brought to mind Fist of Destruction, which triggers a very similar, if not bang on the same sort of action.
No major complaints about the feature, though. Expanded wilds with a multiplier of up to x200 on them are nothing to sniff at. Danny Dollar improves on the idea, too, by tossing Nudge symbols on the reels, improving the reach of expanded Dollar-Reels by dropping them down a row. Simple but clever. The Dollar Dash bonus game mutates off this idea with the introduction of the Reel Indicator markers. Charming, but No Bills, No Thrills is where players really want to be due to the Global Win Multiplier. Again, this is not the most original idea Hacksaw Gaming ever had, but it is effective nonetheless. Its possible potency is reflected in the significant cost difference between the two bonus buys.
The final potential deal maker or breaker is, drum roll, a max win of 12,500x, which is 25% greater than the figure slapped on Donny Dough. Once the stars or dollar signs or whatever have cleared from the eyes, Danny Dollar is a well-made slot, not as uniquely innovative as its brother, perhaps, but a chunky double cheeseburger and fries type game that’s easy to enjoy if a little on the mass production line side, mechanically speaking.
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