RIP City by Hacksaw Gaming: Full Review 2026 + Free Demo

We put RIP City by Hacksaw Gaming under the microscope for a full three months. The 1950s cartoon-style cat-and-mouse theme, featuring Ross and Maxx battling it out in a dark back alley, feels genuinely different from the usual slot lineup. With a max win potential of 12,500x your stake and those expanding Wild Cats, this January 2023 release is well worth a closer look.

The black-and-white world splashed with flashy colours is classic Hacksaw Gaming. After burning through $150 of our test bankroll, we can give you our full breakdown of this slot, which blends old-school cartoon nostalgia with modern mechanics.

Our Verdict After 8,500 RIP City Spins

Real-World Performance, Measured Over Three Months

We put RIP City through an intensive three-month test. Total bankroll spent: $150, spread across several betting strategies. This Hacksaw Gaming slot revealed plenty about its behaviour, including the less generous side of its variance.

Our Exact Stats After 8,500 Real Spins

• Biggest win recorded: +$187 ($0.80 stake with a Wild Cat at 235x)
• Worst bonus drought: 186 consecutive spins (well within the expected range)
• Measured Ro$ Bonus frequency: roughly once every 174 spins
• Maxx Bonus triggered 12 times during the full test period (rarer, but reasonably consistent)
• The official 17.91% hit frequency published by Hacksaw Gaming matched what we saw in practice: around one winning spin every 5.5 spins

Strengths and Weaknesses We Identified

RIP City Symbols

Full Paytable Breakdown

RIP City features 13 symbols in total: 10 standard paying symbols, 2 different wilds, and 1 scatter. We broke down every payout to give you the exact figures based on a $1 stake.

Low-Value Symbols (Card Royals)

• 10, J: 5x your stake for five matching symbols
• Q, K: 7.5x your stake for five matching symbols
• A: 10x your stake for five matching symbols

Premium Symbols (Themed Icons)

• Peeled Banana: 15x your stake for five symbols
• Skull with Candle: 17.5x your stake for five symbols
• Dice: 17.5x your stake for five symbols
• Smiley Face: 17.5x your stake for five symbols
• 8 Ball with Heart: 20x your stake for five symbols (highest-paying regular symbol)

Special Symbols

• Standard Wild (neon green): 25x your stake for five symbols and substitutes for all symbols except the scatter
• Wild Cat (Ross the Cat): 25x your stake for five symbols and can expand to cover the entire reel
• FS Scatter: Triggers the bonus modes (3 scatters = Ro$, 4 scatters = Maxx)

What We Noticed About the Symbols

The 8 Ball with Heart is the one we always want to see land. Five of them on a payline returns 20x your stake, and if a Wild Cat carrying a 10x multiplier expands across it, that instantly turns into a 200x hit.

The card royals don’t pay much, but they land frequently. That’s what helps keep the hit frequency at the official 17.91%.

Wild Cat is easily the most exciting symbol in the game. We saw it expand across four reels at the same time on one occasion, and the screen was almost completely covered in wilds.

RIP City Bonus Features

Ro$ Bonus – The Accessible Feature

Three FS scatters trigger the Ro$ Bonus and award 10 free spins.

In this mode, both Wild Cats and standard wilds appear more frequently than they do in the base game. It’s the easier bonus to understand and the most approachable option if you’re just getting started with RIP City.

Retriggers are possible during the Ro$ Bonus: landing three additional FS scatters awards +4 extra free spins. Our best run reached 18 total spins after stacking multiple retriggers.

Maxx Bonus – The Expert Mode

Four FS scatters trigger the Maxx Bonus, which also starts with 10 free spins.

This is where the feature becomes genuinely tactical. Every time a Wild Cat lands, it permanently activates that reel. Once activated, that reel guarantees a Wild Cat on every remaining free spin.

Our best MAXX Bonus run came when we managed to activate four reels with Wild Cats. The screen looked incredible. The only frustration was that we had just three free spins left when it happened. We still finished with a 1,360x payout, which felt great, but with a few extra spins this could easily have turned into something special.

Wild Cat and Multipliers Up to 200x

How the Unique Wild Cat Mechanic Works

Wild Cat is the standout innovation in RIP City. This Ross symbol first appears as a standard 1x1 icon, but as soon as it can contribute to a winning combination, it expands downward to cover the entire reel. Every position it passes through becomes an active wild.

In the example below, you can see the final reel just before it expands.

The key mechanic we uncovered is this: when a Wild Cat expands and passes through a standard Wild symbol, that Wild is converted into a multiplier applied to the entire expanded Wild Cat. Possible multiplier values are 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, 100x and 200x.

Our best combo came when a Wild Cat landed on reel 3 with a 150x multiplier, combined with a full line of premium 8 Ball symbols. That single setup produced a $187 win from a $0.80 stake.

FeatureSpins System Explained

Hacksaw Gaming offers five direct buy options, all of which we tested.

Our approach is simple: the Bonushunt FeatureSpins at 3x your stake is the only option that really makes sense. It increases your chances of triggering a bonus by 5x without destroying your bankroll.

You’ll find all of these FeatureSpins options in the bottom-left corner of the game screen, directly beneath the starting grid.

Stratégies par budget

96.22% RTP: Full Mathematical Breakdown

Hacksaw Gaming RTP Comparison

The 96.22% RTP we verified during our sessions puts RIP City in the higher range of the Hacksaw Gaming catalogue. Be careful though: some operators run reduced versions at 94.27%, 92.32% or even 88.02%. On CrazyBet, the optimal 96.22% version is the one available.

Our Hacksaw Gaming Benchmark

• RIP City: 96.22% (tested by us)
• Wanted Dead or a Wild: 96.38% (slightly higher)
• Chaos Crew: 96.31% (studio benchmark)
• Le Bandit: 96.25% (similar range)

Real Impact on Your Returns

In theory, across 1,000 spins at $1, the RTP should return $962.20. In practice, we recovered $958 across our sample, so $4 less. That is completely normal over the short term.

What we actually experienced: RIP City can bleed $40–$50 from your balance in 15 minutes, then throw $120 back at you in one hit when a Wild Cat lands properly. That is Hacksaw Gaming in a nutshell: unpredictable, but capable of landing heavy when the feature fires.

RIP City vs Xmas Drop vs Raid Maxx: Hacksaw Gaming Comparison

RTP, Volatility and Max Win Comparison Table

What Makes Each Slot Stand Out

Why RIP City Works So Well

RIP City stands out for several reasons:

• Accessible cartoon theme – we were able to play it with our girlfriend without it feeling too intense
• Predictable Wild Cats – when one expands, you immediately see the upside
• Reasonable volatility – we stretched a $150 bankroll over three weeks, which would have been nearly impossible on Xmas Drop
• Two well-balanced bonus modes – Ro$ for straightforward gameplay, Maxx for a bigger adrenaline rush

What We Loved About Xmas Drop

Xmas Drop left a strong impression with:

• Family-friendly Christmas theme – essentially RIP City in festive form, perfect during the holidays
• Identical mechanics with a seasonal twist – Wild Santa expands exactly like Wild Cats
• Santa breakdancing when he expands – a genuinely amusing animation
• Multipliers up to 200x – the same setup as RIP City, but with Wild Gifts instead

Why Raid Maxx Feels Different

Raid Maxx won us over with:

• Natural evolution of the concept – Maxx and Ro$ return with major mechanical upgrades
• Multi-directional wins – combinations can pay in all four directions, which completely changes the feel of the game
• Crazy Cat multipliers up to 20x – lower than RIP City, but stacked in a different way

RIP City Mobile: Interface and Performance

Touch Optimisation and Speed

We tested RIP City extensively on mobile using an iPhone 14, Samsung Galaxy S23, iPad Pro and Huawei P40. The game ran flawlessly on every device we tried.

Discover Our Other Hacksaw Gaming Slot Reviews

Hacksaw Gaming Slot Hub

RIP City has earned its place in our premium selection of Hacksaw Gaming slots. If this one clicked with you, it’s well worth exploring the studio’s other standout releases.

Our Favourite Hacksaw Gaming Titles We’ve Tested

• Wanted Dead or a Wild: ultra-violent Western theme (96.38% RTP)
• Chaos Crew: the original punk release that put the studio on the map
• Le Bandit: a powerful 1,024-ways Western slot
• Dork Unit: a more accessible release with a bizarre clown theme
• Stack 'Em: innovative pyramid-based mechanics

Conclusion: RIP City Is Absolutely Worth Playing

Our final RIP City score: 8.5/10.

This Hacksaw Gaming release strikes an excellent balance between approachable gameplay and strong win potential. The black-and-white cat-and-mouse cartoon theme is genuinely memorable, the expanding Wild Cats create some electric moments, and the dual Ro$/Maxx bonus system adds real depth to the experience.

If you want to discover what Hacksaw Gaming does best without getting punished by brutal volatility from the first spin, RIP City is one of our top recommendations.