Ancient Paws: Slot Overview

Spend enough time collaborating with a heavyweight like Hacksaw Gaming, and some ideas are bound to carry over. One mechanic studio Bullshark Games seems to have absorbed from working closely with its bigger-name partner is the powerful spreading wild with multiplier concept, a familiar hallmark in Hacksaw Gaming titles. Bullshark Games brings that idea into a dog-led, archaeology-inspired slot called Ancient Paws, and alongside the expanding, multiplying wild action, the free spins round also introduces a sticky/roaming twist.

Thanks to games such as NetEnt’s legendary Gonzo’s Quest (plus plenty of others), most online players already know the vibe of wagering in this kind of setting—those Central/South American regions tied to ancient cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs. What you don’t see every day is a canine running the dig, and here it’s a charming little fluffball sporting an Indiana Jones-style hat and the rest. Beyond the friendly pup, Ancient Paws looks pleasing overall, with crisp lines and bold, chunky artwork.

Ancient Paws keeps things rocky as stone block symbols drop into a 5×4 stone-framed grid, with wins checked across 14 paylines. Bullshark rates volatility at 4 out of 5, placing it in a medium-high bracket, and the default RTP—when staking 10 c to $/€100 per base game spin—sits at 96.16%.

There are ten paying symbols on the reels; five are 10 to A card ranks, and the other five include hats, lamps, compasses, binoculars, and maps. Landing royal 5 OAK combinations returns 0.3-0.5 times the bet, while premium 5 OAK hits pay 0.8 to 2 times the bet. Whenever wilds appear, they can substitute for any standard paying symbol.

Ancient Paws: Slot Features

Multiplier Expanding Wild symbols are one of Ancient Paws’ core mechanics, showing up in the base game and again in the Trail of Treats bonus round, where they move around the grid.

Expanding Wild Symbols

Silver Expanding Wild symbols grow to cover 1×2 or half a reel. Golden Expanding Wild symbols expand to 1×4 or an entire reel. As they expand, both types can be assigned a random multiplier of x2 to x100. If 2 or more Expanding Wild symbols land on the same reel and overlap, they merge into a fully stacked wild, with their multipliers combined by adding them together.

Multiplier Adder Symbol

When a Multiplier Adder symbol appears, it adds 1 to 3 multipliers on top of the random Expanding Wild symbols—provided Expanding Wilds are currently visible. The possible values run from x2 to x100. Multiplier Adder symbols convert to wild symbols.

Trail of Treats

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters in the base game triggers the bonus and awards 8, 10, or 12 free spins, respectively. If activated with 5 scatters, at least 1 Expanding Wild is guaranteed on the opening spin. In free spins, Expanding Wild symbols are persistent until the feature ends, and on every spin they shift to a new random position. Any Expanding Wilds that overlap merge into one symbol and add their multipliers together. Each scatter collected during the feature grants +1 free spin.

Feature Buys

From the bonus buy menu, choosing BonusHunt FeatureSpins makes each spin 5 times more likely to trigger the free spins feature for 3x the bet. Paw-tential Riches FeatureSpins are priced at 50x and guarantee at least 2 wild symbols. For 150x, players can purchase the Trail of Treats feature triggered by 8, 10, or 12 scatter symbols.

Ancient Paws: Slot Verdict

Putting an animal in human clothes and having it act like us can be a curious way to reflect on ourselves. If a dog archaeologist headed out on an expedition, it would probably care more about uncovering bones to chew, discovering new smells, or earning a satisfying chin scratch in a fresh place. Humans, meanwhile, chase gold, jewels, artefacts, and the prestige that comes with major finds. What that reveals about our species is anyone’s guess—beyond the fact that we’re wired very differently from dogs and look for thrills in other ways.

Thankfully, Ancient Paws offers plenty of those thrills. Much of that comes down to the expanding wild multipliers, which can instantly turn a dead spin into a meaningful one. They’re valuable in the base game as they expand, multiply, and merge, but they can be even more potent—paw-tentially, at least—during free spins because they stay on the screen until the feature finishes. That stickiness is balanced out by the merge mechanic, which comes with pros and cons. The upside is clear: wilds move, substitute, and multiply, which is hard to complain about. On the other hand, merging 2 or more wild reels into 1 can arguably make it harder for that single wild to connect with wins compared to having several wild reels roaming at once. The multiplier total does stack up on the merged reel, and the merging can also open space for more to land. Either way, credit to Bullshark Games for building in variety.

Adding to that—and achievable in any mode—Ancient Paws’ 15,000x max win shows that its specific rule set can absolutely explode under the right conditions. Early on, it seemed possible Ancient Paws might sit closer to Backseat Gaming’s The Cursed King, and while both lean heavily on expanded wild multipliers, they’re different enough to coexist while providing distinct routes to entertainment.