Hi-Lo: Slot Overview

Long before software provider Hacksaw Gaming became a major force in online slots, the studio produced other gambling formats, including scratch cards. And even though hits like Wanted Dead or a Wild and Hand of Anubis have helped define its slot catalogue, the developer hasn’t abandoned alternative ways to wager. That’s where Hi-Lo comes in. As part of Hacksaw Gaming’s Dare2Win range, Hi-Lo is a straightforward gambling game that players can pick up in seconds.

Hi-Lo is nothing like an online slot and is instead played with standard playing cards in the physical world. The aim is to bet on outcomes that are essentially binary. In other words, simplicity is the core idea, and that carries through to Hi-Lo’s look and feel. The play area is basically a large card with an arrow in the top-right corner, a Bet button underneath, and four wagering choices positioned on either side of the card. A few control-panel elements sit off to the side, but overall it’s minimalist gambling that strips away anything unnecessary so you can focus on testing your luck—backed by a laid-back, almost tropical soundtrack.

There also isn’t a huge amount to unpack from a stats perspective. Volatility is listed as ‘Variable’, so it doesn’t reveal much on its own. RTP is clearer, with Hi-Lo available in six different models featuring different return values. The top version sits at 98%, while the lowest is 88%, with four options in between. For staking, the minimum bet is 20 p/c, increasing in set steps before reaching a maximum of $/€100.

Hi-Lo: Slot Features

Here’s how Hi-Lo works. To begin with, if you’re not happy with the card on the screen, you can skip it as many times as you want for free by pressing the arrow button in the top-right corner. Once you’re satisfied with the card shown, hitting the Bet button launches a live round. While a round is in progress, there are limits placed on how many cards you may skip. When it’s time to place your wager, you’ll have four options to pick from:

• Black – a guess that the next card will be a black card.
• Red – a guess that the next card will be a red card.
• Higher or the same – a guess the next card will be of a higher value than the current card or the same. King is the highest-value card in Hi-Lo.
• Lower or the same – a guess the next card will be of a lower value than the current card or the same. Ace is the lowest card value in Hi-Lo.

Beside each betting button you’ll see two numbers—essentially the potential win and the odds of being correct. When you guess right, the collectable amount increases accordingly. After a successful guess, you can collect this amount before making another prediction, and doing so ends the current game round. An incorrect guess also brings the round to a close. After that, you can start a fresh game round.

One extra detail: each next card is picked from a full deck of cards. That means the same card can appear twice in a row, and the probability of any card isn’t influenced by previous cards or the card currently displayed.

Hi-Lo: Slot Verdict

People have been gambling for ages, and Hi-Lo’s style of wagering made us wonder what the very first bet might have been. Of course, we’ll never know, and given how far back it would have happened, all we can do is imagine: ‘I’ll bet you 3 arrows it rains tomorrow,’ or maybe ‘I’ll see your 3 arrows and raise you 2 bushels of wheat that it not only doesn’t rain tomorrow but a stampede of woolly mammoths will charge across the tundra.’ Or even, ‘Whatever, I’ll see you, plus also wager that next week writing is invented and the ice age ends.’ And on it goes, right up to today, where countless gambling choices are available with a click or a tap.

Within that universe of options sits Hacksaw Gaming’s take on Hi-Lo. And for a simple card game—one that offers a little more going on than you might expect—Hi-Lo could be worth checking out. It’s an easy-to-grasp experience. Most of the time, you’re simply predicting the colour, or whether the next card will be the same or higher, or the same or lower. Straightforward. Then it’s just a couple of clicks to put the wagers in motion. Hi-Lo adds extra intrigue by allowing players to skip cards they don’t want. That option can create a sense of control, even if how real that control is can be debated. Still, it’s satisfying to skip until you land on a 2, for instance, and then hammer the Higher Or Same button. The odds change depending on how likely your choice is to hit or miss, though—so you can also go bold and pick Lower Or Same when a 3 is showing, for example.

At its peak, Hi-Lo offers a maximum win of 5,000x the bet, leaving plenty of space for luck and brave calls to meet. Or not. Either way, Hi-Lo is an entertaining diversion for a time, although its simplicity can be viewed as both a strength and a drawback.