Laced: Slot Overview

Never one to steer clear of edgy subject matter, software provider Shady Lady has decided to mash together what many would call two of humanity’s favourite vices—gambling and mind-altering substances—into one tidy package. It’s not the first studio to go down this road; Exco’s mescaline-charged Vegascaline, reviewed not long ago, is one example. This time, though, you’re not hallucinating your way from Barstow to Las Vegas—you’re planted on the sofa, locked into an intense wall-stare through a smoky haze, just vibing out in the online slot Laced.

Slots often come with a companion character, but it’s questionable whether Laced’s lead even registers that anyone else exists. Known as The Dude, this seriously baked, red-eyed stoner in a multi-coloured t-shirt spends his days chomping chippies and brandishing a hefty doobie. The implication is he’s not using marijuana medicinally, but either to commune with beings from beyond—or simply to get wrecked and have totally far-out “deep thoughts,” dude. Some will call that a life wasted; others might argue that grinding away in an office, bleeding your soul out on the commute, is the real sentence. Drop the needle on some dub and tag along with The Dude while you mull it over.

If you can muster the energy to press spin, a 5×6 reel set whirs into action, paying via a 7,776 ways to win system. You won’t always have access to that full count, thanks to Bud symbols clogging up the grid—though they can be cleared. When you dig deep enough to tap the plus/minus buttons, you can choose a stake of $/€0.10 to $/€50, with a selection of boosters and buys available too. Rated Highly volatile, its best of three RTP settings comes in at 96.1%.

Laced’s paying icons include four baggies, an old Nokia-style phone, a slice of pizza, a pipe, a wallet, and a pink elephant. Hitting 5 OAK combinations of these symbols returns 0.5x to 2x the bet. Wild symbols assist by substituting for all standard paying symbols. On top of that, Laced uses a cascading mechanism where winning symbols disappear and new ones drop in, continuing as long as fresh wins keep landing.

Laced: Slot Features

Wrapped up nice and neat, the feature set includes Burning Buds, Laced Buds, a bonus game, a super bonus game, plus a range of choices available through the game’s Store.

Burning Buds

With every spin, sections of the grid are overlaid by Bud symbols that block wins. When a Lighter symbol lands, it activates the Burning Buds feature. Once triggered, a random number of Buds on the grid catch fire and burn away, with each one revealing the same mystery symbol. Occasionally, a burnt Bud exposes an extra Lighter, which sets off a second burn that converts additional Buds into the same mystery symbol.

Laced Buds

Alongside the standard green Buds, Laced Buds can also show up in Purple or Gold. Burning a Laced Bud calls in a flying elephant. Purple Buds award 1×1 Purple Elephants with multipliers of x1, x2, or x3, while Gold Buds award 2×2 Golden Elephants with multipliers of x1, x5, x10, or x100. After Buds are burnt, the elephants you receive land on random positions acting as wilds.

Bonus Game

Landing 3 scatters grants 6 free spins. In the bonus round, more Laced Buds appear, and the chance of landing a Lighter symbol is increased.

Super Bonus Game

Landing 4 scatters awards 8 free spins in the super bonus game. Laced Buds are even more common, and Lighters show up with ‘fiery frequency.’

Store

In the Store, players may purchase the bonus, super bonus, bronze bonus, silver bonus, or gold bonus for 74x, 237x, 127x, 347x, or 1,596x the bet, respectively. You can also buy the best 3 outcomes from 100, 300, or 500 spins for 79x, 204x, or 312x the bet, respectively, or pick up Loot Boxes priced from 186x to 571x. Boosters are available too: the Bonus Boost at 1.5x and the Big Bonus Boost at 5x both raise the chances of triggering features, while the 25x Lighter Boost guarantees a Lighter symbol appears on every spin.

Laced: Slot Verdict

You hear “on roids” used for everything—the Belgian Blue is basically a cow on roids, a cat’s zoomies are feline energy on roids, and so on—but “on weed” isn’t a phrase you come across often. There’s a first time for everything, because “on weed” fits the thick, hotboxed fog of a slot that is Laced. This isn’t a game that merely winks at 420 culture; it dives in, claims a comfy spot on the couch, and refuses to budge all afternoon. While it’s undeniably funny—and for some reason it reminded me of Nolimit City’s The Rave (just with different chemicals in the spotlight)—the constant drug nods won’t be everyone’s cup of matcha.

Unless you’re into mystery symbol reveals, because Laced leans heavily on them. Mystery symbols have been a slot mainstay for ages, but they can sometimes feel like a minor add-on, thrown in late just to pad out the feature list. In Laced, the whole experience is basically built around clearing Buds off the reels to uncover matching symbols. The approach here is a bit more involved than a typical reveal, though. First, you need a Lighter symbol to kick things off. And since Buds appear on every spin, reveals can, in theory, happen at any moment—as long as Lighters land. It’s straightforward but potentially punchy: with thousands of ways to win, flipping a grid full of matching pay symbols could be seriously rewarding. The special Purple and Gold Buds can add even more, since they don’t just reveal wilds, but wild multipliers too, along with the much-hyped 2×2 Gold Elephant.

Without those special Buds, it could be harder to push through the stretches where Laced starts to feel a touch samey. That said, land a couple of Lighters, clear out the grid, and chunky hits can happen, up to a maximum of 20,000x the stake. Laced isn’t as packed with extras as a mystery-symbol-heavy slot like Iron Bank 2, but it’s a fun pick for players who like daring themes, simple mechanics, and a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.