Mayan Stackways: Slot Overview

The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica, a region many regard as one of the world’s key cradles of civilisation. Depending on who you ask, other cradles across the globe include Ancient Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Curiously, these historic settings haven’t only nurtured civilisations—they’ve also become rich inspiration for online slot creation. In Mayan Stackways, the action shifts to the heart of the American continent, delivered by software provider Hacksaw Gaming.

Mayan-themed slots are hardly rare, but few come across as quite as intense as Mayan Stackways. A big reason is the snarling undead zombie chieftain looming on the right side of the screen. Without him, Mayan Stackways could easily blend in with countless other Mayan/Aztec titles, since the rest of the scene is classic genre material: dense jungle and ornate stone carvings. On tablet or mobile, the display crops out the zombie figure, which strips away a lot of the game’s personality. Hacksaw Gaming switches from playful to menacing with ease, and on desktop Mayan Stackways sits alongside titles like Hand of Anubis or Stormforged in terms of overall mood.

Digging further into Mayan Stackways reveals a math model with a general volatility rating of 4 out of 5 or medium-high, although this can shift depending on the feature buy selected. RTP can also differ, with the default set at 96.23% when staking 10 p/c to $/€100 per paid spin. Gameplay runs on a 5-reel, 4-row grid set against a stone wall, using a win-all-ways pay system instead of paylines, and it can expand to 100,000 payways. Wins are created when matching symbols land on adjacent reels starting from the left side of the grid.

Hitting five matching pay symbols across all five reels returns 0.7 times the bet for the low-pay 10 to A card ranks, or 2 to 4 times the bet for the three high-pay animal statues and two high-pay character symbols. Mayan Stackways does not have a wild, though several other special symbols appear at different stages of play.

Mayan Stackways: Slot Features

Among these special symbols is the Stackways symbol, widely seen as Mayan Stackways’ standout idea and one of the most important mechanics in the entire game. Alongside Stackways, watch for Stack Spins, Mayan Gold Bonus feature, A Golden Opportunity, and the bonus buys

Stackways

Any time a Stackways symbol appears, it stacks 2 to 10 symbols of the same kind on each reel where it lands. More symbols means more winning routes, and at maximum potential it can enable up to 100,000 winning ways. The game selects the symbol that would produce the longest win line to stack. If multiple symbols meet the criteria, one is randomly chosen. Stacking only happens when it would create a win, and only one symbol type is stacked at a time across all reels.

Stack Spins

Landing 3 Skull scatter symbols in the base game awards 10 free Stack Spins. During Stack Spins, there is a higher chance of landing Stackways symbols. In addition, landing the Reel Activator symbol activates its reel, guaranteeing a Stackways symbol lands on that reel for the remainder of the round. Getting 3 Skull symbols grants an additional 4 free spins.

Mayan Gold Bonus Feature

Hitting 4 Skull scatter symbols in the base game starts this feature. The goal here is to land Coin symbols, because each Coin contributes its value to a reel counter above it. Bronze coins can be worth 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5; Silver Coins can be worth 10, 15, or 20; and Gold Coins can be worth 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 500, or 1000. Landing a multiplier symbol multiplies the number above the reel it lands on by 2, 3, 4, or 5.

When a Stackways symbol lands, it fills its reel with Coins, and each Coin adopts the value shown above that reel. Once a reel is stacked, it no longer spins. However, if a Collect scatter symbol lands, it gathers all Coins on the locked reels and banks the combined amount in the Vault below the reel. Collecting Coins unlocks the stacked reels again. The feature finishes when all reels are locked by stacked Coins. At that point, the total of all stacked Coin values plus the Vault value is paid out.

A Golden Opportunity

Landing 5 Skull scatters activates the Mayan Gold Bonus feature, with each value above the reels starts at 50. This bonus can be triggered through natural play or via one of the FeatureSpins modes.

Bonus Buy

The bonus buy provides 4 different ways or modes to play Mayan Stackways. These are:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins – each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game. The cost is 3x the bet, is highly volatile, and the max RTP is 96.33%.
• StackWays FeatureSpins – each spin guarantees at least 2 Stackways symbols land. The cost is 40x the bet, is very highly volatile, and the max RTP is 96.27%.
• Stack Spins – costs 110x the bet, is highly volatile, and max RTP is 96.32%.
• Mayan Gold – costs 200x the bet, is medium volatile, and the max RTP is 96.32%.

Mayan Stackways: Slot Verdict

This is the first time the studio has tackled a Mayan theme (although Aztec Twist could be seen as a close cousin), and while the setting may be fresh for them, Mayan Stackways plays in a very Hacksaw Gaming way. Still, it introduces new ideas and expanded takes on familiar concepts. That kind of evolution is very much Hacksaw Gaming’s style—a developer known for building, reshaping, and fine-tuning the features in its sizeable toolbox. The Stackways symbol is one such addition. It can be compared to the xSplit mechanic Nolimit City has been using for some time, but Stackways isn’t a straight imitation. In other respects, it resembles the expanding full-reel symbols often seen in a ‘Ra’ game—except here it doesn’t simply count as 4 symbols, but can range from 2 to 10, and it morphs into the symbol that creates the longest win. A solid twist.

Turning to Mayan Stackways’ bonus rounds, Stack Spins feel like the base game pushed up a notch or two, mainly due to the increased likelihood of Stackways symbols appearing. That is, unless you land one or more Activator symbols, which then ensures Stackways will hit. After that comes the Mayan Gold Bonus feature (and A Golden Opportunity), which has the hallmarks of a classic Hacksaw Gaming round. The idea of stacking multipliers above reels really gained traction around Chaos Crew and has shown up in several Hacksaw Gaming slots since. For a more sea-soaked alternative, Cursed Seas launched around the same time as Mayan Stackways and will appeal more to pirate fans.

That said, Hacksaw Gaming generally doesn’t just recycle the exact same feature set repeatedly. Mayan Stackways follows suit, and the Coin collection/sticky stacking Coin bonus is well worth a look for players who enjoy this kind of mechanic. Once again, Hacksaw Gaming has adjusted the rules to deliver a refreshed version of what came before. Regardless of which stage you’re in, the info screen clearly states that Mayan Stackways’ max win of 10,000 times the bet can land in the base game, Stack Spins, or Mayan Gold modes. Good news for anyone looking for a polished slot that extends some of Hacksaw Gamings’ concepts while also bringing in a few exciting new ones.