Shaolin Master: Slot Overview

Software provider Hacksaw Gaming brings the martial-arts energy to the online slot Shaolin Master, which is essentially a reworked version of the ominous reels experience that was Hand of Anubis. Shaolin Kung Fu is a deeply respected discipline, and reaching mastery is clearly a long, demanding journey. Giving a slot a new coat of paint, on the other hand, is likely a lot easier. And the remake isn’t always as exciting as the original—but Hand of Anubis was a premium Hacksaw Gaming title, so there’s a chance some of that spark carries over.

Wherever you’re playing from, Shaolin Master may feel just as “far away” as Ancient Egypt did, although this setting is noticeably less unsettling. On one side of the play area stands the master, and on the other is his student, frozen in an elaborate stance—somewhat like Daniel LaRusso’s crane kick that clinched the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament by catching Johnny with that famously debated strike. Shaolin Master’s presentation isn’t controversial at all, delivering a pleasant kung fu-in-the-mountains backdrop.

Shaolin Master’s symbols drop onto a 5-reel layout with 6 rows and a cluster pays mechanic. Stakes range from 10 cents to $/€100 per base spin, and there are multiple bonus buy options for players who prefer to jump straight into features. The game runs on a medium volatile model—down from the high volatility used in Hand of Anubis—and the top RTP is 96.31%, slightly higher than.

Clusters pay when they contain at least 5 identical symbols. Once a winning cluster lands, those symbols vanish, and new symbols fall into the empty spaces, giving you another opportunity to form clusters. These cascades keep going until no further win appears. The lower-value symbols are 10-A royals, followed by a fist, a purple item, a golden item, a student, and a master at the top end. A 5 OAK cluster returns 0.1x to 1x, while a 15+ cluster pays 15x to 60x. When wilds show up, they can replace any standard paying symbol.

Shaolin Master: Slot Features

Shaolin Master’s retitled feature set includes Chi Orb wild multipliers, The Student free spins, The Master bonus round, plus bonus buys.

Chi Orbs

Chi Orbs act as wild multiplier symbols. Whenever Chi Orbs are part of a win, their multiplier multiplies the value of the winning cluster. If more than one Chi Orb contributes to the same win, their multipliers are multiplied with each other first, then applied. Blue and Red Chi Orbs are not removed during cascades, but they are cleared at the end of each round.

• Blue Chi Orb – appears with a multiplier of x1, which increases by 1 each time it has been involved in a win.
• Red Chi Orb – appears with a multiplier of x1, which increases after each win it takes part in by +1 for every symbol in the winning cluster (including Chi Orbs).
• Balance Chi Orbs – appears only during cascades. It lands with a multiplier equal to the product of any Red and Blue Chi Orb multipliers currently visible. If it contributes to a win, it applies its multiplier and then is removed from the grid along with the other winning symbols.

The Student

10 ‘The Student’ free spins start by landing 3 scatters in the base game, or 12 free spins if triggered with 4 scatters. In this mode, The Student shows multipliers below each reel. These multipliers are increased by +1 for every winning symbol on the relevant reels when clusters connect. A Green Gem multiplier symbol can also multiply the reel multiplier. Green Gem values range from x2 to x10.

When a Green Chi Orb lands, the multiplier on that reel becomes activated. All active multipliers are then added together and applied to each winning cluster’s payout. Each time a multiplier activates, +3 free spins are granted. A maximum of one Green Chi Ob can land per reel, and each multiplier can reach up to x9,999.

The Master

Landing 5 scatter symbols in the base game launches The Master and awards 3 refilling spins. During this feature, standard base symbols are swapped out for special Stone block symbols. Multipliers are shown above each reel. These multipliers are increased by landing Multiplier Modifier Blocks, which can be additive or multiplicative. Regular Modifying Blocks adjust only the reel they land on, while Epic Modifying Blocks impact all reel multipliers. The maximum multiplier per reel is 9,999x.

Additive boosts are 2x to 10x for the Blue Gem and the Epic Blue Gem. Multiplying boosts are x2 to x10 for the Green Gem and Epic Green Gem.

If an Ice block lands on the grid, it breaks, and a Multiplier Block drops into the gap carrying the multiplier value shown above that reel. Each Multiplier Block’s value is equal to the value of the reel multiplier where it lands. Multiplier Blocks fall to the bottom of the grid, where they lock in place and stack, slowly building up the reels.

Crusher Blocks can also appear, dropping through every other block to the bottom, destroying all Multiplier Blocks in their path. This clears space for additional blocks to fall. Once the Crusher Block reaches the bottom, it converts to a Multiplier Block with a value equal to the sum of all Multiplier Blocks that it destroyed. Finally, whenever a Multiplier Block, a Multiplier Modifier Block, or a Crusher Block lands, the spin count returns to 3.

Bonus Buys

If you prefer purchasing features, The Master offers: BonusHunt FeatureSpins (3x the bet) – each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game, Enlightened FeatureSpins (50x the bet) – each spin guarantees a Red Chi Orb will land with at least one winning combination, The Student (100x the bet), and The Master (200x the bet).

Shaolin Master: Slot Verdict

Tastes differ, obviously, but Shaolin Master didn’t feel as absorbing as its darker predecessor, Hand of Anubis. The theme isn’t the issue—Shaolin kung fu is undeniably impressive—but the overall mood simply doesn’t land with the same force. The graphics are perfectly fine; just don’t expect the same chill-factor or hair-raising tension that Hand of Anubis delivered.

Theme swap aside, Shaolin Master plays just as solidly as the earlier version, with no major disappointment on the mechanics front—although the performance can feel a touch choppy at moments. In both games, Hacksaw Gaming shows why they’re among the multiplier specialists, scattering them throughout the base game, The Student free spins, and the Chaos Crew-ish The Master bonus round. Dropping volatility from high to medium may take away some of the raw punch, but the slot still has the potential to pay up to 10,000x the bet across all modes.

Hacksaw Gaming doesn’t churn out endless reskins like some studios do, and at minimum they’ve chosen an excellent foundation to revisit. Still, Shaolin Master sits in the shadow of Hand of Anubis, offering a much less intense sensory experience. That said, it could suit players who want something a bit calmer in terms of math model, relatively speaking. You can almost imagine the internal brief: ‘Make it like the Anubis one, but less lethal.’ Shaolin Master can absolutely still deliver face-kicking highs, yet it’s difficult to find many compelling reasons—if any—to pick it over Hand of Anubis.