Deal with Death Slot (Hacksaw Gaming)

The Deal with Death slot is played with 5 reels, 4 rows and 14 fixed paylines. Like with traditional video slot games, you need 3 or more matching symbols appearing from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel and across any of the 14 payline to form a winning combination. Naturally, just the highest payout on each payline will be awarded.

With a minimum bet of 10p a spin, the maximum bet in the UK is £5 per spin (or £2 if under 25): non-UK players can spin away up to £50 a spin. With arrows to assist you in changing your bet, players outside the UK will also have the option of Autoplay (10 to 1,000 auto spins) and Turbo or Super Turbo modes.

The Deal with Death RTP is 96.25%. Higher than the 96% average, there are 94.3% and 92.24% RTP alternative settings so check within the Paytable at your chosen site. The Deal with Death free demo above uses the highest setting.

High volatility (4/5), a winning combination will form every 1 in 3.67 spins on average as the hit frequency rate is 27.2%. When it comes to win potential, Deal with Death offers 20,000 x bet max wins (which can be won in the base game and all bonus features).

With a death theme, the Deal with Death slot is an odd one. Introducing a brand-new game format, you’ll see ‘Death’ to the side of the reels: he’s a mechanical skeleton character who is dressed a casino dealer as he spins poker chips in his hand.

The colour scheme is dark, much like many Hacksaw slots like Hand of Anubis, RIP City and Pray For Three. With ‘Death’ sporting a burgundy suit, there is a swirly grey/black backdrop which is a little hallucinating. With a jazz soundtrack, you’ll hear ‘Death’ spinning his poker chip: I found it rather annoying truth be told.

On the reels, there are 8 symbols. The 4 low-value symbols are club, diamond, heart and spade playing cards with the high-value symbols represented by coloured versions of these cards. The coloured spade playing card symbol is the best paying, awarding 2, 7.5 or 20 x your total bet for 3, 4 or 5 across any payline.

Deal with Death comes with several special symbols. Importantly, there is a Joker Wild symbol: this activates Poker Mode (more on this below). In the latter, the Joker symbol will transform into a regular Joker, Hand Multiplier Joker, Global Multiplier Joker or Triple Trouble Joker. Finally, there is a FS Scatter, which is key to triggering the 3 free spins features.

Deal with Death Mobile

Deal with Death is compatible with mobile, tablet and desktop devices. If you’re a smartphone player, you will play in Portrait Mode, with both iOS and Android operating systems compatible.

Deal with Death is all about the Joker. Activating Poker Mode, you aim to form Poker Hands (which pay up to 2,000 x bet). The Joker transforms into 1 of 4 Jokers, with hand and global multipliers up to 10x and a Triple Trouble Joker than collects all cards and awards the 3 best poker hands possible. With 3 free spins features, there is a higher chance of Joker symbols, a progressive Poker Hand paytable and guaranteed Jokers on each free spin.

Poker Mode

Poker Mode is activated when the Joker symbol lands during the base game. In Poker Mode, all paying symbols transform into poker cards. With each row representing 1 Poker Hand, each row will automatically create the best possible winning combination from the 5 cards appearing on that row.

This is based on the Poker Hand paytable: a Two Pair, Three of a King, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush and Royal Flush pay 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 500 and 2,000 x bet, respectively.

Joker Symbol

With the Joker symbol acting as a Wild symbol in Classic Mode (i.e. the base game), only 1 Joker symbol can land at any 1 time in Classic Mode.

Once it has landed and any wins have been awarded, the game switches to Poker Mode with the Joker transforming into 1 of the following 4 Jokers:

• Regular Joker: Transforms into a regular poker card and always picks the best option for the row it landed on.
• Hand Multiplier Joker: Awards a Poker Hand Multiplier (2x to 10x) that is applied to the row it landed on, for 1 spin. If multiple Hand Multiplier Jokers land on the same row, multipliers are combined. The Joker than transforms into the best possible poker card on that row.
• Global Multiplier Joker: Awards a Global Multiplier between 2x and 10x that applies to all winning Poker Hands, for 1 spin. If it affects a winning Poker Hand that has been subject to another multiplier, their values are added together. The Joker than transforms into the best possible poker card on that row.
• Triple Trouble Joker: Before Poker Hand wins are calculated, the Joker transforms into the best possible poker card on its row. All cards on the grid are collected and shuffled with the 3 best possible Poker Hands from all collected cards dealt back onto the grid, in ascending order. Non-winning Joker cards on the grid will transform into a random poker card.

Free Spins features

With 3 free spins features, all the details are below:

• Deal With It feature: With 3 FS Scatters awarding 10 free spins, it works like the base game but there is an increased chanced of landing a Joker symbol (to trigger Poker Mode). 2 or 3 FS Scatters will reward you with 2 or 4 extra free spins, respectively.
• Dealbreaker feature: With 4 FS Scatters giving you 10 free spins, it works like the Deal With It feature. However, every Poker Hand win increases the payout for that Poker Hand by its base win amount after win has been awarded. 2 or 3 FS Scatters gives you 2 or 4 more free spins.
• Fool’s Gold feature: With 5 FS Scatters awarding 10 free spins, it works like the Dealbreaker free spins but a Joker symbol is guaranteed to land on every free spin (triggering Joker Mode). 2 or 3 FS Scatters will give you 2 or 4 additional free spins.

Bonus Buy

With 4 Bonus Buy options available to non-UK players, below is a table with all the information:

Deal with Death Slot

Rating: 3.8/5

Deal with Death combines classic slot action with poker as the Joker awards Poker Hands worth up to 2,000 x bet. With the Joker transforming to offer best possible poker hands and multipliers up to 10x, there are 3 free spins modes with enhanced gameplay action for up to 20,000 x bet max win potential.

Chris Taylor

Following on from Circle of Life, it seems like Hacksaw Gaming has started 2026 by focusing on darker themed slots. In the case of the Deal with Death slot, it’s not as grim as the title suggests. With a mechanical looking dealer to the side of the reels, this game combines traditional slot play with poker.

It’s rather classy too with the excellent soundtrack: I would have hoped that the people at Hacksaw would remove the clinking noise of the poker chip being spun by ‘Death’.

In terms of the gameplay, the base game is all about the Joker symbol. Triggering Poker Mode, each row reveals a Poker Hand: this can lead to various Poker Hands being dealt with payouts ranging from 5 to 2,000 x your total bet.

The Joker symbol will transform into 1 of 4 special Jokers awarding Poker Hand multipliers up to 10x, a global multiplier up to 10x that applies to all winning Poker Hands and a Triple Touble Joker. The latter sees all cards collected and shuffled with the 3 best possible Poker Hands dealt back onto the grid!

With 3 free spins features, each one works like the base game but with a higher chance of Joker symbols appearing. In the Dealbreaker and Fool’s Gold free spins, there is a progressive Poker Hand paytable with the latter guaranteeing a Joker on every free spin. The key is to land Joker symbols early on in the features and build up the paytable. It’s easier said than done, though.

Introducing poker to the mix, Deal with Death is quite the unique proposition: I found the Poker Mode frustrating as it issues no or small wins most of the time with the occasional biggie. That said, it takes a Royal Flush plus a 10x multiplier to award the game’s max win of 20,000 x your total bet.

In summary, Deal with Death stands out from most other slot games and will appeal to players who have dabbled in online poker before. It’s not my cup of tea but it’s certainly one worth playing. The only other slot game I could think of which uses cards is Print Studios’ Deck of Scurra but the card mechanic upgrades, transforms, duplicated and doubles cards.

If you’re a fan of Hacksaw titles, there are better games available in my opinion: Le Cowboy, Donut Division and Chaos Crew 3 all come to mind.

The Deal with Death slot review was written by Chris Taylor from our OLBG Expert team who has written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades.

Chris Taylor

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Chris Taylor is an industry veteran originally from Gibraltar. Having worked in the online gambling industry since 2004, Chris loves slots and has reviewed over 10,000 online slot games. Running a slots-focused website for 13 years, Chris is the go-to guy for everything slots-related.