Introduction to Le Hooligan
Le Hooligan is a casino slot from Hacksaw Gaming, themed around the FIFA World Cup. Let us kick this review off by ripping the band-aid off and say that Le Hooligan, and its sibling release Le Football Fan, are two of the same game, more precisely, they are both rereleases of Le Bandit, which is the first game in the Le series. These two releases are set to drop on the same day, are nearly identical, bar some changes to the stats, and differ only in the jurisdictions in which they are to be released. In this game, Smokey the Raccoon dons his favorite team’s colors and prepares for the World Cup, and as we mentioned earlier, the gameplay loop is something we’re quite familiar with, being based around Super Cascades and Win to Win Cash Prizes and Bonuses. This is a tried-and-tested formula, as it’s taken from a game that was released 3 years prior, with the same spins and wins that can go up to the max win of 10,000X the bet.
Join in on the cheering for the World Cup alongside Smokey and his classic feature line-up. If you want to play the game for yourself, be sure to give the Le Hooligan demo a test beforehand.
Theme, Gameplay, & Payouts
Le Hooligan is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming with 6 Reels, 5 Rows, and uses Cluster Pay mechanics, needing a minimum of +5 of the same symbols to form a win. You can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.1 and a Max.bet of 100. Le Football Fan comes with a slightly higher-than-average RTP of 96.34%, medium volatility, and a downsized max win of 10,000X the bet.
Just like its sibling release, Le Football Fan, Le Hooligan is set outside a stadium where Smokey hasn’t started queuing for yet, instead hanging out next to the playing grid filled with items that are needed for any good football fan. You can play the game on most desktops, mobiles, and notepads.
The lower-paying symbols are 10, J, Q, K, and A. Creating a win with 13+ of the same symbols will pay out 15X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are tickets, a scarf, a horn, a beer, and a football. Landing a win with 13+ of the same symbols pays out 25X to 100X the bet. With this comes a range of Special Symbols, starting with the typical Wilds and Scatters, but also Rainbows, Coins, Clovers, and Buckets of Gold, which you can read more about in the next section.
Special Features & Mechanics
What is the max win of the slot Le Football Fan?
You can win up to 10,000X the bet.
What features are available in the slot Le Football Fan?
The features are Super Cascades, Wild Symbols, Win to Win, Luck Of The Fan, All That Glitters Is Gold, Treasures At The End Of The Rainbow, and Feature Buy.
Super Cascades
After creating a winning combination, the Super Cascade feature is activated, removing all regular paying symbols of the same type that were part of the winning combination for the playing grid, allowing new symbols to fall in from above.
Wild Symbols
Wild Symbols help create winning combinations by being able to substitute for all normal paying symbols, except Scatter Symbols.
Win to Win
When you create a winning combination, golden Marked Squares will be left behind in the same position, and if you land a Rainbow Symbol, these will activate, revealing one of the following symbols:
Bronze Coins = Awards a Cash Prize ranging from 0.2X to 4X.
Silver Coins = Awards a Cash Prize ranging from 5X to 20X.
Gold Coins = Awards a Cash Prize ranging from 25X to 500X.
Four-Leaf Clover = Multiplies all adjacent Coin and Bucket of Gold Symbols by a Multiplier Value ranging from 2X to 10X.
Bucket of Gold = Will collect all values of all Coin and other Bucket of Gold Symbols on the grid. After triggering, all Marked Squares will again reveal new symbols, and this process continues until no more Bucket of Gold Symbols land.
Luck Of The Fan
By landing 3 Scatter Symbols, you will be awarded the Free Spins feature with 8 spins. During the bonus game, all Marked Squares remain highlighted until they have been activated by a Rainbow Symbol. You can retrigger the feature by landing 2 or 3 Scatter Symbols, awarding +2 or +4 additional Symbols. By landing 4 Scatter Symbols, you will be upgraded to the All That Glitters Is Gold bonus game with +4 extra spins.
All That Glitters Is Gold
By landing 4 Scatter Symbols, you will be awarded the Free Spins feature with 12 spins, with the same mechanics as the Luck Of The Fan bonus game. Additionally, all Marked Squares remain on the playing grid, even after being activated by a Rainbow Symbol. You can retrigger the feature by landing 2 or 3 Scatter Symbols, awarding +2 or +4 additional Symbols.
Treasures At The End Of The Rainbow
By landing 5 Scatter Symbols, you will be awarded the Free Spins feature with 12 spins, with the same mechanics as the two previous bonus games. Additionally, each spin guarantees a Rainbow Symbol, and Bronze Coins can not appear during the bonus.
Feature Buy
Through the Feature Buy, you can trigger various bonuses for a price based on the current bet.
3X = Triggers the BonusHunt FeatureSpins, making each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game.
50X = Triggers the Rainbow FeatureSpins, guaranteeing a Rainbow Symbol on each spin.
50X = Awards the Luck Of The Fan bonus game with 8 spins.
250X = Awards the All That Glitters Is Gold bonus game with 12 spins.
Final Thoughts on Le Hooligan
Many players might feel like Hacksaw Gaming has relied a bit too much on the Le series, as over the last few years, it seems we’ve had another release on our hands just about every other month. However, we think that Hacksaw Gaming usually does a pretty good job of making each and every one somewhat interesting and different from the others, bar the seasonal reskinned game, Le Santa. So, then we come to Le Hooligan and Le Football Fans, two nearly identical games that are both reskins of the same game, and they are even visually identical, which is something we feel like would’ve gone a long way, even if it was just a simple color swap. But what we have been given is what we have to work with, and sadly, it just doesn’t click for us.
When it comes to gameplay, at least with Le Football Fan, we have some different stats, albeit worse, presumably because of jurisdictional reasons, but Le Hooligan is a one-to-one copy of Le Bandit. But even so, we can’t deny that the gameplay loop and formula are a winner, and that’s one of the reasons for the huge success that the series has seen. Reskins are always a touchy subject, as we really enjoy the 2023 original game, but then repackaging it and releasing it to us as a new game with a trendy theme just feels like a cash grab at best. If you love the Super Cascade and Win to Win features, you will feel right at home here, but it is important to know that, at the end of the day, this is not a new game, which is what ultimately leaves us disappointed.
Le Hooligan is a slot that, alongside Le Football Fan, is a reskin of Le Bandit, but in a FIFA World Cup-themed package.
