Densho
Densho Stats
RTP & Maths
- RTP by Mode
- BonusHunt FeatureSpins 96.35% · Densho FeatureSpins 96.34% · Free Spins 96.37% · Super Free Spins 96.33%
- RTP Versions
- 96.40% here · Other versions 94.38%, 92.33%, 88.34%
- Max Win Rule
- 10,000x the bet, reachable in the base game, Free Spins and Super Free Spins
Free Spins & Bonus
- Free Spins
- 3 FS scatters = 10 Free Spins · 4 FS scatters = 10 Super Free Spins (trackers start at level 2) · Retrigger: 2 FS = +2 spins, 3 FS = +4 spins during either bonus
- Bonus Buy
- BonusHunt FeatureSpins 3x (96.35% RTP) · Densho FeatureSpins 50x (96.34% RTP) · Free Spins 100x (96.37% RTP) · Super Free Spins 250x (96.33% RTP)
- Multipliers
- 2x–100x per Multiplier Reel (Common 2x–10x, Rare 5x–50x, Legendary 10x–100x) · Densho symbol expands into a wild Multiplier Reel only if that creates a win; multipliers of several Multiplier Reels in one win are added together; one Densho per reel
Symbols & Pays
- Wild
- Wild and Multiplier Reels substitute for all other paying symbols; the moon Wild pays 20x for five
- Line Pays
- Top symbol 20x · Lowest 0.1x
Densho Demo by Hacksaw Gaming
The Densho demo turns on one symbol, a black crow. It lands as Common, Rare, or Legendary, and that quality sets the multipliers its reel can reach. Once the bonus starts, every reel gets a floor for its crows, and Upgrade symbols raise that floor one reel at a time.
Densho was one of Hacksaw’s September 2023 releases, arriving on the 7th, and its name is Japanese for legacy. The logo brushes the kanji 伝承 inside a black box, with the Latin letters running down its right side.
Multiplier Reels
Crow Qualities
The crow is the Densho symbol, and the game is built around it. It unrolls into a wild Multiplier Reel, and every win that reel is part of gets the reel’s multiplier. The idea will be familiar from the VS reels in Wanted Dead or a Wild, where a VS symbol that would join a win turns its reel wild with a 2x to 100x multiplier, and as with those reels, a crow unrolls only where the whole reel would win.
Densho splits the multiplier pool three ways, by the crow’s quality.
| Quality | Multipliers |
|---|---|
| Common | 2x to 10x |
| Rare | 5x to 50x |
| Legendary | 10x to 100x |
The pools overlap, so a 10x can come from any of the three crows, while 100x belongs to the Legendary one alone. You never choose which crow appears.
Bonus Games
Progression Trackers
Three FS scatters, the koi pair in a diamond, start Free Spins with 10 spins. Above each reel, there’s a progression tracker, and its level names the lowest crow quality that can land on that reel. Upgrade symbols belong to the bonus, and every Upgrade levels up the tracker on its own reel.
Raise a reel’s tracker, and the weakest crow it can produce gets stronger, which pulls up the smallest multiplier that reel can show. Each Upgrade touches one column, not the whole grid, so a round can end with some reels on a much higher floor than their neighbours. Think of a tracker as a promise about the worst case. A reel at a higher level can still land a Legendary, but it can’t land anything below the floor you’ve built.
Super Free Spins
Four scatters at once give you Super Free Spins, again 10 spins under the Free Spins rules. Only the trackers’ starting point moves. Every reel begins at level 2, a level ahead of the regular round, and Upgrade symbols take it on from there. The crow pools are the same three that regular play draws from.
Four Different Bonus Buys
The buy menu pairs the two bonuses by tracker level. Free Spins costs 100x and starts every tracker at level 1 under a Very high volatility label, while Super Free Spins costs 250x, starts them at level 2, and has a High label, one step under the cheaper round. The per-spin pair works another way. Densho and BonusHunt FeatureSpins stay active from spin to spin, charging 50x for each spin to guarantee at least two crows and 3x for each spin to raise the chance of a bonus. Neither per-spin setting is a bonus in itself; each one changes what an ordinary spin can bring.
How to Play
Crow Limits
A reel can hold only one crow at a time, and a crow’s quality, Common, Rare, or Legendary, decides which multipliers its reel can show. Densho pays on only 10 lines, and every one counts from reel 1.
Each reel is four rows tall, and a Multiplier Reel is wild in all four rows, so it can help complete any line that crosses its column. The moon Wild is a single tile, while a Multiplier Reel spans the whole column and brings its own multiplier. When two or more unroll together, one line can pass through several multipliers.
Outside the bonus, there’s no tracker above the reels, so nothing fixes a lowest quality for the crows, and there’s no tracker for an Upgrade to level up. Regular play is the plainer half of the game. The trackers, the Upgrades, and the rising floors all belong to the round the scatters open.
Spin Cost
Bets on Densho begin at €0.10 and end at €100. The volatility bar on the splash stops one icon short of full, its fifth icon left pale, and this page files Densho under High. The game’s RTP is 96.4%.
With a 20x best line, the bigger results depend on the crows, above all the Rare and Legendary ones, and on the bonus. That’s where the High rating shows.
Slot Paytable
| Symbol | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samurai in a straw hat | 3x | 10x | 20x |
| Geisha | 2x | 6x | 15x |
| White owl | 1.5x | 5x | 12.5x |
| Bridge at sunset | 1x | 3x | 10x |
| Crane | 1x | 3x | 10x |
| Fire, water, wind or earth kanji | 0.1x | 0.5x | 2x |
| Moon over mountains (Wild) | – | – | 20x |
The moon Wild pays the same 20x for five as the samurai, and the crow and the koi scatter have no row.
Ultimate Slots Verdict
A crow that lands in one of three qualities, and trackers that raise each reel's floor during the bonus, give Densho more reach than 10 lines and a 20x best line promise. The ink-wash art is the real draw. A Super bonus that starts just one tracker level ahead keeps it below 4/5.
✓ What We Like
- Three crow qualities give a single symbol a multiplier range from 2x to 100x.
- Upgrade symbols lift one reel's floor at a time, so a bonus can end much stronger than it began.
- Its ink-wash scenery, cherry blossom and painted pagodas included, changes around the reels from spin to spin.
- Wild Multiplier Reels are wild in every row, so one crow can help finish any line that crosses its reel.
✗ What Could Be Better
- Ten lines and a 20x best line give regular play little to pay with whenever no crow unrolls.
- Super Free Spins is the regular bonus started one tracker level higher, with nothing new of its own.
Detailed Review
Ink and Blossom
Hacksaw Gaming painted Densho like a Japanese ink-wash scroll, with pink cherry blossom on black branches, pagodas on misty peaks, and a waterfall, and the scenes around the reels shift with each new spin. Each reel is a strip of paper between wooden posts, the high symbols are brushed inside red circles, and the four low symbols are plain kanji. Each high symbol looks like a small painting rather than an icon, the samurai’s straw hat and the owl’s white feathers included. Nothing else about this slot matches it, and it’s what you’ll remember.
The Crow’s Need to do the Work
The maths is leaner than the painting. With 10 lines and a 20x best line, the paytable is far below the 10,000x cap, so the crows have to do that work. A Legendary crow’s 100x is the most a single reel can carry, and in the bonus each Upgrade lifts a floor as it lands, so a round can finish far stronger than it started. Regular play offers no such climb, because the trackers belong to the bonus alone. Patience is what that design costs you. At High volatility, much of the waiting is for one black bird to unroll, since the line pays on their own stay small. Super Free Spins is the weak spot, a one-level head start on the trackers presented as a second bonus.
So is Densho a game for its crows or for its paper? For the paper first. Its crow in three qualities gives a 10-line slot more reach than its table suggests, but the ink, the blossom, and the shifting scenery are what this review rates highest. If you like watching a board improve reel by reel, the bonus gives you that, and if you want big line pays, this isn’t the game.
