Hit Bar

Hit Bar Demo by Playtech

Hit Bar shows you its whole bonus before you spin. Down the left side of this Playtech slot runs a ladder numbered 5 to 15, and each number is a count of HIT BAR symbols with a prize next to it. Five held symbols pay 5x the total bet. Fill all 15 positions on the 5×3 reels, and the top row pays the GRAND at 1,000x. Everything in between is a matter of counting. While the feature plays, the row for the count you’ve reached glows gold, so the prize on offer stays in view.

Around that ladder is a plain 10-line fruit game from Origins, the Playtech label behind it, with a Wild, diamonds, red 7s, watermelons, lemons, plums, cherries, and grapes on a pale blue-white reel backing against an orange sunburst.

Slot Features

HIT BAR Symbols

The HIT BAR symbol is a red disc with gold block letters, HIT stacked over BAR, inside a gold ring. It’s the game’s scatter, and it has one job. Five or more on the reels start the Respin.

The line paytable leaves it out. Its value comes from the ladder, and the ladder starts at five, so a screen with three or four of them is a near miss rather than a small win.

Gold lettering under a fan of red and gold rays, with a star at the centre, marks the Wild. It replaces every symbol except HIT BAR, and a line of five Wilds is the top line pay at 100x the total bet.

The Respin

Once five or more HIT BAR symbols land, they lock in place on red tiles with darker red rays and a gold border, and the game awards a respin. The game also holds any new HIT BAR that lands during the Respin, and each new one retriggers the Respin. The splash names the feature HIT BAR HOLD AND RESPIN.

While it runs, the cells without a HIT BAR clear to pale blue-white squares, so the held symbols stand out on their red tiles. Each new arrival adds one to the count, and the glow on the ladder moves up to match.

The 5-to-15 Ladder

The ladder is the Respin’s paytable, and it stays beside the reels between features and during the Respin. Each figure on it is a stake multiple, measured against the whole bet.

Rows 5 to 11 are black value boxes beside red number tabs. Above them, the named tiers get their own colours: MINI in purple, MINOR in blue, MAJOR in green, and GRAND in red.

MINI to GRAND

The named tiers begin at 12 HIT BAR symbols. MINI pays 50x, MINOR 100x, and MAJOR 250x, and the GRAND pays 1,000x for 15, a HIT BAR on every position of the grid. The splash enlarges the MAJOR row in a glowing green box.

Those four rows are where Hit Bar keeps its size. The line game has two answers to them. Five Wilds pay 100x, level with the MINOR, and five diamonds pay 50x, level with the MINI. After that, five red 7s pay 40x and the best fruit line 10x.

That’s the trade this game makes. The ladder is the game, and the line pays around it are small beside the 1,000x GRAND for 15, with only the Wild and the diamond reaching even the MINI’s level. Load the demo for some free play, wait for the fifth HIT BAR, and watch the gold glow climb the ladder while the Respin runs.