Jack Hammer Pokies
It seems like an obvious idea, but not many pokies are designed to look like comics, however Net Ent now have their Jack Hammer video pokie available and the whole theme is based on a comic book private detective, very similar to Dick Tracy, and his fight against the nefarious Dr. Wuten. There’s a limited backstory, but looking at the 5 reels of this game, we see a newspaper that informs us about a mad doctor threatening the city, while airships, an old car and the fashions on display put this game firmly in the 1930’s and 1940’s period.
It all looks great and anyone who likes these older comics is going to love the way that each reel position is contained within a white frame and the background image of the city that really adds to the atmosphere. Even the text is in comic-book style, including the payline indicators that run down each side of the reels and tells us that 25 lines run across from the left side. As is usual, players get a win from landing 3 or more of the same symbol type across a payline in an unbroken sequence, but wilds and scatter symbols can help them to get extra rewards.
The evil Doctor has planted a bomb that triggers a free spins bonus round, plus a unique Sticky Wins feature sees players get a chance to boost the value of any prize-winning combination. All 25 lines are active which means the least that can be staked on a real cash spin is 0.25 and this can be raised in stages to 250.00 which should be plenty for all but the highest of high rollers. Those who like to test games out before committing to actual wagers will find free Jack Hammer video pokies are available.
Playing Jack Hammer
There’s no playing card symbols here, which for many people is a nice change. Instead the lower-value wins occur when the various items connected to the story land in the right places, starting with a bottle of poison that’s worth 5, 10 or 40x the line bet when it lands on 3, 4 or 5 reels. An old phone, the newspaper, a car involved in a chase (complete with our hero firing a gun from it), and the airship of Dr Wuten that’s clearly his because it’s got a big skull and crossbones symbol on the side, will fill out the lower end of the pay table.
A boy selling the newspaper will pay 15, 50 or 200x the line bet and then Jack Hammers damsel in distress is worth 25, 50 or 250x. A manically-laughing Dr Wuten will have players laughing all the way to the bank when he rewards them with coin wins of 50, 100 or 300x their line bet and the top symbol is naturally, Mr Hammer himself, holding a gun and for some reason wearing a bandage across his nose. He’s valued at 50 or 150x when landing on 3 or 4 reels across a payline, and a huge 1000x for a full run across 5 reels.
Jack Hammer
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Bonus Features
Although it isn’t worth anything on its own, there’s a wild symbol that can act as all except the bomb to help complete lines, either bridging any gaps in a run of matching symbols or extending a win further across the reels for a higher prize.
Any time players get a win, the symbols that made it will stay in place while all other positions spin once more. This gives them a chance to add extra symbols to the combination for a higher payout or to get another winline across the game in a feature Net Ent have called Sticky Wins. If another win is created the process repeats and this goes on until no new winning combinations are landed.
Dr Wutens’ bomb will trigger a free spins round that sees all wins tripled in value throughout. The number of spins awarded depends on how many of this symbol appeared at once and as it’s a scatter, it can be in any positions, not just across a payline. If 5 land at once, there’s 10 free spins to play out, while 6, 7, or 8 will start 15, 20 or 25 bonus games respectively. Should any number from 9 to the maximum 15 free spin symbols appear, 30 extra games will be awarded.
The Verdict
Jack Hammer has quickly become one of the biggest online pokies in the Net Ent range and has been so successful that there’s now an imaginatively-titled Jack Hammer 2 game as well. The great design and above all, rewarding bonus features make this a pokie that all players should try out, although unfortunately it isn’t mobile-optimised.