Beam Boys Demo & review

Beam Boys is a 4,096-ways game where everything hangs on one symbol: a Wild Laser Cat that fires a beam back along its row and turns every position it crosses wild. Hacksaw Gaming released it in February 2024 with a Volatility Switch beside the reels, so the same game runs at Normal or Extreme. It suits buyers who like to pick their own risk, since three FeatureSpins modes and a bonus buy sit on top.

The intro screen shows both volatility settings before play starts. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

How Beam Boys works

Six reels of four symbols pay ways: a win needs the same symbol on reel 1, reel 2 and onward without a gap, in any row of each reel. The paytable is short and flat, and six of the top symbol return twice the bet:

With pays that small, a spin only grows when the same symbol connects through many routes at once. That is the job of the cats.

Wild Rows

A Wild Laser Cat can land on reels 2 to 6. It shoots its beam left along its own row, and every position the beam covers becomes wild for all paying symbols. The further right the cat lands, the longer the wild row: one on reel 2 reaches only reel 1, while one on reel 6 crosses the whole row.

By the ways rule, a cat on reel 4 already gives every symbol a wild on each of the first four reels, so any symbol that shows on reel 5 pays at least five of a kind. A second Wild Row doubles the routes through those reels again. In practice, where the cat lands matters more than which symbols surround it.

Our first Narrow Spectrum spin settled with two Wild Rows across the first four reels. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

The Volatility Switch: Normal or Extreme

The switch beside the grid sets the whole game to one of two profiles. The intro rates Normal two of five and Extreme five of five, and the buy menu labels them Medium and Extreme. Prices stay the same on both sides, and so does the ceiling, which the help screens give for every mode.

What changes is the shape of the returns and, slightly, the RTP: the base game is set at 96.35% on Normal and 96.26% on Extreme. Flicking the switch while FeatureSpins run turns them off, so the choice is made before you start a mode, not during it.

Photonic Fur Bonus: how free spins trigger

Free Spins scatters start the bonus in the base game, and more of them mean a longer round:

Inside the round, two scatters add 2 spins and three add 4. The one rule that sets the bonus apart is that Wild Laser Cats land more often than in the base game, so the round is simply more Wild Rows, packed into a set number of spins.

Bonus buy and FeatureSpins: prices and what you get

Three of the four options are FeatureSpins, charged per spin until you switch them off, and one is a bonus buy.

The two Spectrum modes differ only in where the guaranteed cat may land. Narrow keeps it on the right half of the grid, so its beam always spans four reels or more, and the price quadruples to match.

RTP, volatility and max win

All eight option RTPs fall between 96.3% and 96.4%, so the choice between them is about swing, not return. The ceiling is 12,500x the bet in all modes.

Our Beam Boys demo test

The base game on Normal showed how rare the cats are without help. Wild Rows came on nine spins, and together they paid $17.30. Most other wins were small three- and four-of-a-kind pays, and the best base spin had no cat at all.

Paying for the cats changed the game. Every Wide Spectrum spin brought a Wild Row, and four of the ten paid more than twice their price. Narrow Spectrum swung harder: its first spin put two cats on reel 4, beamed two rows across four reels and paid $81.60 on a $200 stake.

The two Photonic Fur buys showed the switch at work. On Normal, free spin 6 landed two cats and paid $44.60 of the round. On Extreme, none of the ten spins brought a Wild Row. Both entered with 10 spins. The bonus never came on its own, and 20- or 40-spin entries, retriggers and the Extreme FeatureSpins stayed untried, so those rest on the help screens. One session is far too few spins to rank the modes by return.

Our Normal Photonic Fur buy ended at $99.50 after 10 free spins. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

Our Extreme Photonic Fur buy ended at $4.10 after 10 free spins with no Wild Row. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

Is Beam Boys worth playing?

Not as a base game, but yes as a menu of paid Wild Rows. The whole game is the cat, and on ordinary spins it arrives too rarely to carry a session. The Spectrum modes fix exactly that, guaranteeing a beam on every spin at a price, and Narrow Spectrum adds the promise that the beam is long. For us Wide Spectrum on Normal is the mode that shows the game at its best without the steepest price.

Pick Wanted Dead or a Wild if you want the same ceiling with wild reels that carry multipliers and three different bonuses. Stay with Beam Boys if you would rather set the risk yourself with the switch and pay for wilds by the spin.

In the demo, run ten Wide Spectrum spins on Normal, then ten on Extreme, and compare how often the beam crosses the whole row.