Stick'em Demo & review

In Stick'em, thumbs-up symbols that land in a win stick to the grid and keep buying re-spins, and that sticky round is where the game's top prize lives. It was Hacksaw Gaming's first video slot, released in September 2019, and it has no buy or paid mode. It suits players who want three features, a short paytable and nothing to switch on.

The base game before our first spin, at a $1 bet on a $5,000 demo balance. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

How Stick'em works

Wins pay by ways: a symbol pays when it lands on neighbouring reels starting from reel 1, across 1,024 ways on a 5x4 grid. The money bag tops the paytable at 3x the bet for five. The thumbs up is the odd one: it pays 2x for five but only a fifth of the bet for three, a steep climb that explains why it is the symbol that sticks.

Pays per way at a $1 bet. Three features sit on top of the ways:

1. The Sticky Win Spin, from any win that holds three or more thumbs up.
2. The bonus wheel, from three Bonus Game scatters, with values up to 1,000x.
3. Free spins, from three or more free spin scatters, with extra high-paying symbols on the reels.

The Sticky Win Spin carries the game, since it is the only feature with a stated route to the top prize. The other two are side bets on landing the right scatters.

How the Sticky Win Spin works

Any win that includes three or more thumbs up starts a free re-spin with the thumbs held in place. New thumbs that land stick too and earn another re-spin, and the sequence stops on the first re-spin that adds none. Only then are the thumbs on the grid paid. Free spins and the bonus wheel cannot start while it runs.

Because thumbs pay by ways, each extra thumb on a reel multiplies the number of winning ways instead of adding one. By the paytable, a grid full of thumbs is 1,024 ways of five at $2 each, which is the 2,048x ceiling the intro screen names. Ours, on spin 69, started from a small thumbs win, added a single thumb on its only re-spin and paid $1.30.

Spin 69 after its one re-spin: the thumbs held on reels 1 to 3 paid $1.30. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

Free spins and the bonus wheel: how they trigger

The two scatter features run on different symbols, and neither can land inside a Sticky Win Spin.

Free spins

Three, four or five free spin scatters are worth 5, 10 or 15 free spins, and the reels carry more high-paying symbols for the round. The free spin symbol is taken off the reels while it runs, so the round cannot be extended by more scatters.

The bonus wheel

Three Bonus Game scatters on one base spin open a wheel of three rings, with the smallest values on the outer ring and the biggest on the inner one. It keeps turning until you press the stop button, the only feature here that waits for the player. Ours, on spin 34, stopped on the lowest value.

Spin 34: three Bonus Game scatters landed and opened the wheel. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

The wheel from spin 34, still turning before we pressed stop. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

RTP, volatility and max win

The demo shows one RTP, 96.08%, worked out over ten billion simulated rounds. The casino chooses the version it runs, and this is the only one we saw. The game itself gives no volatility label, and we found no Hacksaw page for it with one, so the rating comes from review sites, which put it at Medium.

The rules name no single cap. The Sticky Win Spin's full grid is the highest prize they state, and the wheel's inner ring is the second route to a big multiple.

The rules paytable at a $1 bet, with the RTP and the 1,024 ways. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.

Our Stick'em demo test

Twenty of our spins paid, and one stretch of 20 spins in a row paid nothing. Both features turned up once and small: the wheel paid $3.00, the best result of the session, and the sticky round grew by one thumb before it stopped. Free spins never came, so that part of this review leans on the rules alone. One session at this size says nothing about what the game returns over time.

Is Stick'em worth playing?

For a learner curious about where Hacksaw started, yes. For a bonus buyer or a max-win hunter, no. The Sticky Win Spin is a good idea in a small frame: every new thumb buys another re-spin, but the top prize needs all 20 positions filled, and everyday ways pay little next to the stake.

Pick Hellmageddon if you want the same 5x4, 1,024-ways grid with far more going on and a much higher ceiling. Choose Stick'em for the studio's starting point, with three features you can learn in a few spins.

In the demo, keep an eye on wins that hold three thumbs. That is the one spin that can grow, and the re-spins show you exactly how the sticking works.