Pug Life Review
From Hacksaw Gaming
Join a cast of cute pooches and their friends on this 5x4 slot with 16 paylines and a 7,500x top payout. The game serves up endless treats that act as wilds with multipliers of up to 100x in the base game. Then enter the Dawg’s Den for Free Spins, sticky wilds and more 100x multipliers. Play from 10p per spin.
OUR RATING:
Name: Pug Life
Developer: Hacksaw Gaming
Paylines: 16
Reels: 5
Rows: 4
RTP: 94.32%
Variance: Medium
Top Payout: 7,500x
Jackpot: No
Release Date: November 2022
Features: Wilds, Sticky Wilds, Free Spins, Wild Multipliers
Play Pug Life At These Slot Sites
About This Slot
NOTE: Screenshots and Videos on this page are taken whilst I played this game for real money on Casumo Casino.
From tales of the undead to man’s best friend in a heartbeat – you just never know what to expect from Hacksaw Gaming. Or rather, you do, because once again we are confronted with a wildly off-beat online slot game with superb graphics, innovative gameplay, and the aim of entertaining at its heart.
As we will find out, Pug Life looks fun, but it is also a slot that has a ruthless high variance streak running though it. So keep in mind that no matter how cute you dress it up, this one may come back to bite you.
The action takes place against the backdrop of an animated house that looks like the setting for a Loony Tunes cartoon. But once those reels are spinning it’s all about the treats which bring you wilds and huge multipliers.
Pug Life is available now at our recommended slot sites.
What Happened When I Played Pug Life Slot?
I tested Pug Life at Casumo with real money stakes of 10p over a 30-minute session. You can see a summary of my wins and losses below as well as highlights of the free spins round including several big wins.
- Session Time: 30 minutes
- Bet Size: 10p
- Start Balance: £87.19
- End Balance: £144.19
- Net Win / Loss: £57
- Biggest Single Win (excl. Free Spins): £2.81
- Biggest Losing Streak: 14 spins with no wins
- Free Spins Round Feature Triggers: One
- Free Spins Round Wins: £68.02
Pug Life is great for entertainment value. And if you are into cute animal slots then you’ll enjoy it. Whilst I was spinning there was plenty of off-reels distractions as cheeky pugs popped up in the background, scooting around, down the stairs or popping up in the window in the free spins round. And all to a suitably fun and jaunty soundtrack.
During the base game, as you would expect, significant wins were hard to come by. The biggest was a 28x but most were 1x or less. I at one point I went 14 spins with no payouts, but that isn’t unexpected for a volatile game like this. As far as the multiplier wild treats went, the biscuits were regular, but I don’t recall seeing a single one of the higher bone or steak treats.
The free spins round, when it came, did not disappoint. All in, from a 10p bet I landed £68.20. You can see how this happened in the video above. Starting with the 3 treats that triggered the bonus round I ended up with 8 in total. That is 8 multiplier wilds all firing on every spin by the end of the round. And for each of the 5 that landed in the round I earned another spin. So I had 10 free spins in total.
The only disappointment here was that the multipliers never climbed above a 5x, and reputably with 200x multipliers available, you can see where this could have gone.
In summary, this was an enjoyable slot that, for me at least, showed that it can deliver the kind of high variance kicks that we are all chasing.
More About Pug Life Slot
RTP, Variance and Top Payout
The RTP for Pug Life is 94.32% which is about average for a Hacksaw Gaming slot in the UK. We verified this at Casumo Casino.
The variance here is most definitely high, in keeping with many other Hacksaw slots, and that is reflected in the gameplay which is built to award huge payouts when runs of free spins and multipliers in the bonus round serve to produce a big, tasty treat of a win. Multipliers here may be as high as 100x. Of course, the payoff is that those wins are a rarity and there will be much frustration and nashing of teeth in the meantime.
The top win available is 7,500x. That doesn’t compare with other high risk games on the market right now which are normally well over 10,000x, but it is still a decent number to aim for.
Spins start at just 10p per play.
Symbols and Graphics
Pug life is packed with cute pooches but it’s the tasty treats that you’ll really want to get your teeth into.
Here are the highlights of the paytable:
- This is a fixed 5 reel and 4 row game with 16 active paylines on all spins.
- Wins are triggered by landing 3 or more identical symbols on the reels from left to right, starting with the left-most reel.
- The lower value symbols are the cards, 10 through to Ace, with a max value of just 2x for five on a line (remember, wins are boosted by multipliers so don’t be put off by those low values).
- Premiums have better value and come in the form of the 2 dogs, the birds and the little mice. They may be worth up to 10x for five on a line.
- Check out the Treats because they are Wild. They come in three types – see below – and award wins of 10x for five on a line as well as subbing in for any other symbol to create a win.
- And finally, the Dawg’s Den scatter will get you access to the best part of the game – free spins with 100x multipliers and sticky wilds.
What We Like
Funny theme with cute dogs
HUGE 100x multipliers
Multipliers can combine
What We Don't Like
Comparatively low 7,500x top payout
Less features that other high risk games
Gameplay and Features
Huge, huge sticky multipliers are what you’re looking for right here. They are available in abundance in both base game and free spins round. Here is how it works.
Biscuit, Bone and Steak Treats With 200x Multipliers!
Each treat symbol is a wild multiplier too. Here are their potential values:
- Biscuit Treats are 2x, 3x or 4x Wilds
- Bone Treats are 5x, 10x, 15x or 20x Wilds
- Steak Treats are 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 150x or 200x Wilds
All wins that include a Treat have the respective multiplier applied to them AND if more than one treat appears in a win line, then the multipliers are ADDED together (not multiplied).
Treat Yo’self Bonus Round with Sticky Multipliers
When 3 treats land simultaneously, then the Treat Yo’self bonus is triggered.
- The treats that triggered the round lock in place
- 5 free spins ensues, with one more added for each extra treat that lands
- Treats ALWAYS stick and show a new multiplier on every spin
Enter the Dawg’s Den with Free Spins and More Sticky Multipliers
Another chance to win free spins comes in the Dawg’s Den. Three scatters gets you 3 free spins and four scatters gets you 4 free spins. The configuration this time is as follows:
- All wins are added to a counter above the reels during the free spins sequence and are not paid out until the final spin is complete.
- At the same time, all Treat Multipliers are also added together to be applied to the TOTAL wins shown in the counter at the end of the spins.
- Watch out as well for Sticky Toasters on reels 4 and 5, sticking until the end of the round and acting as Wilds. They also carry a cash or multiplier value that will be added to the running total of wins or multipliers shown at the top of the reels.
- Toaster cash values are from 1x up to 100x and multiplier values from 1x to 100x too.
- And finally, if you hit an extra scatter, you’ll get a RANDOM number of extra spins added to your total too.
More Games Like Pug Life Slot
The Dog House – Pragmatic Play’s pooch-centric slot has a similar cartoon-feel to Hacksaw Gaming’s effort, but with a slightly lower top payout of 6,750x, a higher RTP at 96.51% and the same high, high variance. The free spins round is particularly good in this game with up to 27 free spins, sticky multipliers and stacked premium symbols. Find out where to play here.
Top Dawgs – For a more dog-related fun, this time with a hip hop edge, you could enter downtown LA where Relax Gaming’s Top Dawg slot is based. Play on 5 reels with 15 paylines with mystery re spins, free spins and sticky wilds with multipliers once more. The top payout of this game is much higher than Pug Life at 25,000x!
Where to Play Pug Life Slot – Further Recommendations
Pug Life is available at any slot site with Hacksaw Gaming slots including these two.
Casino Lab – From Genesis Global, Casino Lab is a UK-licensed slot site with over 1,000 slot games to try including titles from Hacksaw, NetEnt, Relax Gaming, No Limit City and Big Time Gaming amongst others. New players get 100% up to £100 with their first deposit plus 50 spins on Gameburger’s 9 Pots of Gold. You can also deposit and play with Paypal as well as other eWallets.
Casumo – Hacksaw Gaming slots are also available at Casumo casino where they are part of catalogue of more than 2,000 games. Casumo has been in action since 2012 and offers a high-quality slots experience with 25 Book of Dead spins for new players and a 100% match up to £25. Other highlights include Reel Races every hour with prizes of £1,000s up for grabs, plus a rewards program with level-ups and plenty of free spins bonuses.
Our Verdict
Pug Life has all the hallmarks of Hacksaw Gaming products – quirky, fun and a little bit different.
And for this reason it has a niche appeal.
It is certainly a far cry from the kind of high-risk mayhem being put out by No Limit City and Relax Gaming right now. It has none of the adult themes of games like Mental or Dead Man’s Trail, but instead it draws you in with a cute smile and the promise of an entertaining spin of the reels. But once you’re in, you will find that Pug Life is a slot with a very volatile payout distribution that will frustrate for long periods. The good news is that with all those high value multipliers flying around, there is some serious potential in this game too.
For the best chance of getting close to the 7,500x top payout, aim to unlock the Dawg’s Den and land some high value Toaster multiplier and cash values!
Good luck!
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