A Quick Word on Deal With Death

So, here’s the scoop: Deal With Death is a slot game cooked up by the folks at Hacksaw Gaming, pitching you head-to-head with a dapper skeleton who’s got a serious poker face and a penchant for high-stakes gambles. Now, we all get the classic “deal with the devil” trope—selling your soul for some earthly delights—but this one? It’s a bit more slippery, more open to your own take. The word “deal” here isn’t about some dark pact; nah, it’s more about shuffling cards and laying down hands, poker-style. The gameplay flips symbols into cards, rewarding you for crafting poker hands, which is a neat twist. Plus, with four different Jokers that can pop up and toss in multipliers, three bonus rounds that crank up the action, and a max jackpot of a whopping 20,000 times your bet, you’re in for quite the rollercoaster.

Want to test your luck without risking a dime? The demo mode at the top lets you spar with this skeletal card shark risk-free before you put your money where your mouth is.

Theme, Gameplay & Payouts

Deal With Death is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming featuring 5 reels, 4 rows, and 14 paylines. Betting starts low and friendly at a minimum of 0.1, making it easy on the wallet, and climbs up to a maximum of 50 for the high rollers out there. The game’s math is tuned to a default RTP of 96.25%, which sits comfortably within the usual range, though heads up—there are other versions floating around with RTPs of 94.30%, 92.25%, and even 86.22%, so double-check which one you’re spinning. The volatility leans toward medium-high, meaning wins might not rain down constantly, but when they do, they pack a punch. And speaking of punches, the biggest single-round payday clocks in at a staggering 20,000x your bet.

Picture this: you’re in a foggy no-man’s land, thick grey mist swirling endlessly—kind of like purgatory, that limbo between heaven and hell. No fancy vistas here, just the sharp-dressed skeletal gambler and a vibrant, intricate grid of symbols. Despite the grim setting, the vibe is surprisingly chill, thanks to a smooth jazz soundtrack that wraps around the scene like a cozy blanket. Whether you’re on your desktop, phone, or tablet, firing up the game is a breeze.

To snag a win, you need to line up 3 to 5 matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel, along any active payline. The paytable splits into two camps: low-paying suits—clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades—shown as grey cards, which pay between 2x and 3x your bet for five of a kind; and high-paying symbols, which are four Aces, rewarding between 10x and 20x your bet for a full set of five. Wilds come in the form of Jokers, while the Free Spin (FS) Scatters are red cards marked with white “FS” letters.

Special Features & Slot Mechanics

What’s the max win in Deal With Death?

Up to 20,000 times your bet.

What features does Deal With Death pack?

It’s got Poker Mode, Joker Symbols, Bonus Games, and a Feature Buy option.

Poker Mode

When a Joker lands anywhere on the reels, the usual symbol-and-payline routine takes a backseat, and Poker Mode kicks in. Suddenly, all symbols flip into playing cards, and each of the four rows becomes a potential five-card poker hand, each with its own payout scale.

Royal Flush = 2,000x

Straight Flush = 1,000x

Four of a Kind = 100x

Full House = 75x

Flush = 50x

Straight = 25x

Three of a Kind = 10x

Two Pair = 5x

Joker Symbols

There are four flavors of Joker symbols, each wild in its own right and all capable of triggering Poker Mode. Some bring extra goodies, too. Once Poker Mode is live, every Joker morphs into the card that best completes the hand on its row.

Regular Joker = triggers Poker Mode.

Hand Multiplier Joker = triggers Poker Mode and slaps a multiplier of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 10x on the hand in its row.

Global Multiplier Joker = triggers Poker Mode and applies a multiplier of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 10x across all winning hands.

Triple Trouble Joker = triggers Poker Mode, scoops up all cards from the grid after payouts, shuffles them, and deals out three top-notch hands from the mix.

If multiple multipliers pop up during Poker Mode, their values stack up before boosting your winnings.

Bonus Games

Landing 3, 4, or 5 FS Scatters anywhere on the reels in a single spin unlocks one of three bonus rounds: Deal With It, Dealbreaker, or Fool’s Gold. Each kicks off with 10 free spins, plus you snag extra spins—either +2 or +4—for every 2 or 3 FS Scatters that land during the bonus.

Deal With It = Joker symbols show up more often.

Dealbreaker = each hand’s payout gets a boost by its base value after a win.

Fool’s Gold = keeps the Dealbreaker mechanics but guarantees a Joker on every spin.

Feature Buy

Not in the mood to wait for features to drop naturally? No worries. The Buy Bonus menu lets you jump straight into the action for a fixed price that scales with your bet.

3x = Bonus hunt feature spins with a 5x better shot at triggering a bonus game.

60x = Flippin’ feature spins that guarantee a random Joker lands.

100x = Deal With It Bonus with 10 free spins.

200x = Dealbreaker Bonus with 10 free spins.

Final Thoughts on Deal With Death

Funny how some game devs seem to be on the same wavelength lately—2025’s latter half has seen a bunch of slots blending card game elements into their reels. Just recently, we checked out Crescendo by ELK Studios, which tossed playing cards into a single-row, five-reel setup, and Deck of Scurra by Print Studios, which offered a medieval-themed experience, though it didn’t stick to classic card rules. Compared to those, Deal With Death leans closer to Crescendo, banking on traditional poker hands for its big wins whenever a Joker shows up in the base game. It’s a slick, no-nonsense approach—just sit back, watch the cards flip, and hope for those winning combos on each row. Honestly, the base game feels almost like an afterthought, given the modest 14 paylines and a top 5-of-a-kind payout of just 20x the bet. But once Poker Mode kicks in, especially with the heavy-hitter Jokers, things get genuinely exciting. And true to Hacksaw’s style, the trio of bonus rounds cranks up the frequency and size of those poker hand wins, throwing in guaranteed Jokers and bigger payouts.

As for the setting, well, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. A robotic, undead card shark drifting in a void of nothingness, surrounded by vivid reel symbols—it’s not exactly your typical casino backdrop. Whether there’s some deep symbolism or it’s just a designer’s late-night brainstorm, who knows? From a design standpoint, though, it’s clean and uncluttered, which is refreshing. No flashy distractions, just the essentials—kind of like the gameplay itself, where the whole point is to land Jokers and trigger Poker Mode. No fuss, no frills, just a straightforward cause and effect, which, frankly, I appreciate.

All told, Deal With Death is a tidy, enjoyable mashup of slot and poker mechanics, with simple yet effective boosts that keep the adrenaline pumping.