Fisticuffs

About the slot machine Fisticuffs

Prepare for bare-knuckle brawling! Fisticuffs, launched in the summer of 2013 by developer Netent, has boxing in style. The graphic style of the game recalls the classic cartoons, and overall, it’s one of the nicer, better-designed slots we’ve seen in quite a while. There are two boxers—one mustachioed (and, apparently, one-armed) and the other, big and stupid (but strong). When the right symbol combinations appear, these two gentlemen get into fisticuffs, which results in drifts of wild symbols for the player. Lovely and innovative theme!

Fisticuffs is a normal contemporary video slot with 5 reels and 3 rows. The paylines are relatively few, with a maximum of 10. Players can opt to use even fewer lines, which of course affects the bet. Another way that bets can be adjusted is by changing the value of the coins that are used. Finally, players can adjust the number of coins used per line. In any case, the total bet per spin or on the line used can vary from $2 to $2,000.

Symbols and functions

In Fisticuffs, it is the wild symbol that takes center stage. In fact, this is the only actual special symbol, while the rest of the range of symbols are normal ones with no extra features. Does that sound sad? It's not! In Fisticuffs, the wild symbol is allowed to work at high speed, and in combination with the respin function, it can hail tightly between wins.

In the game, there are a few different kinds of wilds. If you know anything about wild symbols — they are universal in slot games. You probably know this. Wild symbols can substitute for other symbols to give you a better chance of winning more and bigger wins — that's what all wild symbols have in common. However, wilds in this game differ in some important ways. Let's tackle those differences next.

Now, let us consider the direct form of Wild. These symbols are incarnated by the burly pugilist and can only materialize on the middle reel. If it should happen to appear next to what we will call a diagonal Wild (and to which we shall return), then the round fighter is roused to deliver his best boxing right hook to his foe, who then flies over the reels and lands with a thud in the space where three Wild symbols would any other time appear. Busted with three Wilds and forced to look dazed in the first space because of that hook to the right, the rampaging round Wild is then manhandled into a position where it looks like a respin is happening.

The diagonal wild, in turn, can only show up on reels 2 and 4, and it is represented by the mustachioed fighter. If one or two of these appear diagonally, and against them, we have a straight wild, the mustachioed fighter is throwing a left hook to the chubby fighter's gut, creating three wild symbols and enabling a respin.

While respinning, wilds that are stacked may eventually show up. They cover each reel entirely, one at a time, but they can only land on reels 1 and 5. And when I say "wilds that are stacked," you know what that means: it means that your winning chances just got a whole hell of a lot better. Stacked wilds and big wins almost seem to go together.

Summary

Fisticuffs is a beautifully crafted and fun-to-play slot machine that draws you in with its delightful graphics and design. Yet it's no slouch in the profit department either, with a maximum payout of $1 million available on either side of the top bet. The Wilds are doing heavy lifting here, though we might have liked to see an option for Free Spins in addition to the available respins.