Hazakura Ways Slot Review

Hazakura Ways: Slot Overview

Relax Gaming’s Hazakura Ways drops me into the quiet hills of Japan at the moment when cherry blossoms give way to new green leaves. The setup is a 6 reel, 4 row grid with 4096 ways to win, framed by a wooden structure covered in flowers. Behind the calm exterior sits a feature set built around expanding symbols, free spins, a random base game modifier, plus optional Mega Bet and Bonus Buy extras.

Stakes start at 10p and reach £20 in the standard mode, or £30 when Mega Bet is active, though wins are still calculated from the base stake. The default RTP is around 96.37%, nudging 97% if you keep hammering the Bonus Buy. Hazakura Ways is highly volatile, capable of brutal downswings, but with a stated maximum win of 50,000 times the bet it can pay in spectacular bursts.

Hazakura Ways Slot Information

In Hazakura Ways I’m working with a straightforward ways-to-win system. Any three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels from the far left create a payout, regardless of their positions on those reels. This structure is vital once the special expanding symbols come into play, because they can pay from any reel instead of needing a conventional line, giving the game a different rhythm from most six-reel slots.

The low paying symbols are simple shapes diamonds, clubs, spades, hearts and stars paying around 1 to 2 times the bet for six of a kind. Higher paying icons fit the samurai theme with a sword, dagger, older master and a fortune seeking girl. Land six premium symbols and you are looking at rewards from 3 times the stake up to 50 times your bet for a full screen of the girl.

The wild symbol is a fully blooming cherry blossom that substitutes for regular symbols to complete wins, while lantern scatters handle entry to the bonus round. What ties the whole paytable together is the way one symbol can be chosen as a special symbol. When that chosen icon appears, it expands downwards to fill its reel and pays even when the hits are scattered across different reels.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	6	x50
	5	x20
	4	x5
	3	x1
	6	x10
	5	x4
	4	x1.5
	3	x0.7
	6	x5
	5	x2
	4	x1
	3	x0.6
	6	x3
	5	x1.5
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.5
	6	x2
	5	x0.6
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	6	x1.6
	5	x0.5
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	6	x1.4
	5	x0.5
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	6	x1.2
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	6	x1
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	Scatter
	Wild

Hazakura Ways Slot Features

In the base game Hazakura Ways can fire a Random Feature at the start of any spin. One pay symbol is selected as the special symbol for that spin. Every copy of it that lands then stretches downwards to cover all positions on its reel. Because wins are paid on ways, not strict paylines, those expanded stacks can connect from any reels and often turn quite ordinary setups into very decent hits.

The Free Spins feature in Hazakura Ways triggers by landing three to six lantern scatters, awarding 10, 15, 20 or 25 free spins. Before the round starts, one pay symbol is picked as the special symbol for the entire bonus. Whenever it appears, it expands downwards exactly as in the Random Feature and pays from any reel. Hitting three or more scatters during the round adds extra free spins and extends the session.

Hazakura Ways – Mega Bet

With the Mega Bet in Hazakura Ways I can push the stake up by 50% and change how often the extras appear. Mega Bet lifts the hit rate for both Free Spins and the Random Feature, and it also means any wilds that land during those expanding-symbol events will expand to cover their whole reel. Wins are still counted from the original bet size, so you are basically paying for more frequent, stronger feature spins.

Hazakura Ways – Bonus Buy

Rather than grinding the base game, Hazakura Ways lets me buy direct entry to Free Spins for 80 times the bet. I can buy the bonus with Mega Bet either off or on, with the latter option costing half as much again because of the expanding wilds. The RTP steps up to around 97% for bought bonuses, but the high volatility means some purchases will fizzle out while others explode into big stacked-symbol wins.

Hazakura Ways Slot Verdict

For me Hazakura Ways feels like one of those Relax Gaming titles where the calm presentation hides a savage engine. The graphics are pleasant rather than flashy, backed by gentle music and drifting petals, yet the gameplay can switch quickly from dead spins to outrageous expanding-symbol hits. When that chosen symbol lines up across several reels and everything drops into place, the 4096 ways structure really shows what it can do.

On the flip side, Hazakura Ways can be as unforgiving as any high volatility slot I have played from this studio. Wilds sometimes refuse to show when Mega Bet is on, chosen symbols love to land low and fail to expand, and bonus buys can burn straight through a balance. If you play it with a sensible stake and accept the swings, the mix of expanding symbols and big win potential can be very rewarding.

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