Satire has no place in American politics anymore. How do you satirise something that is already completely off the rails? So much of the satire from the last decade now just feels prophetic. It is like the satirists of yesterday were quoting directly from the tabloids of tomorrow. I mean, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and Elon, the world’s richest man, are having public spats on Twitter like two teenage girls fighting over the same boy.

While satire might be less relevant than ever, mockery is still alive and well in the slot world. At first glance, Hacksaw’s Ultimate Slot of America slot looks like it belongs in that category, but the question is whether it is mocking or just trying far too hard to celebrate.

To mock or to marvel?

The Ultimate Slot of America slot from Hacksaw Gaming features 19 paylines and five reels. Betting starts at $0.10, with a $35 max. The top prize is $350,000, made possible by the 10,000x maximum multiplier. With medium volatility, the slot offers a mix of frequent smaller wins and occasional bigger hits. The RTP is 96.35%.

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Liberty Gems are wild multipliers that trigger Freedom Respins and stay sticky while the feature is active. Each new Liberty Gem adds another respin, continuing until no more land or all spaces are filled. Multipliers range from x1 to x10 and are added together if multiple multipliers are involved in a win. A line of five Liberty Gems pays 10x the bet.

When four or more Liberty Gems form a square from 2×2 to 5×5, they create a Gem Cluster. Classic Clusters combine all multipliers into one. Epic Clusters take that sum and multiply it by between x2 and x20.

Three FS scatters trigger Spin-Dependence Day with ten free spins and more chances to land Liberty Gems. Landing two or three more FS scatters adds two or four extra spins. Red, White, Bling! activates with four FS scatter systems and awards ten spins. All Liberty Gems and Clusters are sticky, but no Freedom Respins are triggered. Finally, the Pursuit of Riches round of free spins is triggered with five FS scatters. You get ten spins with the same mechanics as Spin-Dependence Day, plus at least five Liberty Gems on each spin.

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If you’re not keen on waiting around to unlock the numerous rounds of free spins the old-fashioned way, you can select to purchase a round with the slot’s buy bonus feature. The highest value buy bonus option comes in at 200x your bet amount.

Does the Ultimate Slot of America slot stand for freedom?

It was only a matter of time before AI started creating slots from concept to execution. Now, I’m not saying that’s what happened with the development of the Ultimate Slot of America slot, but the whole thing feels like the product of a soulless machine, from the weird Captain America bald eagle hybrid mascot character thing to the generic, overly complicated name. It sets itself up as a satirical look at the United States and instead ends up sitting on the fence between satire and a strange celebration of the land of the Stars and Stripes.

I’m a huge fan of Hacksaw. The company has consistently produced some of my favourite slots of all time. Ultimate Slot of America is a black spot on that record. It feels soulless and without thought or direction, like something a board of corporate ghouls workshopped to within an inch of its life, stripping out anything that could have made it exciting in order to appease the widest possible base.If, like me, you’re keen to put the stain of the Ultimate Slot of America behind you by enjoying some Hacksaw classics, I suggest trying out Toshi Video Club and Time Spinners.