Le Fisherman is a cluster-pays slot from Hacksaw Gaming that came out on 5 February 2026. Its board has 6 reels and 5 rows, which makes 30 squares, and there are no paylines at all: a win is any group of five or more matching symbols joined edge to edge. Everything else in the game grows out of that first win, from the cascades that follow it to the squares it marks for later.
Four basic facts frame everything else on this page.
Clusters instead of lines
Five or more symbols of one kind pay when they touch up, down or sideways. Corner contact does not count, and the paytable has six cluster sizes, from 5 to 12 or more.
Way to winA medium setting
Hacksaw rates the volatility at 3 on its five-step meter. Plain clusters pay 0.1x to 100x the bet, so larger results come from the special symbols in Golden Squares.
VolatilitySmokey on the lake
Smokey has put his heists on hold for a weekend and sits in a rowing boat in orange floaties and yellow wellies, drawn by a rumour of treasure on the bottom of the lake.
ThemeA 15,000x ceiling
A round is capped at 15,000 times the bet and ends at once when the cap is hit. It can be reached in the base game too, with a lower chance than with the bonus rounds.
Max win
Rules are easier to follow once you have seen them move. The two community videos below show the hidden round opened by five FS scatters and a round that runs all the way to the 15,000x cap. Neither is an ordinary session, but both show the order of cascades, reveals and collections at full speed.
We got the 5 scatter on Le Fisherman!
Jammy Slots · Watch on YouTube
Record max win on Le Fisherman!
SPINLIFE · Watch on YouTube
Each clip loads only when you press play and belongs to its creator. The amounts on screen depend on the stake the creator used, so read every result as a multiple of the bet rather than as a sum of money.
The board of 30 squares sits in a wooden frame, with the balance, the stake and the spin button in the bar below it. The arrows in the bet display change the stake, and the spin button or the space bar starts a round. The UK version offers 14 stake levels from £0.10 to £5.00, with £2.00 as the default and a minimum of 2.5 seconds per round.
A winning cluster of 7 on the 6 × 5 grid
In the diagram seven matching symbols touch along their edges, so they count as one cluster, while the Rainbow in the top corner waits until every win of the spin is collected. A symbol touching the group only at a corner would stay outside it. The squares the cluster covered turn golden, and those marks are what the Rainbow works on.
Le Fisherman has two families of symbols. The regular ones fill the board on every spin and pay in clusters, while the special ones have a job of their own or appear only inside Golden Squares. All values are multiples of the bet, so at the default UK stake of £2.00 a value of 1x is worth £2.00 and 100x is worth £200.
Five card values share the lowest tier, with the picture symbols above them and the fish at the top.
| Symbol / cluster size | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8-9 | 10-11 | 12+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10, J, Q, K, A | 0.1x | 0.2x | 0.3x | 0.5x | 2x | 10x |
| Yellow wellie, red float | 0.3x | 0.5x | 0.7x | 1x | 5x | 25x |
| Worm on a hook, anchor | 0.5x | 1x | 1.5x | 2.5x | 10x | 50x |
| Fish | 1x | 1.5x | 2x | 5x | 20x | 100x |
From 8-9 symbols upwards each step multiplies the pay four or five times, so a fish cluster goes from 5x to 20x and then to 100x. Small clusters return only part of the stake, and five card symbols at £2.00 pay £0.20. With the paytable topping out at 100x, the special symbols carry most of the weight in larger totals.
These symbols substitute, start bonus rounds or appear through Golden Squares.
| Symbol | What it does | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Wild (pink clam) | Substitutes for every symbol in the paytable | Joins any cluster |
| FS scatter (life ring) | 3, 4 or 5 at once start a bonus round | 10 free spins |
| Rainbow | Activates every Golden Square after all wins | Opens marked squares |
| Epic Rainbow | Reveals special symbols on all positions | Whole grid |
| Bronze Coin | Cash prize | 0.2x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x |
| Silver Coin | Cash prize | 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x |
| Gold Coin | Cash prize | 25x, 50x, 100x |
| Diamond Coin | Cash prize | 150x, 250x, 500x |
| Green Clover | Multiplies coins and buckets next to it | x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, x20 |
| Gold Clover | Multiplies coins and buckets on the grid | x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, x20 |
| Bucket | Collects values in its 3 × 3 area | Sum of its area |
| Global Bucket | Collects values across the grid | Sum of the grid |
FS, Rainbow and Epic Rainbow symbols cannot land on the same spin, so a spin with bonus scatters brings no Rainbow. Clovers wait for something to multiply: a Green Clover with no special symbol beside it activates later, as soon as one appears. Coins are the only symbols with a cash value of their own.
Golden Squares link the ordinary wins to the big numbers, and the game runs through them in a fixed order. A Rainbow waits until every win of the spin has been collected, and only then do the marked squares open. Emptied squares can then reveal again, so one Rainbow may set off several rounds of reveals before the payout.
Collection area of a Bucket and a Global Bucket
Bucket: the 8 squares around it, a 3 × 3 area
Global Bucket: every square of the grid, shown in miniature
Position matters for a Bucket and not for a Global Bucket. A coin two squares away stays out of a Bucket's reach, while a Global Bucket picks up values anywhere, including totals stored in other buckets. Because clovers act first, a multiplied coin enters the collection at its multiplied value.
Bonus rounds start from FS scatters landing at the same time in the base game, and their number picks the round. All three give 10 free spins and keep the base-game rules, yet each treats Golden Squares in its own way, which changes how much a single Rainbow can open.
On Thin Ice
3 FS scatters · 10 free spins
The grid moves onto an icy lake and the Big Catch Bar appears above it.
Slippery When Wet
4 FS scatters · 10 free spins
Everything from On Thin Ice, with the board taken under water.
Smokey Under Water
5 FS scatters · 10 free spins
The rules of Slippery When Wet with the bar at its highest level.
In On Thin Ice the marks pile up until a Rainbow uses them, in Slippery When Wet they also survive the activation, and Smokey Under Water adds a Rainbow on every spin. In the frame below the bar runs along the top of the grid and the counter shows the free spins left.
The Big Catch Bar exists only in the bonus rounds. It starts at Level 0 in On Thin Ice and Slippery When Wet and moves one step per FS symbol, so the fifth, tenth, fifteenth and twentieth symbols each open a level. Every level changes what an activated Rainbow becomes and adds 5 free spins, so a full climb stretches a round from 10 spins to 30.
Level 2 is where the Rainbow starts to collect rather than multiply, and Level 3 spreads its multiplier across the board. Reaching Level 4 in one of the first two rounds takes 20 FS symbols in the same bonus. That round then gets the Rainbow on every spin that Smokey Under Water starts with.
Buying is not available in every jurisdiction, the UK among them, and the UK version shows no buy button. The table describes the menu where buying is switched on.
The menu offers two kinds of purchase. A direct buy starts On Thin Ice or Slippery When Wet at once, while FeatureSpins change every spin until you press disable, each spin costing the listed multiple. Prices follow the current bet and can go beyond the normal stake range.
| Option | Cost | RTP | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| BonusHunt FeatureSpins | 3x bet | 96.33% | Each spin is five times more likely to start a bonus |
| Rainbow Trout FeatureSpins | 50x bet | 96.14% | At least one win and a Rainbow or Epic Rainbow per spin, coins from 1x |
| Rainbow Epic Drop FeatureSpins | 500x bet | 96.28% | An Epic Rainbow on each spin, coins from 1x |
| On Thin Ice | 60x bet | 96.31% | Opens the first bonus round |
| Slippery When Wet | 250x bet | 96.25% | Opens the second bonus round |
None of the options lifts the return above 96.33%, as their RTPs run from 96.14% to 96.33%. A purchase changes how the stake is spread across spins, not the long-run price of playing. Smokey Under Water is absent from the list, since only five FS scatters start it.
None of the habits below changes the outcome of a spin, because every result comes from the random number generator. They make the sequence easier to read and keep the cost of a session in line with your plan.
Learn the order in the demo
The UK demo gives a £5,000 play balance, so you can watch Rainbows, clovers and buckets resolve without spending anything.
Tip 01Count the marked squares
Every extra Golden Square is one more reveal. A base-game spin with cascades but no Rainbow ends with the marks cleared.
Tip 02Read the bar in a bonus
Count the FS symbols as they land. Every fifth one adds a level and 5 spins and changes what the next Rainbow becomes.
Tip 03Fit the stake to the session
Choose the number of spins first. In the UK version 100 spins at £0.40 put £40 through the game, at £2.00 they put through £200.
Tip 04Use the timer on screen
The UK build shows a session timer and your net position, with autoplay and turbo off. Check both and stop at your limit.
Tip 05Check the RTP in the rules
The Game Info screen states the RTP of the version in front of you. The published figure is 96.33%, so compare before a real-money session.
ImportantThe game also comes up on Reddit, from max-win posts to grumbles about the return. The four threads below open on Reddit itself. Each describes somebody's own sessions, so read them as personal accounts and not as a picture of the game over thousands of spins.
Le Fisherman runs on Super Cascades rather than ordinary ones. After a win, every regular paying symbol of the type that formed the cluster leaves the grid, including copies nowhere near the winning group. New symbols then drop in to fill all the gaps at once, which clears more space than an ordinary cascade and gives the board a fresh chance to form another cluster. The chain continues until a drop produces no new win.
Golden Squares are activated only once all wins of the spin are collected, so cascades in the same spin still have time to mark squares. If the board ends without a single marked square, an ordinary Rainbow has nothing to open in the base game. An Epic Rainbow is different, as it reveals special symbols on every position whether squares were marked or not. In the bonus rounds, marks kept from earlier spins can also give a Rainbow work.
The sequence is fixed. First the activated Golden Squares reveal their special symbols, then every clover applies its multiplier, Green Clovers to adjacent squares and Gold Clovers to the whole grid. Only after that do Buckets activate, top to bottom and left to right, followed by Global Buckets. Because the multipliers come first, a coin is collected at its multiplied value, and emptied squares can reveal again before the total is paid.
It depends on where you are in the game. In the base game the marks last only until the end of the spin, and once the win is paid both Golden Squares and special symbols are removed. In On Thin Ice they stay from one free spin to the next until a Rainbow activates them. Slippery When Wet keeps them for the whole round even after activation, and Smokey Under Water follows the same rule.
Every round starts with 10 free spins. In On Thin Ice and Slippery When Wet each level of the Big Catch Bar adds 5 more, and a new level comes with every fifth FS symbol, so four levels can lift a round to 30 spins. In Smokey Under Water FS symbols cannot land, so the bar never climbs past its starting level. Any round ends early if the win reaches the 15,000x cap, and the spins left are discarded.
No, each Bucket and each Global Bucket collects a single time. Once a Bucket has added up the coins and activated buckets in the 3 × 3 area around it, the squares it emptied reveal new special symbols and the clover and bucket steps run again, but a bucket that has already activated sits that repeat out. Its stored total stays in play, and a Global Bucket activating later can pick it up with every other value on the grid.
Once the order of wins, marks, reveals and collections feels familiar, the casinos in the table at the top of this page offer the game for real money. Check the stake range and features of the version in the lobby, read the bonus terms and set limits for time and money before the first spin.
Pick a casino from the list and play Le Fisherman with a budget you have set in advance.
Play Le Fisherman18+ only. Play responsibly. Free help: National Gambling Helpline, 0808 8020 133.
