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How to Play Hand of Anubis – Complete Guide for Australian Players

Hand of Anubis is a slot from Hacksaw Gaming built around an ancient Egyptian theme, but the mechanics sit a lot closer to modern cluster-pay territory than your standard pokies layout. Released in 2022, it runs on a 6x5 grid and uses a pays-anywhere format that trips up a lot of first-timers who are expecting regular paylines. This guide covers how to play Hand of Anubis from scratch, what the bonus features actually do in practice, how the volatility tends to behave during real sessions, and what to keep in mind if you're loading it up on your phone. Whether you've never tried a Hacksaw slot before or you've had a few spins and want to understand what you're actually looking at, this page should give you a straight answer.

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Slot Gameplay Overview

Feature

Details

Provider

Hacksaw Gaming

RTP

94.32%

Volatility

High

Grid / Paylines

6x5, pays anywhere (cluster pays)

Minimum Bet

$0.10

Maximum Bet

$100

Max Win

x10,000 your stake

Bonus Features

Free spins, multipliers, scatter triggers

Special Symbols

Wilds, scatters

Mobile Compatible

Yes, fully optimised

Release Year

2022

In practice, Hand of Anubis feels less cluttered than some Hacksaw titles. The grid is wide and the cluster mechanic is simple enough to follow without reading through a twelve-page paytable. That said, the high volatility means the base game can be extremely quiet for stretches, and new players sometimes mistake that for the slot being broken or unfair. It isn't. That's just what high-variance play looks like before a bonus kicks in.

How to Start Playing Hand of Anubis

The controls are clean and fairly minimal. You set your stake before each spin using the bet adjustment buttons at the bottom of the screen. On the 6x5 grid, wins are formed by landing clusters of matching symbols rather than following fixed paylines, so there's nothing to manually select in terms of lines. Once your stake is set, you hit spin and the grid resolves. It's straightforward in that sense.

Autoplay is available if you'd rather set a number of spins and let it run, which a lot of Australian players do during a longer session or when multitasking on the couch. You can usually set a stop condition based on a win limit or a loss limit, and it's worth using those rather than leaving autoplay completely uncapped. More on that later.

Gameplay Step

Practical Notes

Set your bet

Use the + / - controls or preset bet options. Start low if unfamiliar.

Understand the grid

6 reels, 5 rows. Wins come from symbol clusters, not fixed lines.

Hit spin

Grid symbols drop. Clusters of matching symbols pay out based on size.

Turbo / quick spin

Available on most casinos. Speeds up the animation without affecting outcomes.

Autoplay

Useful for longer sessions. Set loss limits before activating it.

Mobile controls

Touchscreen-friendly. Bet buttons and spin are easy to reach in portrait mode.

Bonus Features and Special Symbols

The scatter triggers the free spins round. You'll need to land a specific number of scatters across the grid to activate it, and this is where most players are camped out waiting during the base game. The free spins round is where multipliers come into play, and those multipliers can stack in meaningful ways if the spins are running well. The wild symbol substitutes for standard paying symbols and helps form or extend clusters.

Don't go into this expecting bonus triggers every few minutes. The high volatility means the scatter can take a serious number of spins to show up, and when the bonus does arrive, how much it pays varies considerably. Sometimes the free spins play out quietly. Other times the multipliers stack into something much larger. That unpredictability is built into the high-variance design.

Feature

Function

Practical Effect

Wild Symbol

Substitutes for standard pay symbols

Helps complete or extend clusters for a higher payout

Scatter Symbol

Triggers free spins when enough land

Can take many base game spins before appearing

Free Spins Round

Bonus spin sequence with multiplier potential

Main source of larger wins; results vary significantly

Multipliers

Increase payout values during free spins

Stack during the bonus to push wins higher

The multiplier behavior during the bonus is the main reason this slot has a x10,000 max win ceiling. Most sessions won't get near that, but a strong free spins run with stacked multipliers is how it becomes possible.

RTP, Volatility and How Your Bankroll Will Behave

The RTP sits at 94.32%, which is on the lower side compared to what a lot of slots advertise. In simple terms, over a very long run of spins, the game returns roughly 94 cents for every dollar wagered. That doesn't mean you'll lose exactly that per spin, and it doesn't apply to individual sessions at all. In any given sitting, the outcome could be anything.

The high volatility is where things get more relevant for how a session actually feels. You will have cold stretches where the balance just drops steadily. That's not unusual and it's not a sign you're doing something wrong. Australian players who are used to more volatile pokies will recognize this pattern, but those coming from low or medium variance slots sometimes find it jarring. The swings are real and the base game pays can be small. The idea is that the bigger returns are concentrated into fewer, larger hits rather than spread out evenly.

Feature

Practical Gameplay Impact

RTP 94.32%

Lower than average; long-term theoretical return is below many competing slots

High Volatility

Extended cold streaks are normal; wins tend to come in clusters rather than steadily

Max Win x10,000

Potential is there but requires strong bonus performance; not a regular occurrence

Bankroll Pacing

A larger relative bankroll for the stake size handles variance better

Mobile Play Experience

Hand of Anubis works well on mobile and the layout actually suits portrait play on a phone more naturally than some grid-based slots. The 6x5 grid is wide but Hacksaw has scaled it sensibly so you don't end up squinting at tiny symbols or fat-fingering the bet controls. The spin button is accessible without repositioning your thumb, and the whole interface responds to touch inputs cleanly.

A lot of the Australian players who find their way to this slot are playing it on an Android or iPhone during a commute, on lunch break, or late at night. Quick sessions work fine with the default spin mode, and autoplay suits those moments when you're not watching every spin closely. Just be aware that autoplay on mobile without a loss cap tends to run through a session budget faster than you'd expect, particularly with this game's variance.

Mobile Element

Notes

Portrait layout

Grid scales well; comfortable for single-hand play

Touch controls

Responsive; bet and spin buttons are well positioned

Autoplay on mobile

Works smoothly; set limits before running it unattended

Load speed

Loads quickly on 4G/5G; no significant delay entering the slot

Quick-spin / turbo

Useful for shorter sessions; keeps the pace up without distortion

Common Mistakes New Players Make

The most frequent one is betting too high too quickly. The minimum stake here is $0.10 and the maximum is $100, and plenty of players jump straight to a dollar or two per spin without accounting for what a 50-spin cold stretch feels like at that level. With a high volatility slot, that can drain a modest deposit fast before the bonus even triggers once.

Misreading the RTP is another common issue. Some players assume that because a slot has an RTP it will return that amount across their session. It doesn't work that way. The 94.32% figure is a long-run statistical average, not a per-session guarantee. A single session of a few hundred spins can go well above or well below that figure.

Bonus chasing through autoplay without a stop condition is also risky. It's easy to set autoplay to a large number of spins on mobile, get distracted, and come back to an empty balance. This isn't unique to Hand of Anubis but the high variance makes it more punishing here than on a low-volatility slot. Using the built-in loss limit feature in autoplay settings is genuinely worth doing.

Is Hand of Anubis Easy to Learn?

Mechanically, yes. The cluster pays system is simpler than multi-payline formats once you get used to looking at symbol groupings rather than line combinations. The bonus triggers are straightforward and the feature set isn't overcomplicated. A first-time player can understand what's happening within a few spins.

The learning curve is less about rules and more about adjusting expectations around variance. If you've mostly played low-volatility slots or even just moderate pokies with regular small wins, the quiet stretches in Hand of Anubis can feel frustrating. It's not a bad slot to start on if you understand that going in, but it's not the best choice for a beginner who needs frequent feedback to stay engaged. Casual players who are fine with waiting for bigger moments will get more out of it than those who want consistent small returns.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions that come up most often from Australian players looking into how to play Hand of Anubis before committing to real money spins.

What type of slot is Hand of Anubis?

It's a 6x5 grid slot using a cluster pays mechanic, made by Hacksaw Gaming in 2022. Instead of fixed paylines, wins are formed when groups of matching symbols land adjacent to each other. It's a fairly common format in modern slots but different from traditional five-reel pokies.

What is the minimum bet to play Hand of Anubis?

The minimum stake is $0.10 per spin. The maximum is $100. For most casual sessions, starting somewhere in the $0.20 to $0.50 range makes more sense given the volatility, since it stretches your balance further across a session and gives the bonus features time to trigger.

How does the free spins feature get triggered?

The free spins round is activated by landing the required number of scatter symbols on the grid during the base game. Because the game runs at high volatility, the scatters don't appear on a fixed schedule, and it can take many spins before the bonus round triggers. That's normal behavior for this type of game.

Does high volatility mean I'll lose more money?

Not necessarily more in total, but the experience feels more extreme in both directions. You'll go through longer losing runs and occasional larger win moments compared to a low-volatility slot. The RTP is what determines theoretical long-term return, not the volatility level. Volatility describes the distribution of wins rather than the overall return amount.

Is Hand of Anubis available on mobile in Australia?

Yes. The slot runs directly in mobile browsers and is compatible with both iOS and Android without requiring any app download. It plays well in portrait mode and the controls are accessible on a standard smartphone screen. Most Australian online casinos that carry Hacksaw titles will have it available on mobile.

Can I try Hand of Anubis for free before playing with real money?

Many online casinos offer a demo or practice mode for this slot, which lets you spin without using real funds. It's a reasonable way to get familiar with the cluster pay format and see how the free spins feature works before deciding on a real money stake. Availability of demo mode depends on the specific casino you're using.

What is the maximum possible win in Hand of Anubis?

The stated maximum win is x10,000 times your stake. At a $1 bet that would be $10,000. Reaching that requires the free spins round to perform exceptionally well with multipliers stacking significantly. It's a possible outcome but not a realistic expectation for a typical session.

Lachlan Whitfield
Lachlan Whitfield
Lachlan Whitfield is a Melbourne-based gambling enthusiast and seasoned online casino reviewer with over eight years of experience testing pokies and slot games across Australian-licensed platforms. He has a keen eye for bonus features, RTP rates, and game mechanics, helping Aussie players make informed choices before spinning the reels. When he's not reviewing the latest releases from providers like Aristocrat and IGT, Lachlan enjoys following the AFL and exploring new craft breweries around Victoria.