Pineapple Play Exclusive Interview: CEO Cameron Fraser on Hacksaw OpenRGS & New Slots

Meet Pineapple Play: An Exclusive Interview with CEO Cameron Fraser

Welcome to another exclusive Chase the Scatter interview! The iGaming industry is constantly evolving, but it’s not every day a new online slot studio bursts onto the scene with as much vibrant energy and innovative math models as Pineapple Play. Fresh off their milestone integration into Hacksaw Gaming’s OpenRGS platform, this Australia-based developer is already making waves with their debut title, Coconut Chaos, and turning heads with their highly anticipated upcoming release, Midnight Mirage.

To get a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, slot game design philosophy, and future roadmap of this exciting new brand, we sat down with Cameron Fraser, the Co-Founder and CEO of Pineapple Play. Join us as we dive into what makes this tropical-infused studio tick, how they conceptualize their unique slot mechanics, and how they plan to carve out a distinct identity in the highly competitive world of online casino games.

About Pineapple Play

1. The iGaming industry is currently flooded with dark, edgy, or hyper-intense studio names. What was the inspiration behind the bright, tropical, and lighthearted name 'Pineapple Play,' and how does it reflect your overall game design philosophy?

Pineapple Play is based in tropical Australia, and we see palm trees, tropical fruit trees, and multicoloured parrots when we look out the window. A light-hearted, tropical name felt like a natural fit for us. A pineapple made sense because it's bold, fun, and instantly recognisable, and ‘play’ keeps it grounded in what we do, make games.

The Pineapple Play name and brand sets the tone before anyone plays a single spin, it signals to iGaming operators and players alike that this is a slot studio with a point of view. We're not trying to look like everyone else, and that philosophy carries through into every title we make. Every game starts with a story, and the characters and slot mechanics are tailored to bring that story to life.

2. In December 2025, you became the 9th studio to join Hacksaw Gaming’s OpenRGS platform. What were the strategic reasons behind choosing Hacksaw as your distribution partner, and how has their infrastructure allowed you to bring your ideas to life?

For a new slot studio, game distribution is the biggest barrier to entry. You can build a great game, but if operators can't integrate it easily across regulated markets, it won't be played.

Our partnership with Hacksaw's OpenRGS allowed us to focus entirely on what we're good at, making games that take players somewhere. Hacksaw Gaming was the obvious choice with a strong reputation, an aggregation platform that operators trust, and the technical capability to support innovative game design.

Coconut Chaos, Midnight Mirage, and our upcoming games are very different, mechanically and visually, and Hacksaw can handle these differences without forcing us into a template. That flexibility was a big part of our decision.

3. Operating on the Hacksaw Gaming OpenRGS platform obviously gives you incredible distribution and reach, but Hacksaw also has a very dominant, highly recognizable style in the industry. As a new studio, what specific steps is Pineapple Play taking to build a distinct, standalone brand identity so you aren't just viewed as an extension of Hacksaw?

Everything we release is built from the ground up, our own game design and development, our own art and sound, our own custom mechanics, our own characters. That extends beyond the casino games themselves, our website, socials, and the way we communicate is all distinctly our own voice.

The partnership with Hacksaw gives us incredible reach, but reach and identity are different things. Our stylistic direction is uniquely Pineapple Play, and over time players will recognise that.

About Coconut Chaos (First Game)

4. In Coconut Chaos, the base game has been noted as quite challenging - specifically due to the 14 paylines on a 5x4 grid, a lower 21.87% hit rate, and the complete absence of base game wild symbols. What was the mathematical or design philosophy behind making the base game such a grind?

We wanted to offer players a choice between two completely different bonus games. Providing these options and the decision not to include wild symbols made for a quieter base game than some players expected. That said, Coconut Chaos base game play was strong in multiple jurisdictions, which tells us there is player demand for games that offer simpler slot mechanics.

Where Coconut Chaos really shines is in the features. Pineapple Payday landed the way we intended with the guaranteed win giving players something positively different.

5. The Pineapple Payday bonus is an absolute masterclass in subverting player expectations. Instead of standard cash values in a Hold & Win, building a massive multiplier and then transferring to the 3-reel 'Payday' Reel to reveal the base prize (up to 100x) creates an incredible two-stage thrill. Can you walk us through the 'aha!' moment when the team conceptualized this mechanic, and did you always know you wanted to flip the traditional Hold & Win script so dramatically?

Injecting genuine points of difference is something we prioritise from the very start of the slot design process. The process itself is deliberately relaxed, and the best moments usually come from one idea building on another after spending a lot of time asking ‘what if?’.

Pineapple Payday is a good example of that in action. The 3-reel mini game was always part of the Coconut Chaos concept but pairing it with a Hold and Win mechanic, which is more traditionally associated with land-based slots, came later from exactly that kind of ‘what if’ thinking and it changed the dynamic entirely.

6. One of the most exciting aspects of Coconut Chaos is that it genuinely feels like two completely different slots packed into one release. You have the classic, clean symbol-removal in the Only the Juicy feature, contrasted beautifully with the explosive, modern innovation of the Pineapple Payday Reel. Was creating a dual-experience game a core goal from day one to ensure your debut immediately appealed to a wide variety of players?

With our first slot release, we wanted to tip our hat to traditional slots, and the fruit theme was a deliberate nod to that heritage. But we also wanted to announce Pineapple Play as a studio with a distinct perspective, and the Pineapple Payday Reel was where that came through.

The two bonus features complement each other well. Only the Juicy offers something clean and familiar, while Pineapple Payday injects a layer of drama and surprise. That contrast gives players high volatility variety within a single game, but it also sets the tone early for what kind of studio we are, one that respects the classics but won’t just be recreating them.

About Midnight Mirage (Upcoming Game)

7. Midnight Mirage feels incredibly dynamic, with the reels independently changing height on every single spin. Can you walk us through the idea behind this constantly shifting base game, and how that evolved into the massive 'Reflecta Reels' mirroring mechanic in the Skyline Spins?

Many of our game concepts are born from something visually striking. Midnight Mirage started with watching cranes build a city skyline, the structures rising to different heights, and the silhouette constantly shifting and changing. That image prompted the question ‘what if’ the reels did the same thing? Dynamic reel heights gave us a base game that feels different with every spin.

Reflecta Reels was the natural evolution from there. Double the reel height, mirror the top half to the bottom, and the ways-to-win explode. A city skyline reflected in water. The slot mechanic and the theme grew together organically, which is exactly how we try to design every game.

8. With a 25,000x max win, a very generous 96.42% RTP, and a high 34.39% hit frequency, the math model on Midnight Mirage seems mathematically engineered to dominate the market. How difficult was it to balance the game to ensure the base game stays active while still justifying that massive win ceiling?

Keeping a high-volatility game with a big max win feeling alive in the base game can be a design challenge, and it's one we took seriously with Midnight Mirage. One way we have achieved this is giving players a choice over how they engage with the game.

Where jurisdictions permit, Midnight Mirage includes gameplay options designed for different play styles. The Glass House FeatureSpins™ guarantees a Symbol Shatter on every spin, amplifying the action and directly increasing the potential ways to win. BonusHunt FeatureSpins™ makes each spin five times more likely to trigger the bonus game, ideal for players who want to escalate faster.

The result is a game that works for multiple player types. The higher hit frequency holds the floor, the dynamic reels keep every spin visually interesting, and for players who want more, the option to increase their bet and add to the action in real time is there.

9. The Skyline Spins feature is priced very competitively at just 60x the bet. However, the math dictates that a cheaper buy-in results in a lower average payout per feature, which can create a 'grindy' bonus economy where players have to buy repeatedly to chase the outlier spins. How do you respond to players who might prefer a more expensive, but higher-paying, bonus buy?

Bonus accessibility was front of mind when we set Skyline Spins at 60x the bet, we wanted the bonus buy to feel reachable and not reserved. The Reflecta Reels mechanic generates large variance within the feature, meaning even a single bonus session can deliver surprising results.

About the Future

10. With Midnight Mirage proving you can tackle sleek, complex, high-volatility cityscapes just as well as tropical fruit slots, what is the long-term roadmap for Pineapple Play? Can we expect you to keep jumping between vastly different themes and mechanics, or are you looking to establish a signature 'Pineapple Play' style?

Flexibility to experiment with new themes and slot styles matters to us, but at our core we're a studio that leads with character. Cartoon style, personality-first art direction is where we feel most at home, and that will be the backbone of our iGaming portfolio.

Our themes may also look varied from the outside, but there's a deliberate thread connecting everything we release. The game release roadmap is more intentional than it might appear right now. All will be revealed in time, watch this space!