Mystery symbols give the base game memory
Hex starts with 243 ways to win, but the more important idea is what happens to Mystery symbols after they appear. Relax Gaming describes Sticky Mystery symbols, Mystery Reveals and reel expansion as the core feature family. A Mystery position can therefore stay relevant long enough for its final symbol identity to matter later in the sequence.
The reveal mechanic turns those positions into matching symbols. That changes how the board should be read because a position that begins unresolved can become part of a coordinated symbol group after the reveal. The game is less about following fixed paylines and more about following which positions have been marked, what they reveal into, and whether those marked positions survive long enough to affect another result.
This gives the base game a form of memory before the bonus starts. The visible symbols change, but marked Mystery positions can remain part of the feature state.
Free Spins expand both the grid and the number of ways
Three, four or five Scatter symbols award seven, 10 or 15 Free Spins respectively. Before the feature begins, the reel area gains an extra row and the number of ways rises from 243 to 1,024.
That expansion changes the game in a structural way. More active positions are available, and the pay-way system has more room to connect matching symbols across adjacent reels. The bonus is not simply the base game plus extra spins. It changes the size of the active board before the first Free Spin is evaluated.
Additional Scatter symbols during the feature award one extra Free Spin each. The round can extend while the larger board and Mystery mechanics remain active.
Marked positions can accumulate across the bonus
Converted symbol positions remain marked for the duration of Free Spins. As more Mystery positions are converted, the feature can gradually fill the reel area with marked locations.
That persistence links the Mystery Reveals to the expanded grid. A converted position can matter beyond the spin where the reveal occurs. It remains part of the feature state, so later spins are played on a board that contains more historical information than the first one did.
Matching symbols across three or more adjacent reels, beginning from the leftmost reel, create a pay-way win. The marked-position mechanic does not replace that rule. It changes the conditions around it by making more positions capable of carrying forward a useful transformed state.
The sequence is easier to read if you separate three changes
Hex can look busy because Mystery symbols, reveals and reel expansion all happen within the same feature family. The simplest approach is to separate them.
First, identify which positions are Mystery positions. Second, see what those positions reveal into and which ones stay marked. Third, notice how the extra row changes the amount of active board space in Free Spins. Once those steps are separated, the feature becomes a clear progression from unresolved positions to transformed, persistent ones on a larger grid.
This also explains why the bonus feels cumulative. The feature is not resetting every spin. Marked positions can stay while new Mystery activity is added around them.
The Scatter rules reinforce that sense of continuation. Landing more Scatters at the original trigger changes the starting length from seven to 10 or 15 Free Spins, while later Scatters add one spin at a time. The larger opening award and the later single-spin extensions both give the persistent marked positions more opportunities to matter on the 1,024-ways board.
Relax Gaming's release material also describes different Free Spins awards for three, four or five Scatter symbols, with additional Scatters able to add spins during the feature.
The simplest way to read Hex is to follow the Mystery symbols first, then the reel expansion. Those are the mechanics that change how much of the board is active and how symbols can be consolidated.
Beast Mode uses Mystery mechanics as only one choice
Beast Mode provides the clearest Relax Gaming contrast. One of its three Free Spins modes also uses persistent Mystery symbols and reel expansion, but Beast Mode lets you choose whether Mystery mechanics should be the centre of the feature at all. Its other bonus routes use a Multiplier Ladder or Expanding Wilds.
Hex is more concentrated. Mystery symbols, reveals, marked positions and board expansion all belong to one connected progression. In free play, follow a single Mystery position from its unresolved state through the reveal and into its marked state, then see how that marked position survives on the expanded 1,024-ways board. That sequence shows what Hex is built around far better than a list of feature names.
