Description
Released in April 2020 with five reels, between three and seven rows and up to a whopping 33,600+ ways of winning, colourful video slot PopRocks Slot is from Yggdrasil Gaming in collaboration with Hong Kong-based studio Avatar UX. (The latter specialises in creating games with an Asian theme for the European market.)
The game draws you into a gloomy underworld with an imposing castle lurking behind its see-through reels, while dramatic music adds to the mystical ambience.
With rock music in the background, this is a game with a fast pace, whose highlights include multipliers and an expanding grid to boost your chances of winning.
How to play
PopRocks works well on mobile devices, or enjoy it on your PC. Play from 10p a whirl or up to a relatively modest maximum of £30.
Symbols are divided into four different categories – low, medium, high and super-high. Among the low payers are Asian-themed 10 – A royal card values, which you’ll find make up most of the wins. (They may be low value, but can make a real difference on payouts once features take off.)
Four differently coloured gems in red, blue, green and purple make up the medium-paying icons. These are followed by the high payers, encompassing gems clutched by dragons in similar shades, although gold replaces red here.
There is one ‘super-high’ symbol. Land five of these to earn 100x stake. The higher-paying icons appear from ‘Pops’ rather than spins – as explained below.
PopRocks Slot special features
Special symbols
There is a Wild here, as ever replacing all other symbols.
Bonus features
PopWins feature
This is central to the game, and is similar to a cascade wins arrangement. Winning combo symbols are ‘popped’ off the reels, to be replaced by a set of fresh icons. The reels expand to create room for these new symbols, with every reel able to extend to a maximum height of seven symbols.
See the number of win ways currently in play to the right of the reels, while there’s a multiplier meter on the left which illuminates as you manage to ‘pop’ symbols. For every seven icons popped, the multiplier goes up by a factor of one.
Bonus mode
This is activated once each reel has expanded until it is seven rows high. Here, a Wild is thrown into your game and the multiplier rises by one, although you only get one new icon from every pop.
Jackpot
There’s no in-game jackpot as such with PopRocks Slot. Max win is 72,188x stake, capped at £866,256.
Return to Player (RTP)
With its high volatility, PopRocks Slot offers a generous RTP or Return to Player of 96.4%, while its multiplier feature makes the bigger wins possible. Hit frequency is 22%, i.e. more than one in five spins is likely to result in a win.
Verdict
Some industry reviewers have said not enough sets PopRocks Slot apart from other slot games, with more than one describing the feel of it as somewhat ‘generic’. So, inevitably, it may not be for everyone.
However, we reckon you should find it offers enough interest to be worthy of a second look. Give it a go – in free mode first of all – and let us know if you agree.
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