Critter Pop PopWins

Get ready for a cosmic journey in search of untold treasures on the slot from Avatar UX. CritterPop PopWins is the next addition to the popular series, featuring five dynamic reels with up to 65,536 ways, cascading symbols, and an extra bonus spin for feature boosters before leading into a Free Spins round with a win potential of up to 20,000 times your bet.

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Slot Details

CritterPop PopWins is a cascading video slot with a default 5×3 reel set and 243 ways, doubled to 486 courtesy of the pay-both-ways mechanic. In the base game, the PopWins game engine can increase the format up to a 5×6 size with 7,776 bet ways, again doubled to 15,552 due to awarding wins both ways. It can further grow up to a 5×8 size in the free spins, featuring up to 32,768 and 65,536 ways respectively (more to that shortly).

Wins are awarded for three to five matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from left to right and from right to left. However, a five-of-a-kind is paid one way only. Available on desktop or mobile, you can bet from 0.20 to 100 credits per spin. The game has high volatility with an RTP of 96.084%.

A deep space scene serves as the canvass for this cosmic reel journey into the unknown. While it might beam us into an otherworldy universe, the game features rather earthly critters and animals on its reels including mammoth, foxes and owls. A spacey soundtrack combined with the popping noises of winning symbols is the main audio to the gameplay.

The pay symbols start at the low end with card royals from 10 through to A, awarding 1x to 1.5x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by six animal statuettes – green frog, blue eagle, purple owl, pink cat, fire-red fox and golden mammoth. Hit five across the reels to win 2x to 6x your stake. Worth noting is that a 5OAK is paid one way only. A crystal swirl marked with BONUS is the scatter while a blazing Wild icon appears in the free spins only.

CritterPop PopWins Slot Demo Video

CritterPop PopWins Slot Features

The PopWins game engine has proven to be not only very popular with players but also a versatile base for a series of games. Avatar UX has now added more than a dozen titles since releasing PopRocks in March 2020 and no doubt more will follow. CritterPop PopWins builds on that base and introduces some new tweaks to the mechanics, especially for the bonus feature.

At the core of the gameplay is still their proprietary PopWins reel mechanic where every spin sequence starts on the default 5×3 reel set with 486 ways to win. It is actually 243 ways but since wins are paid in both directions it amounts to 486 ways. To score a winner, you will need to land minimum three matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the left or the right.

All symbols in the combo will literally pop and disappear, only to be replaced by two new symbols in each vacated position, thus increasing the game grid and the number of win ways at every step. The process continues as long as new winning combos appear after a pop, gradually raising the grid to its maximum 5×6 format with 7,776 ways in the base game, which is doubled to 15,552 thanks to the pay-both-ways mechanic.

Once fully expanded, popped symbols will be replaced by single ones only as there is no need for further doubles. Plus, the Base Game Unlock feature is triggered, awarding 2 Free Spins. While these are not the standard Free Spins, you get to play two game rounds without charge and on the fully expanded reel set at 5×6 with 15,552 ways to win.

Having three or more scatters in view by the time a game round concludes will trigger the Free Spins. Before you head into the round, you will be awarded a turn on the Bonus Reels to potentially enhance your feature. The grid format with the achieved expansions will stay the same as on the triggering spin. To the left is a display with eight extras and boosters that can be won from the Bonus Reels:

• Starting Multiplier: The default starting win multiplier is x1 and any “Multi” symbol landing will increase it by x1.
• Multiplier Growth: By default, the win multiplier grows by x1 after every cascade and any “Increase Multi” icon landing will further raise the increment.
• 2×2 Symbol: When won, larger symbols in a 2×2 size can land on any free spin.
• 3×3 Symbol: When won, mega symbols in a 3×3 size can land on any free spin.
• Random Wild: Wilds can appear at random on any free spin and after winning cascades.
• Fox Symbol Multiplier: More than one Fox icon can land, adding a cumulative multiplier to the symbol. The achieved factor will be active for all payouts with Fox symbols before the global win multiplier is applied.
• Mammoth Symbol Multiplier: More than one Mammoth icon can land, adding a cumulative multiplier to the symbol. The achieved factor will multiply all payouts with Mammoth symbols before the global win multiplier is applied.
• Extra Free Spins: When landing, it will award +1, +2 or +3 additional free spins.

Once all reels have stopped, the extras and boosters are transferred to the Free Spins. The starting grid for the feature is determined by the amount of triggering scatters. Three, four or five will see you begin the bonus round on 5×4, 5×5 and 5×6 grids with 2,048, 6,250 and 15,552 ways respectively. As you play the spins, the grid will not return to the initial size between them. Instead it resets down to the shortest reel only. For example, getting to a 5-5-7-6-5 format will be reset to 5-5-5-5-5 for the next free spin. Fully unlocking all reels to 8 symbols will award once +2 free spins with the remainder of the feature played on the full grid.

The global win multiplier will start either at its default x1 value or at the factor won from the Bonus Reels spin. It will increase by x1 after every winning cascade, no limits. Expanding all reels to the maximum size will raise the increment to x3. The round ends when you run out of spins or hit the max win cap at 20,000 times your bet. The reels will fully reset once you return to the base game.

Avatar UX included three Bonus Buy options for players residing in unrestricted jurisdictions. You can spend 125x, 250, or 500x your bet for a standard Bonus, Bonus Plus or Bonus Max feature. All lead to the pre-round Bonus Reels for the extras and boosters. At press time, there was no indication that using Bonus Buys will lead to higher RTP settings.

Final Verdict

Anyone who has played more than one or all previous PopWins slots will instantly feel familiar with the mechanics. However, the creative folks at Avatar UX have done as usual just about enough tweaks to make CritterPop and any other game in the series stand on its own. The main surprises on this occasion are the two spins on the full grid if you manage to expand all reels in the base game and the Bonus Reels before the start of the main event.

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