TikiPop

All aboard! You are about to travel to an exotic Pacific island on the slot from Avatar UX powered by Yggdrasil Gaming. TikiPop is the fifth game in the PopWins series, this time taking you deep into a Polynesian jungle for a highly volatile quest to find untold treasures hidden in an ancient temple. The dynamic reels feature cascading symbols, creating up to 33,614 ways courtesy of the PopWins game engine and a pay-both-ways mechanic. Enter the free spins and you will benefit from a progressive multiplier as wells as a max win potential of up to 32,000 times your bet.

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Slot Details

TikiPop is a cascading video slot with a 5×3 reel set and 243, doubled to 486 courtesy of the pay-both-ways mechanic. In the base game, the PopWins game engine can increase the format up to 5×5 with 3,125 and 6,250 bet ways respectively. It can further grow up to a 5×7 size in the free spins, featuring up to 16,807 and 33,614 ways respectively (more to that shortly). Wins are awarded for three to five matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right and from right to left. Available on desktop or mobile, you can bet from 0.20 to 50 credits per spin. The game has very high volatility (square root of variance is 188) with an above-average RTP of 96.10%.

Expect an explosion of colours when you load the game, coming from the tribal Tiki masks that populate the reels. Beautifully crafted from wood they were and still are an important part of Polynesian culture and mythology. All set in the midst of lush rainforest with a withering temple in the background. A tribal soundtrack provides the main audio to the action on the reels.

The pay symbols start at the low end with the card royals from J through to A, awarding across the board 1x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by six Tiki masks in different colours – red, orange, green, purple, blue and golden with a diamond. The latter appears in the free spins only. Hit five across the reels to win 2.5x to 10x your stake. There are no wilds on the reels whereas a golden sun icon marked with ‘Bonus’ acts as the scatter.

TikiPop Slot Features

Avatar UX is making the most of their PopWins game engine, adding the fifth title to the portfolio within less than a year since they debuted PopRocks in March 2020. While the reel expansion mechanic is identical on all slots of this type, they do differ in features, modifiers and win potential. Reason enough to see what we can expect on this reel journey to the Polynesian island.

The PopWins game engine with its dynamic reel mechanic is at the core of the action 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 the 486 ways. To hit a winner, you will need to land minimum three matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the left and/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 5×5 format with 6,250 ways. Once fully expanded, an x2 win multiplier is awarded for the entire win from the round. In the base game, the grid will reset to the default 5×3 format in between spins.

Having three, four or five scatters in view will trigger 7, 11, 15 Free Spins respectively. Before the start of the round, the game will lead to a second screen with a Gamble Wheel where you can try to win more free spins, except when the feature was triggered with five scatters (not available in all jurisdictions). You can now either choose to spin the wheel or start the round with the won number of free spins. The gambles are 50/50 and will increase the spins from 7 to 11 and from 11 to 15. The latter is the maximum for a single free spins feature.

The Free Spins round starts with random reel grid ranging from 4-3-3-3-4 to 5-5-5-5-5 and an x1 win multiplier, which will increase by x1 after each PopWin, no limits. Scoring wins within a free spin will increase the reel size up to a maximum of 5×7 with 33,614 ways. At the end of a free spin sequence, the grid will reset to the shortest reel. For example, opening up the reels to 5-4-7-5-6 by the end of a free spin will reset them to 4-4-4-4-4 before the next spin.

Expanding all reels to the maximum 7-7-7-7-7 size within a free spin will lock them in for the remainder of the feature. Plus, the win multiplier will now increase by x2 instead of x1 after every PopWin. And that is not all, as the game will award once +2, +3 or +4 free spins.

Last but not least, the Bonus Buy button is returning, allowing players to head straight to the main event. The feature may be disabled in some jurisdictions. It will cost you 100 times your default bet and take you directly to the Gamble Wheel where you can opt to play 7 Free Spins or gamble them for up to 15 free spins. We urge some caution on using the gambles as losing them repeatedly will have a significant impact on your playing balance.

Final Verdict

Having played TikiPop for a few hours, it felt for some reason like a toned-down version of CherryPop. However, while they share some similarities in the features, they do differ sufficiently to let each stand by its own. TikiPop is slightly less volatile and has a significantly lower max win potential of 32,000x instead of over 58,000x bet. Still well sufficient and something any player would happily pocket any time of the day, week or year.

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