WildPops

Enter a new fantasy world for another reel adventure on the slot from Avatar UX, powered by Yggdrasil Gaming. WildPops is the third creation coming from the Hong Kong-based studio to feature on the YGS Masters platform that allows upcoming developers to present their games to a wide audience. Mystical creatures will guide you through this futuristic reel adventure where they will pop, multiply and expand to give you up to 33,614 ways to win and lead to random wilds as well as a bonus mode with three lives that can deliver wins of up to 17,707 times your bet.

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Slot Details

WildPops is a video slot with a 5×3 reel set and 486 ways to win as default. Through the newly developed PopWins mechanic, this can increase up to a 5×7 format with 33,614 ways (more to that shortly). Wins are awarded both ways for three to five matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right and from right to left. You can face the fiery dragons on desktop or mobile from 0.20 to 50 credits per spin. The game has high volatility (square root of variance is 141) with an above-average RTP of 96.20%.

Loading the game will take you again into a fantasy world with mythical creatures dominating on the reels while a blurred dragon castle can be seen in the background. Compared to PopRocks and Lilith’s Inferno, Avatar UX toned down the bold visuals by a notch but they do appear more refined and most of all brighter. A serene mythical soundtrack compliments the action on the reels and is only interrupted by the PopWin noises.

The pay symbols start at the low end with the card royals from 9 through to A, awarding across the board 0.5x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by seven mythical creature icons in blue, orange, red, navy blue, purple, green and yellow that increase in size in tandem with the value. Hit five across the reels to win 1.2x to 5x your stake.

The top symbol is a glowing blue creature that will appear only after a winning symbol has popped, paying 30x your bet when five land across the reels. The game has no scatters while the wild symbol will only be added to the reel strips once you accumulate three consecutive wins within a spin sequence.

WildPops Demo Video

WildPops Slot Features

Avatar UX didn’t rest very long on its laurels for the successful debut of their PopWins game engine and created after PopRocks a second slot featuring the expanding reel mechanic. Hence, if you played PopRocks then you will have a good impression on what to expect from this release. Overall, it is more like an evolution than a revolution, which is fine as the reel mechanic is very versatile. Let’s take a closer look and go through each part of the gameplay.

At the core is still the PowWins 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 the 486 ways. To land 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 5×7 format with 33,614 ways. Once fully expanded, popped symbols will be replaced by single symbols only as there is no need for further double symbols.

Keep an eye on the bar at the bottom of the reels as it will indicate when two random Wilds will be awarded. The bar will gradually fire up and trigger the feature once you manage to hit three consecutive PopWins within the same spin sequence. Two wilds will then be placed on a random position on the grid. The feature will be repeated in the same spin after every third PopWin.

The next major part that will have a significant impact on your winnings is the Multiplier Bar to the left of the screen (desktop). It starts at x1 and will increase by x1 for every seven PopWins within the same spin sequence, no limits. Expanding the game window to the full size will also nudge the multiplier up by a further x1.

The aim of the game is to fully expand the grid to its full 5×7 size with 33,614 ways to win. Once that happens, it will trigger the Bonus Mode with three lives, basically three free spins. Any multiplier from the triggering spin will be kept throughout the feature. A life is lost when no more wins occur and the reels spin a new set of symbols into view. The bonus mode ends once you lost all three lives.

Final Verdict

Given the success of PopRocks, Avatar UX did well not to change too much on the sequel. Obviously, the reel mechanic is identical as is the multiplier bar but they shuffled around on how the wilds trigger and added the three lives that should extend the time players have a fully expanded reel set. They, however, reduced the payouts per symbol which resulted in a lower overall win potential which has been noted at 17,707 times bet, still plenty to play for.

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