Pop is the third slot in Aussie developer Big Time Gaming‘s range of 4-reel slots. The series kicked off with a bang when Donuts was released in 2018 to a warm reception. Chocolates was up next, and while it offered a similar style of gaming, not to mention bigger wins, it failed to connect as strongly with those that dug Donuts. Failing to live up to the hype might be why BTG has taken a break from using sweeties to go with something else equally cute, though far less hazardous for your teeth – balloons.
Perhaps it’s their association with younger folk why the humble balloon doesn’t show up in the iGaming world too much. Crazy Tooth had an interesting crack with them in The Incredible Balloon Machine. It’s safe to say Pop is a much more conventional game as it actually feels like a slot being played utilising a 4×4 grid, providing 256 ways to win.
Pop: Slot Features
If you’re partial to motion sickness, be prepared for Pop’s unique spin mechanism. As low pay symbols spin downwards, high pay balloons and wilds float upwards, landing in the gaps between royals. Okay, so it won’t exactly induce wooziness, but it might come across as a little disorientating at first.
Reactions occur when wins hit on the reels. Symbols part of the winning combination pop from the board, and only balloons float upwards to fill the spaces. Reactions continue to roll over until no new combinations appear.
The rainbow wilds do more than substitute for every symbol except the scatter, though they do that as well. In the base game, wilds may also reveal a multiplier of up to 4x. Wins are boosted by the multiplier value of each wild involved in a win.
Gold coins with the BTG logo on them are the scatter. 3 or more on the reels award 12 free spins. In free spins, each of the 16 positions has a multiplier. This persists through the bonus round and may increment throughout the round. One or more of the positions that held triggering scatters start their multiplier on x2, x3, or x4. All other positions start at 1x. Now, every time a win is made up of balloons or wild hits on an initial spin. 1 or more of the winning positions’ multipliers are increased randomly by 1, 2, or 3.
Landing 3 or more scatters during the feature awards +3 free spins. As well as increase all multipliers by 1 position. The amount that the multiplier increases by also improves by one for every retrigger.
Pop: Slot Verdict
Let’s start by saying Pop is a satisfying step in the evolution of BTG’s 4-reel line up. Though it’s more of a step sideways rather than a leap forward. Mathematically, Pop certainly delivers. And its features take the gaming in a slightly new direction compared to the two that come before. It is a little unclear whether it does enough to create the same impact as Donuts; our money is leaning towards not so likely. But it’s a fine game nonetheless which has no trouble of entertaining, exasperating, and eventually doling out big wins when luck is running hot.
Pop is all about its premiums symbols, and royals end up being a real liability a lot of the time. Usually, they’re hanging around getting in the way of balloon wins. The good thing about them is when royal wins are removed, only balloon premiums can fill the gaps. This aspect of the reaction system is handy enough in the base game, but really useful in the bonus game since it increases the chances of linking up more balloons with more multipliers.
On the whole, the multiplier system wasn’t quite as exciting as building a pre-free spin multiplier by landing golden donuts. Still, it is a thrill when a bunch of multipliers are repeatedly working with waves of balloon reactions to build a decent win. In the base game, payouts up to 14,407x are possible, while potential mushrooms to 66,960 times your stake in free spins, making it the highest paying slot in the range, just beating Chocolates. Just how achievable that potential is remains to be seen as all previous releases seem to have failed to live up to their stated max potential.
