Avatar UX, a developer of digital slot machines, undoubtedly recognizes a winning formula when they find it. With the exception of Lilith’s Inferno, all of the studio’s previous releases—including the recently released LolliPop—have been PopWins-powered games. Players who have tried PopWins slots even once will have a strong impression of them, since the gameplay is consistently enjoyable. Avatar UX has implemented a bonus game for LolliPop that combines elements of free spins and hold & win. Will it convince the naysayers? Probably not, but come have a look if you’re interested.
These PopWins slots appear to be most popular when based on universally appealing themes. If that’s the case, then LolliPop’s sweet strategy may serve it well. The setting is a pink explosion, like a neon candy shop, complete with a huge lollipop behind the 5-reel game grid. If sensory overload is a prerequisite for making a candy-themed slot machine, then Lollipop succeeds admirably.
The sweet gameplay is accessible from any device, with wagers ranging from 20 pence to £/€100 every spin. There are 486 possible outcomes in the game’s basic 5×3 grid size, making it a very risky option due to the pay-both-ways structure. Theoretical RTP for this game is 958.2 percent, with the reels expanding as players rack up winnings.
There are ten standard symbols on the paytable, with the lowest paying four being variously colored luminous candies that pay between 0.4 and 0.6 times the wager for five of a kind. Gummy bears, cakes, muffins, hearts, stars, and candy canes make up the following six high-paying icons, each of which pays anywhere from 1x to 4x the wager for a line of five. In Lollipops, the only other symbol outside the free spins scatter appears during the bonus round.
Candy Features for Slot Machines
As is customary for a PopWins slot, LolliPop has expanding reels and ways, as well as the company’s distinctive StickyPop feature. Additionally, there is a bonus round that combines elements of both free spins and hold & wins.
StickyPop
The StickyPop feature is triggered if a winning combination of at least three matching symbols appears on consecutive reels, beginning on the left or right. All winning symbols and any additional visible symbols of the same type turn sticky and remain in place while the remaining places are respun. This pattern will keep repeating until no other winning combinations can be found. In addition to increasing the number of win ways, a win will cause the reel to expand by one place, up to a maximum of five high in the original game.
Initial Multiplier
In the base game, a reel’s win multiplier is doubled when it reaches its maximum height, and it goes up by one for each additional reel that reaches its maximum height. The win multiplier is applied to the ultimate winning amount when the respins have ended.
Play for Free Spins
Free spins are triggered by landing three, four, or five scatter symbols during the main game. Players can choose to spin a gamble wheel before their free spins begin. This can only be done twice, and losing a wager will result in the loss of your free spins. The bonus game begins with 5 reels and 3 rows, and the reel size can rise to 4 rows and 5 rows with a successful wager.
Free-Spin Playing
During free games, the first set of reels is blank, and only scatter rewards or hearts appear. Free games are extended by one or two when hearts appear, and scatter payoffs have monetary values printed on them. When they land, both stay put, and scatters increase their reel size by one spot (up to a maximum of seven rows). There are a maximum of 33,614 ways to win. During free games, the resized reels will remain in place.
In addition, free spins have an advancement mechanism. The value of the scattered bonuses can be increased by landing a certain combination of symbols. If you gather two x1 values, you’ll receive the x2; if you collect seven x50 scatters, you’ll receive the x100. When a reel expands to its maximum height, all scatters on that reel are worth twice as much. Next to the reels, players may see the conditions for unlocking the scatter upgrades.
Spend Money on a Bonus
LolliPop gives gamers two more purchase alternatives wherever possible. Players can risk 100 times their original wager for the chance to win if they get three scatter symbols. To initiate free games on the 5×5 game grid, the second choice is to use the Buy Bonus Max, which costs 300x the wager.
Judgment on the Lollipop Slot
If you’re familiar with the PopWins slots series, you’ll likely find LolliPop to be yet another high-quality offering. It’s great to see Avatar UX come up with fresh concepts when they could presumably generate them in their sleep at this point. Well, not everything in LolliPop is wildly original, since the StickyPop feature’s underlying mechanics have been used before—NetEnt’s Jack Hammer is a prime example. The expanding reels technique used in PopWins games provides an interesting twist in StickyPop, and the overall design is solid.
The novelty of receiving free spins is sure to entice enthusiasts to give PopWins a try. They’re not like standard slots, and it’s always fascinating to see a string of them filled with improvements. In favorable conditions, 100x magnification may be reached rapidly, resulting in respectable victories. A player might theoretically earn 13,000x in the PopWins bonus game if the best case scenario occurred and all positions were filled with a 200x scatter (taking into account the x2 multiplier for using the maximum reel height).
If you enjoy playing PopWins, then you should give LolliPop a go. It has several hidden new features, and the bonus game is distinct enough to interest anyone who aren’t already PopWins fans. The Avatar User Interface seems to be doing well, so LolliPop may feel like business as usual.