Piggy Pop

Piggy Pop Overview

Avatar UX brings their PopWin series mechanic to one of the most beloved slot themes in the canon -piggy banks, Piggy Pop. Indeed, the depiction of cartoon pigs wearing shades sets the tone for this silly but hopefully lucrative game. Players will want to trigger the various features and create wins using the different bank-themed symbols.

Being part of the PopWin series, this game employs the PopWin mechanic, which, if you haven’t played before, removes ‘popped’ or winning symbols from the board, replacing them with two new symbols, growing the size of the reels and rows and therefore the number of pay lines available to play.

The features in this slot include the aforementioned PopWin mechanic as well as a few others. The first conventional bonus is the free spins round, triggered when players manage to expand the height of all reels to six positions high. However, before the free spins begin, a gamble wheel will appear on the screen, giving the chance to expand the size of the grid that you will play the free spins out on. The spins will start with three free spins. However, every win that you trigger will reset the spin counter to three. All features will be explained in more detail later on in the review.

Theme and Symbols

A lot is going on thematically in this slot. It is actually pretty hard to describe the levels of influence at play here. First of all, there is the clear piggy bank theme, which means incorporating the golden piggy symbols and vague nods to bank elements in the vault doors, gold coins, and gold bullion. Then there is this futuristic theme with neon, energy orbs, and bizarre and incredibly colourful imagery. This is all wrapped together by some kind of 1950s’ swing soundtrack that works with some visual elements but still feels a little oddly placed. Whatever the designers had in mind, the game is a riot of colour and sound and incredibly engrossing.

The background for this slot looks like a technicolour rip in time, where striations of colour are speeding past at the speed of light. The primary colour palette that is used is purple and blue with the odd addition of some orange. We are not sure why the provider went with this Star Trek-inspired space-age background and not with a conventional bank, but it definitely has an impact, even if it is a little disorientating.

The board is of a similar design to the background, just with a little more structure. Neon lights act as the perimeter for this board, with plenty of spaces that look like monopoly money cutouts within it.

The symbols for this slot are split into low-paying, high-paying and special icons. Here, the lower value symbols are the Q-A in playing card royals, followed by perfume bottles, cocktail glasses, and gems. The most valuable of these icons are the green gem and the orange cocktail glass, which pay x1 for six on a pay line. The more valuable symbols are comprised of the three palatial piggies in pink, green and blue. They each have the same payout statistics of 1.5x the stake for the top combination. The only special in this game and the most valuable symbol is the wild, worth 3x the stake for the top combination. It is the golden piggy wearing sunglasses.

Game Play

Piggy Pop is initially played on a 6-reel, 4-row machine. However, the number of symbols within the reels is liable to change thanks to the special features. This means that the number of pay lines can also increase up to 524,288. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The betting range for Piggy Pop is 20p to £100 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the high range. The return to player percentage for Piggy Pop is 95.5%, which is below average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 10,690x your stake.

Features

The first feature included in this game is the PopWins mechanic, a feature that removes winning icons from the grid, replacing them with two new ones in each of their places. This increases the number of symbols in the grid as well as the number of pay lines available. Like a cascade feature, if the new symbols also create a winner, then the mechanic continues. The maximum number of icons allowed in one reel is six in the base game and eight in the free spins, meaning a maximum of 524,288 pay lines available.

Maxing out the grid to its full six-row height in every reel in the base game will trigger the free spins round. This round starts with three spins. However, scoring a win in this round will reset the free spins counter to three. A progressive multiplier is also in play in the free spins round, beginning at x2 and increasing by 1 for every PopWin triggered. The multiplier does not reset for the duration of the spins.

In addition to being the most valuable symbol in the game, the golden pig symbol also appears with an attached multiplier in the free spins round. The size of the said multiplier is determined by the number of golden pigs currently on the board. If players manage to expand all reels to their maximum of eight rows high, then the pig multiplier doubles in value.
Finally, this game does have a bonus buy option; however, it does matter where you are in the world if you can access it.

Conclusion

The PopWins series shows no signs of slowing down; in fact, this newest game in the canon looks to be one of the most promising yet with some great features and a theme that blows you away in its intensity. Although the RTP is a little low, there is still some potential for some good wins here. Players should thank Avatar UX for its dedication to this slot but still be wary of betting too high.