Popeye

This new online slot game, produced by Stockholm-based studio Lady Luck Games, is inspired by the famous comic strip character 'Popeye'. Popeye, the Sailor Man, first appeared in the American newspaper comic strip 'Thimble Theatre' in the Daily King in 1929. His spinach-chomping adventures are some of the most iconic American comics ever created. This game reimagines the comic in a fun slot gaming format that is just as entertaining as the original funnies. Mechanically, this game is played on a five-reel, three-row matrix with 20 pay lines and an RTP of 96.1%. The maximum payout players can receive from one spin is 5,300x the stake. Popeye is available on mobile, tablet and desktop platforms.

Popeye Overview

The Popeye online slot game offers several bonus features, including reel multipliers, a coin-led bonus game, free spins, a gamble feature, and a bonus buy option. Reel multipliers increase with each multiplier symbol that lands on the reels, starting at x2. The bonus game is triggered when five or more coins land in view, resulting in three spins being awarded for filling reels with more coins to win their values multiplied by the reel multiplier. The free spins round is triggered by landing three or more free spins symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5, awarding 10-15 free spins with flipping coins. Players can gamble their winnings by choosing the right card colour or suit or choose to buy a feature, such as 10 or 15 free spins or the bonus game, for an additional bet. All bonus content will be explained in greater detail later in the review.

Popeye Theme and Symbols

This game, as mentioned, is themed around Popeye. Popeye, for those that are unaware, is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929, who has become an iconic symbol of American popular culture. Popeye is a muscular sailor with the notable physical feature of having one eye that is always squinted shut. His signature outfit comprises a white sailor's hat and a red shirt with anchor buttons. The character is known for his love of spinach, which he consumes to gain superhuman strength, and for his long-standing rivalry with the antagonist Bluto over his love interest Olive Oyl. Popeye has been adapted into various forms of media, including animated television shows, comic strips, and movies, and has remained popular for over 90 years.

The background image in the online slot game Popeye depicts a dockside near the water in a quaint port town. The image captures the nostalgia of old-school Popeye cartoons with a simple and charming aesthetic. The wooden structures and boats in the background add to the nautical feel of the game, with seagulls flying above. The overall colour palette is warm and inviting, with shades of yellow and orange creating a welcoming atmosphere. The background image is designed to create an immersive environment for players to enjoy as they spin the reels and engage with the various bonus features offered by the game. The playing board for this game is a wooden façade that doubles as the side of a house.

The symbols are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The most valuable of these is the A, paying out at 2.4x the stake. The more valuable icons are the four different Popeye characters, the most valuable of which is Popeye himself, paying out at 30x the stake for the top combination. The specials for this game comprise the wild, multiplier, special coin and the free spins scatter.

Game Play

Popeye is played on a 5-reel, 3-row machine with 20 fixed pay lines. 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 Popeye is 10p to £100 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stakes 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. The volatility for this slot is rated in the medium range. The return to player percentage for Popeye is 96.1%, which is about average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 5,300x the stake.

Popeye Features

Popeye is an online slot game that offers players a variety of bonus features to increase their chances of winning big. One of these features is the Reel Multipliers. Each reel has a multiplier associated with it, and symbols landing on the reels can increase these multipliers. Wild symbols also gain the reel multiplier, which starts at x2 and resets between paid spins.

The Coin-Led Bonus Game is another bonus feature available in Popeye. When coin symbols land on the reels, they have a chance to flip and create new coins. When five or more coins are in view, either in the base game or free spins, the bonus game is triggered. Players receive three spins, and whenever a new symbol lands, the spin count resets to 3. If a reel gets filled with coins, the coins are removed, and their values are awarded, multiplied by the reel multiplier. At the end of the bonus round, all coins in view award their values without any multiplier being applied.

Landing three free spins symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5 triggers the Free Spins feature. A bottle spins to award 10, 12, or 15 free spins. In free spins, coins always flip, but otherwise, the gameplay is similar to the base game. Finally, players can gamble their winnings with the Gamble feature. After any triggered features are complete, players have the option to gamble their winnings by choosing the right colour of a card to double their winnings or the right suit to quadruple them. Players can also choose to buy a bonus feature, with the options being ten free spins, 15 free spins, or the bonus game for 35x, 60x, or 20x the bet, respectively.

Conclusion

Popeye, the Sailor Man, may be nearly a century old, but the iconic character is still beloved by many, making the new Popeye free slots no deposit a potential hit with fans. The game captures the spirit of the show and offers a decent RTP with a winning potential over 5,000x the bet. However, while the aesthetics are well-done, the gameplay can be underwhelming, particularly with the weak reel multipliers and coin bonus rounds. Overall, while it's enjoyable for its nostalgia factor and potential for big wins, the game could have benefited from more innovative and exciting features. You can also play Sweet Bonanza for free.