NSYNC Pop

NSYNC Pop Overview

Created by Play 'n GO, NSYNC Pop (also the title of one of their biggest songs) is the official NSYNC slot game. If you are unaware of NSYNC, they were a five-piece boy band formed in the 90s. Their lead singer Justin Timberlake went on to have a wildly successful solo career, yet the band themselves had some massive hits too. This game celebrates the boys in all their cringy 90s pomp and gives players a nice shot of nostalgia. In terms of playing dynamics, this is a five-reel game with as many as 2,400 ways to win and an RTP of 96.2%. The top win players can achieve from one spin in this game is 5,000x the stake.

This game has three main features, starting with the pop bonus. This feature is all about the pop symbols which can appear on any reel in the base game. When they land in two or more, they will trigger the feature. This is more or less a mystery symbols feature, with the pop icons popping to reveal the same symbol to help score more wins. The next feature is the free spins game. This is triggered when N scatter symbols land simultaneously on reels 2,3, and 4. This gives players eight free spins with five pop symbols appearing above and below the board. Finally, there is the encore spin feature. All of these bonuses will be explained in greater detail later in the review.

Theme and Symbols

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 50 years, you will likely recognise the iconic boy band NSYNC. With hits like 'Bye Bye Bye' and 'I Want You Back', they were at one point one of the most famous bands in the world. Formed in 1995, the band capitalised on a desire for good-looking boy bands with synchronised dance moves and sweet voices. They are one of the key groups that comprised an age of boybands that included others such as 5ive, Boys II Men and Take That. All the band members here are shown in their shiny, gelled glory.

The background for this game, disappointingly, isn't one of the band's many iconic backdrops from NSYNC'S music videos but a generic stage set with a crowd of fans at the bottom of the screen and a wavy structure above them that looks a little like the Top of the Pops set. They could, for example, have used the space age background that was made famous in the 'I Want You Back' video that found them their fame. This could just be a missed trick but could have been an intellectual property issue. We'll probably never know.
The playing board for this game is an unusually shaped translucent collection of windows.

The symbols for this game are split into low-value, high-value and special symbols. The low-value symbols are the club, diamond, heart and spade in playing card suits. The most valuable of these is the spade, worth 1x the stake for the top combination. The more valuable symbols are the various members of the band. These include Chris, Joey, Lance, JC and Justin. Out of these, Justin is the most valuable, worth 10x the stake for the top combination. The specials in this game comprise the N scatter and the box wild.

Game Play

NSYNC Pop is played on a 5-reel gameboard in a 2x3x4x3x2 formation. 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 maximum pay lines available in this game are 2,400, thanks to the influence of the features.

The betting range for NSYNC Pop is 10p 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 NSYNC Pop is 96.2%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 5,000x your stake.

Features

Two or more Pop symbols can land anywhere on the reels at any time on a base game spin. If this happens, it will trigger the Pop feature. The Pop icons will then pop to unveil a range of matching symbols of any type, barring the scatter or wild. These icons help you score more wins by increasing your chance of forming a combination.

The next feature in this game is the free spins game, triggered when players land scatters on reels 2,3 and 4. When this happens, players will land eight free spins with five pop symbols appearing above and below the reels. These will come into play when a pop icon lands on the playing window. When these pop in the free spins game, they create a new position on the reels, creating more pay lines. If all ten new spaces are expanded, the game will offer its maximum number of pay lines - 2,400. Sticky wild pop symbols also appear in this feature. When thy pop, they reveal a wild that sticks to the reels for the duration of the feature.

Finally, this game also has an Encore Spin feature. This is triggered when all ten pop symbols above and below the reels are activated during the free spins round. This gives you an extra spin to your tally. However, only high-value symbols fall on this last spin, making it your last chance to find big wins during the feature.

Conclusion

Considering the wealth of exciting content that NSYNC created in their heyday, it's a shame not to see more of their influence in this game. Aesthetically much more could have been done to give this a strong NSYNC flavour. The designers instead decided to cop out and choose generic symbols and images apart from the band members themselves. Paying potential wise, things are ok but not overly exciting even with that 5,000x the stake top win. In the end, much more could have been done by Play' n GO to make this a better game.