The “Popwins” part of this game’s title refers to the fact that winning combinations “pop” or explode before being removed from the reels immediately after they land on the screen. As for the “Critter Pop” part… I guess that is about the animal-like creatures which make up the high-paying symbols featured on the reels? CritterPop uses an unconventional layout, starting with a typical 5×3 playfield each time you press spin before expanding after every subsequent winning combination. This results in up to 65,536 pay ways, an RTP of 96.03%, and a chunky max payout limit of 20,000x your bet.
For a chance of getting anywhere near that huge jackpot prize, you will need to hit several high-value winning combinations one after the other from a single paid spin. This will increase the number of positions available to hit three or more scatter symbols, which will trigger a much more generous free spins part of the game. You can also win two free spins with a 2x multiplier just by expanding the playfield to its maximum size of 6×8 positions, and a bonus buy feature is included for those lucky enough to have the option of using it.
I had a lot of fun testing this game before writing this review, so I would strongly recommend you fire up our free demo slot of CritterPop below yourself – you’ll probably be keen to find the game at a real money casino soon afterwards!
| Provider | AvatarUX |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 65,536 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 20,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.08% |
| Our Rating | 8.0 |
Critterpop Slot Casino Bonuses
Critterpop Slot Free Play
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Critterpop Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
How to describe the theme of CritterPop Popwins in more detail? It’s a tough one… the colour scheme used for the background has a space-like look to it, with pinks and purples resembling the now-familiar future-retro 80s aesthetic that has become somewhat popular during the past few years. The free spins mode switches out the background for a more fiery red and orange colour scheme, whilst the reels themselves are filled with strange-looking animals – “critters” is quite a good word and conjures up a pretty realistic mental image of the unusual creatures on show here. It’s an original and unique look but doesn’t seem hugely attractive to me personally. Perhaps you will feel differently.
You start every spin in the CritterPop video slot with 486 pay ways, so you can probably imagine the average numbers you will find listed on the paytable here. Our yellow critter friend boasts a payout of just 6x your stake for a full pay way of five-of-a-kind, and things only go down from here. The red tiger-like creature pays 5x, the purple cat pays 4x, and the purple… owl? Has a payoff of just 3x your stake for each full pay way. Two more critters are rounding out the “high-paying” symbols, a blue one which looks a bit more owl-like than the purple one, and a green frog… thank heavens, one of them is easy to describe! Both pay 2x your bet for five-of-a-kind, and neither the scatter nor wild symbols have any return of their own attached to them. Sadly, the wild only appears during free spins, and there is no listed benefit from hitting four or five scatter symbols. Still, the three different bonus buy levels suggest that there may also be three levels of free spins that can be acquired organically.
AvatarUX includes a wide range of possible wager values in Critter Pop, starting with €0.20 per spin at the low end with 18 steps between there and the maximum bet of €100 per spin. If you enjoy betting higher than average whilst playing slots, you might appreciate the larger than normal number of higher-value bets available here.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game begins with a normal looking 5×3 reel set, but as soon as you hit a winning combination you’ll find that CritterPop is anything but your regular online slot.
Popwins
Each winning combination will result in a “pop”, and two symbols will replace the winning symbols provided the reel height has not yet reached its maximum level of six symbols tall during the base game or eight symbols tall during free spins. Each time the reel set expands, the number of pay ways will increase.
Bonus Spins
You don’t necessarily need to hit three or more scatters to win some free spins whilst playing CritterPop. If you expand the reel set to its maximum size during the base game, you will be rewarded with two free spins with a 2x multiplier. These spins don’t guarantee you will win anything more, but more often than not, the expanded reel set will throw you a bone and give you something, even if it isn’t a lot.
Critterpop Slot Free Bonus Feature
As I suspected earlier, there are three different free spin modes in Critter Pop. Hitting three scatter symbols will start the free spin feature with 2,048 ways, whilst four scatters will begin the feature with 6,250 ways, and five will give you 15,552 starting pay ways.
Reward Reels
Regardless of how many symbols trigger the free spins feature, you will always see the rewards reels screen before your feature begins. Each spot on the reward reels can randomly award additional free spins, a larger starting multiplier, or increase the amount the multiplier will grow between each free spin. You can also win larger 2×2 or 3×3 symbols that will show up on every free spin, random wilds, or a symbol value multiplier of up to 3x.
Free Spins
The free spins feature begins with a 1x multiplier, although this can be increased by hitting starting multiplier symbols during the reward reels phase of the game before the free spins start. Wild symbols also appear on the reels during free spins, unlike in the base game, and you can increase your chances of winning the free spins by enabling the Ante Bet feature during the base game for a cost of 25% extra on top of your regular bet.
Bonus Buy Feature
You can opt to buy any of the three different free spin modes by paying 125x, 250x, or 500x your regular stake using the bonus buy feature available from the base game. The two larger options offered here are costly and do not increase your chances of winning better boosts from the reward reels screen. You are paying the extra money here for a larger starting number of pay ways, and from my testing, the bigger options tend to result in larger wins – I’m not sure if they are worth the huge cost attached to them, however.
Critterpop Slot Review Final Thoughts
CritterPop Popwins is an excellent online slot – even better than the previous Popwins game I tried from Avatar UX a few weeks ago. This one is worth seeking out – I haven’t seen it available for real money play, but I’m sure it won’t be long.
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