Name: Frutz
Item: Frutz
Rating: 6.5
Author: Chris Howlett

Casino Bonuses

Provider	Hacksaw Gaming
Reels	5
Rows	5
Paylines	Cluster Pays
Bonus Rounds	1
Bet Range	0.20 - 100
Volatility	High
Max Win	10,000x
Bonus Buy	Yes
RTP	96.40%
Our Rating	6.5

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Game Overview

The POCKETZ series of online slots are a sub-franchise created by Hacksaw Gaming specifically for games targeting mobile devices. This game, Frutz, is one such game, although there is no reason you couldn’t play this on a large format display. In fact, the game appears to be designed to work on a screen of any size – the graphics use a vector-based presentation scheme, which ensures the symbols will always look sharp and detailed regardless of the physical size they are being drawn. The intro screen of Frutz made it sound like a clone of other POCKETZ games I had seen before, but it turns out that this is a grid slot with an RTP of 96.4% and a maximum win of 10,000x your stake.

If you have played the Toshi’ Video Club slot by Hacksaw Gaming, you have seen many of the ideas featured in this slot already. This is part of the reason I was particularly surprised to learn that Frutz was a grid slot – the introduction screen made it sound very much like a simple clone of Toshi Video Club. Whilst Toshi’ was a 15-pay line game, the grid slot design of Frutz feels much more natural for a reel set of this size. There isn’t much in the way of features, but a free spin-based bonus round where your current multiplier is held between spins makes a tantalizing proposition.

Interested in trying the game out yourself? Our free demo slot of Frutz is available to play below on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Frutz Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

We’ve all seen a thousand online slots with a fruit-based theme before, so there really is nothing new to describe in that area. Even the vector-based design of the slot’s symbols isn’t much to talk about – the symbols have a unique look to them, but it isn’t unique in an attractive way to me, as Toshi Video Club was.

What is worth talking about in detail here is the paytable, as there is a lot more going on than some of the other POCKETZ series titles. The simple red apple has been chosen as the highest-paying symbol in Frutz, with a return of 100x your stake for a cluster of eleven or more matching symbols in adjacent positions on the grid. This drops sharply for a cluster of ten symbols, however, to just 20x your current stake – matching the return of many of the lower symbols. We have a pear, a plum, a peach and a lemon, all of which return 50x your bet for a cluster of eleven or more or 20x your bet for ten. Again, there is a very quick drop-off should you only manage nine symbols instead of ten – such a cluster returns just 4x your stake. This may not sound so great, but with the addition of multipliers of up to 100x – and the possibility of collecting several such multipliers in a single paid spin – you can see how Frutz could begin to get exciting fast!

While many slot developers have a signature user interface design, Hacksaw Gaming doesn’t seem bothered about creating an identity via something so mundane. Setting your stake in Frutz is achieved using two buttons directly to the left of the spin button, which adjusts your bet size by one step per click. The minimum bet permitted is €0.20 whilst the maximum is €100.00.

Base Game & Modifiers

The 5×5 playfield used in Frutz looks a lot like other games in the POCKETZ series, but the fact that this is a grid slot means that it plays very differently. There are no pay lines or pay ways in Frutz – instead, wins are awarded for clusters of matching symbols in adjacent spaces on the grid. The top wins are awarded for clusters of eleven symbols or more – this is more than 40% of the available space on the screen, so feels as if it will be quite difficult to achieve. You are much more likely to hit a big win via the multiplier features instead:

Multiplier Feature

Every paid spin will finish with a multiplier displayed in the game logo above the reels. Sometimes this will remain at 1x, but many winning spins will often gather up at least a small additional multiplier. The current multiplier can be increased by the blue square symbols with an X logo on them, with the light blue symbols awarding small multipliers of up to 5x, the darker blue symbols awarding up to 20x, and the striped-blue symbols awarding the maximum multipliers of 25x, 50x, or 100x.

Frutz Slot Free Spins Feature

You’ll need to hit at least three of the “FS” scatter symbols to win the bonus round in Frutz video slot. Three scatters award the minimum of eight free spins, with an additional two spins being awarded up to a maximum of twelve should you be lucky enough to hit all five of the possible scatter symbols.

This is where the big money can be made playing Frutz – instead of your multiplier only being held for the duration of your current spin, the bonus round ups the ante considerably by keeping your current multiplier in place until the feature has been completed. If you hit a 100x multiplier early in the feature, this will be applied to any winnings earned from each subsequent spin.

It’s easy to get excited by huge multipliers as soon as you hit them when playing Frutz but remember you also must score a big win whilst the multiplier in place! This is easier playing Frutz than it was in Toshi Video Club, as the minimum cluster of five matching symbols feels much easier to hit than a handful of pay lines. Unfortunately, the winnings for a minimum cluster of five symbols are also… well, minimal.

Bonus Buy Feature

If you’d like to advance straight to the free spins feature on Frutz and you’re playing from a region where bonus buy slots are still in action, then you can instantly trigger the bonus round at the cost of 93x your bet.

Pros

It is easy to understand the gameplay and mechanics.
Good maximum win of 10,000x.
High RTP of 96.40%.

Cons

A very uninspiring theme.

Frutz Slot Review Final Thoughts

Hacksaw Gaming haven’t done anything wrong here with Frutz – in many ways, I feel as if the design and mechanics of this slot are better than what they did with Toshi Video Club. At the same time, the uninspired presentation lets this game down – if I saw this game in the list at an online casino and had no idea what it was, I wouldn’t be bothered about finding out. It’s a shame Hacksaw didn’t put a bit more effort into the presentation here, as the underlying game has a lot to offer.

6.5

Author Bio

Article by Chris Howlett

11 Years Slots Playing Experience

About Chris Howlett

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