Casino Bonuses
| Provider | AvatarUX |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 486 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 20,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.02% |
| Our Rating | 7.5 |
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Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Game Overview
The POPWins series of online slots from AvatarUX has been on a roll recently, and we have reviewed several excellent previous games in the series here at Demoslot. This time the developer has gone for an Ancient Egypt theme; HelioPOPolis is a 486-way slot machine – 243 in each direction – that can also expand to up to 32,768 pay ways during the bonus round. The RTP of 96.02% is slightly above average, whilst the top win is limited to a maximum of 20,000x your total bet.
The game is bursting with special features, starting with – of course – AvatarUX’s trademark POPWins mechanic. There are no surprises there, of course, so let’s move straight on to the free spin modes, which award either 1280, 3750, or 9072 starting pay ways depending on the number of triggering scatter symbols. The multiplier and number of spins awarded increases with additional scatters too, which is excellent but also a tad disappointing as the four and five scatter triggers are no more common than they are in any other game. You’ll definitely be celebrating the first time you get a five-scatter trigger! And that’s not all – the developer has also included multiple modifiers, mystery symbols, a bonus bet AND a bonus buy facility – I guess this may end up being a long review!
If you’d rather skip straight to playing the game rather than reading about it, then you can go ahead and try our free demo slot of HelioPOPolis below.
Heliopopolis Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
If you didn’t know, Heliopolis was the name of a major city in Ancient Egypt that is now part of modern-day Cairo. The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the obelisk of the temple of Ra-Atum, which was erected during the Seventh Dynasty. You can still visit the obelisk today in the Al-Matairyyah area of the city. I was fascinated to learn that two smaller obelisks in New York and London also came from Heliopolis – I might have to make it a mission to find the one in London someday. If you share my interest in all things history, you may be interested in checking out our Ancient Egypt category here at Demoslot.
Everything about HelioPOPolis seemed great so far, but how does the paytable stack up? With such a vast number of payways, it isn’t surprising to find relatively small numbers here, but it’s important to factor in the ability to win on several thousand payways when evaluating a game such as this. There are three high-paying character symbols – the red will pay you 4x your bet for a complete payway of five of a kind, whilst the blue and green symbols return 3.5x and 3x, respectively, for all five of their symbols. The medium-paying category includes cyan, magenta, and purple symbols, and these will pay 2.5x, 2x, or 1.5x your bet, respectively, for a completed pay way. Finally, the low-paying royals all share an identical five of a kind payout of 0.6x your bet.
A decent range of stakes is available, starting at a minimum of €0.20 and topping out at €100.00 per spin. A quick bet selection screen shows a total of 19 wagers in between the two limits, so every player should be able to find a level to suit them.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game of HelioPOPolis is deceptively simple, hiding the game’s multitude of features. The playfield has five reels of three rows each, just like so many other online slots; however, there is a key difference when it comes to the payways. Instead of the usual 243 payways, this game offers 486 total ways, which includes 243 in each direction. This means that any group of three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from either the left or right side of the screen will award a win.
Popwins Feature
The PopWins! Mechanic is a slightly different take on the rolling or cascading reels feature that has recently become ubiquitous in the online slots industry. Any winning combination that lands on the reels will “pop” after your winnings have been awarded, but instead of just filling the resulting gap with replacement symbols, PopWins will add two extra symbols for every one removed from the playfield. Each row can reach a height of six symbols during the base game or nine symbols when the free spins bonus round is in play.
Ante Bet
The bonus bet options cost an additional 25% on top of the regular price per spin. When enabled, this ante bet will double your odds of triggering the free spins bonus round. The RTP of the game stays the same when the feature is activated, so if you want to play a few more bonus rounds during your session, then I recommend playing with the feature turned on.
Heliopopolis Slot Bonus Features
And now for the main event! Three or more bonus scatter symbols will trigger the free spins feature, with additional spins, payways, and multipliers up for grabs if the triggering combination includes four or five scatters.
Free Spins
After activating the bonus, you will be asked to choose between two modes with different special features. In both modes, the reel set will not reset fully in between spins as it does during the base game and will instead only shrink down to the size of the smallest current reel. Fully unlocking the reel set to its maximum height of nine symbols will award two additional free spins and a secondary special feature.
- Big Sync: If this mode is selected, two adjacent reels will become locked together and always spin in identical rows of symbols. This option also features giant 2×2 and 3×3 symbols, making it much easier to score a win on many payways simultaneously.
- Great Wilds: This mode works similarly to the bonus round in Play’N’Go’s “Book of Dead”, where one symbol becomes an expanding symbol for the duration of the bonus round and, when features in a winning combination, will become an entire stack of symbols for a chance of bigger wins. This option also comes with guaranteed wild symbols on every spin.
The size of the playfield used during the free spins feature will start at 1,280 pay ways for a three-scatter trigger, or 3,750 / 9,072 pay ways for four or five scatter symbols, respectively.
Bonus Buy
The bonus buy facility allows you to purchase either of the two regular free spin features described above at the cost of 125x the normal price per spin. Alternatively, you can also pay 1,000x the regular stake to enable all features from both free spin modes simultaneously.
This is a nice option, but the price is extremely prohibitive in my view – it might be fun once in a while, but you would need a huge bankroll to risk it any more often than that.
Heliopopolis Slot Review Final Thoughts
I expected this slot to be excellent based on my recent experiences with the POPWins franchise, and HelioPOPolis certainly didn’t disappoint! The presentation is excellent, and the huge maximum win of 20,000x your bet is sure to grab the attention of hardcore slot fans. Don’t miss this one.
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