Pirots 2 (Elk Studios) Slot Demo & Review

In the modern era of online slot games, sometimes players are looking for more than just a standard set of reels spinning in random symbols. This is where you could argue that Elk Studios has found a great niche in the market as they are one of the providers who like to offer a diverse range of gameplay across their slots portfolio. One such example was their original release of the Pirots slot, which was reviewed by another team member here at Demoslot who didn’t quite like the mechanics and how it played overall. The low score that the game received was perhaps a little unjust, but it’s got a chance for redemption as we’re ready to learn more about Pirots 2, starting with the pays section.

As we clarified in the intro, there are no standard paylines in this slot game, just four coloured Amber Symbols with payout levels of 1 – 7 that correspond with their respective Pirot. So, we have the Red Amber as the highest value symbol in the game, with payouts ranging from 0.1x to 50x each time a symbol is collected. Next is the Purple Amber, valued at 0.1x to 20x, followed by the Green Amber at 0.05x to 15x, and finally, the Blue Amber, paying 0.05x to 10x for each collected symbol.

The betting options on Pirots 2 replicate pretty much every other Elk Studio slot you will have played in the past, with the minimum price to spin the reels starting at €0.20 a spin and the game maxing out at €100 a play. There’s a total of 12 stakes you can choose from, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but they are varied enough to appeal to players with all-sized bankrolls.

Elk’s Pirots 2 slot is another of their titles that falls into the grid slots category, with the initial gameplay starting on a reel matrix of 6×6. As we will discover shortly, this can expand to a maximum of 8×8. Wins are awarded when a Pirot is positioned next to an amber symbol that is the same colour as themselves, with the Pirot following the path and collecting all possible symbols it can.

Feature Symbols

There are 8 feature symbols that any of the Pirots can collect if they are in their path on the playfield. These are as follows:

• upgrade Symbol: upgrades the payout level of one of the amber symbols by 1 – 3 steps.

• upgrade All Symbols: Will upgrade the level of all four amber symbols by 1 – 3 steps.

• Coin Symbol: Pays out the coin’s value, which can reach up to the maximum win.

• Wild Symbol: Substitutes for any amber symbols at their current payout level.

• Don’t Press Symbol: This will trigger a meteor strike that explodes symbols and expands the grid up to 8×8 in size.

• Egg Symbol: Will hatch a dinosaur at the end of the round. The birds are then scared away and will land in new places, giving you another chance to win.

• Popcorn Symbol: Fills empty grid spaces when it is collected by a bird. This allows the birds to cross empty spaces to reach new clusters of winning symbols.

• Transform symbol: Will transform a cluster of amber symbols next to a bird into the same colour as the bird so they can be collected. It may also convert a random number of amber symbols into feature symbols.

Symbol Collection Meter

Above the playfield, there is a Symbol Collection Meter. This meter keeps track of all collected symbols, where only amber symbols and wild symbols will count. The meter will continue to count collected symbols until the birds cannot collect anymore. When the meter is full, one pending feature symbol release is added, with it being possible to have three stored in total. All feature symbol releases are awarded before an egg symbol hatches, before the meteor strikes, as a part of the first free drop in the bonus game, or when the birds can’t collect any more symbols.

Swticheroo & Bird Fight

Adjacent birds may perform a Switcheroo, switching places horizontally or vertically when they can’t collect more symbols. This may only happen if new clusters of symbols can be unlocked.

If three or more birds end up horizontally or vertically next to each other, they will start a fight. This fight will take place over a random area of the grid. Bonus symbols, coins, eggs and red button symbols along the fight cloud’s path will be automatically collected, whilst amber symbols will be removed. The birds are re-dropped once the fight is over, and a symbol refill occurs to fill empty symbol places

If three bonus symbols are collected by the birds during a game round, the feature will be triggered, and 5 free drops will be awarded to begin with.

Free Drops Feature

The free drops bonus game starts on the current active number of rows and columns, and the current progress of the Symbol Collection Meter is brought into the bonus round. Any pending feature symbol releases will be released as part of the first drop. Additionally, all features are persistent in the free drops, so any progress will not be lost between losing spins.

X-iter

If you are able to play bonus buy slots in your jurisdiction, you can access the X-iter menu and choose from the following:

• Bonus Hunt: One drop with quadruple the chance of triggering the bonus round at the cost of 3x the bet.

• Popcorn Fiesta: One drop with the Popcorn feature activated from the start for the cost of 10x bet.

• Maximum Grid Size: One drop played on the full 8×8 grid for the price of 25x bet.

• Bonus: Guarantees entry to the feature for 100x bet.
• Super Bonus: Played on the full-size grid and all upgrade symbols upgrade all amber symbols for the cost of 500x bet.