Well, this is truly a blast from the past, isn’t it? And presented in glorious technicolour, too – how about that! Lady Luck Games has obviously acquired the license to Popeye recently, as they have just released a new online slot based around the early 20th-century cinema and television character. It’s a definite improvement on the previous Popeye slot that I played. However, the lack of the iconic theme song is definitely a disappointment – he’s Popeye the Sailor man for crying out loud! I’m afraid the vital statistics are a little on the average side, too – we’ve got 20 paylines, a 96.1% RTP, and a top win of 1,950x the total stake.
All I really remember about Popeye is that he smokes a pipe a lot and eats a tonne of spinach. The former isn’t very child friendly and so hopelessly politically incorrect nowadays, whilst the latter has recently been proven to offer only a fraction of the benefit it once thought to. Thankfully, Popeye doesn’t be doing much of either in this game! Instead, we get two main bonus rounds – a three-spin feature and a free spins feature.
I can’t help but wonder if the reason the theme tune was left out of this release is anything to do with the fact that the lyrics centre mostly around Popeye punching people that he doesn’t like. Or is it just a case of Lady Luck cheapening out on the license fee? I guess we’ll probably never know, but go ahead and try our free Popeye demo slot anyway!
| Provider | Lady Luck Games |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 20 |
| Bonus Rounds | 2 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 20 |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Max Win | 1,950x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.10% |
| Our Rating | 7.5 |
Popeye Slot Casino Bonuses
Popeye Slot Free Play
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Popeye Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Old cartoon characters have been making frequent appearances in online slots in recent months, with games such as Wild Coyote Megaways, Alice in Adventureland, and Count Duckula… sorry, Count Jokula… now that one was definitely somebody going cheap on the license fees, wasn’t it! I have to say, though, Popeye looks much nicer than all three of those previous games – the art style is spot-on from what I remember of the television cartoons, and it’s all beautifully drawn and animated as well.
A can of spinach – sporting flames and Popeye’s arms, no less! – is used for the wild symbol in this game, which is the highest-paying of the bunch with a return of 100x the total bet for a full payline of five of a kind. Popeye himself only offers a fraction of this – 30x your stake, to be exact, for all five symbols, whilst Olive Oil and Brutus are worth 12x and 8x, respectively. I can’t remember the name of the guy munching on the hamburger – ah, Wimpy, that’s it, and he’s worth 6x the total bet for a five of a kind combination, however! As for the low-paying royals, five jacks or queens will get you 1.8x your stake back in returns, whilst five kings or aces are a little more valuable at 2.4x each.
There are only a handful of bets available in Popeye for some reason, which is always frustrating to me. The minimum and maximum wagers of €0.10 and €20.00 per spin, respectively, are likely to be fine with the high and low rollers, but with only five other options in between, there’s a reasonable chance that you could struggle to find a bet that suits you.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game of Popeye utilises a traditional five reel, three row video slot layout, along with 20 fixed paylines. That’s a fairly standard configuration, although the reels include a few special symbols that spice things up a bit. This includes wilds with multipliers, coin symbols for triggering the three-spin feature, and regular scatters, which award a cash prize and the free spin bonus round.
Reel Multipliers
A multiplier is shown above each of the five reels, starting at 2x at the beginning of each game round. When a multiplier symbol lands on one of the reels, its value will be added to that which is currently displayed above it. Multipliers can land in three variations: +1x, +2x, and +5x. The multipliers shown on each reel do not reset before entering the bonus game or free spins features.
Popeye Slot Bonus Features
The main free spins feature can award either 10, 12, or 15 free spins for three, four, or five scatter symbols, respectively. As for the three-spin ‘bonus game’, you’ll need to hit at least five coins simultaneously to trigger that one!
Bonus Game
At the start of each bonus game, the five or more triggering coin symbols will lock into place and remain there for the duration of the feature. You start with three lives on your remaining counter, and this will reset back to three as long as one new symbol lands on the reels during each spin. The bonus game will end if three consecutive spins pass by with no new symbols landing.
If all three positions on a single reel are filled with symbols during this mode, the values shown on the coins will be paid out, and the symbols will be removed, allowing new coins to replace them on consecutive spins. Note that the only symbols present on the reels in this mode are the coins and the multiplier increase symbols, which I believe makes this the more generous of the two main bonus rounds.
Free Spins
Before each set of free spins begins, a bottle spin game is played (not that kind of bottle spin game!), which can increase the number of free spins that you will receive. So, for example, you have a one in 13 chance of increasing from 10 to 15 free spins -it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing!
Note that the coin symbols are still present during free spins and can also ‘flip’ here too, making it easier to trigger the bonus game. If this does occur, you’ll be returned to your free spins feature after the bonus game has played out.
Bonus Buy
If you can access the bonus buy menu in your jurisdiction, you have the following three choices available if you wish to skip all play in the base game.
- 10 Free Spins: Costs 35x bet.
- 15 Free Spins: Costs 60x bet.
- Bonus Game: Costs 20x bet.
Pros
- Attractive graphics that definitely resemble the characters in question.
- Two bonus rounds to look forward to.
- Reel multipliers make it possible to win big even during the base game.
Cons
- Lower than average jackpot of just 1,950x the total bet.
- The free spins feature seems much more difficult to trigger than the bonus game but doesn’t seem to pay out anywhere near as well.
- I really would have loved it if they had included the original theme song!
Final Thoughts
I mentioned in the opening paragraph that I’d played a Popeye slot in the past and didn’t think too much of it. Lady Luck’s attempt is undoubtedly a far superior game, but the small jackpot isn’t going to appeal to fans of high-volatility online slots. I’m sure that there will be lots of players interested in giving this a few spins purely for the nostalgia factor alone, though.
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