Purrrminator

Purrrminator: Slot Overview

Is there anything worse than going for a gentle stroll around the neighbourhood and stepping into a steaming pile of dog mess some oblivious or uncaring owner couldn't be bothered bagging and placing in the bin? Okay, yes, that is a bit of a first-world problem, and far worse things can happen. But you know, walking in poo is pretty, uh, well, not much fun. Apologies for all the doggie toilet talk, but the inspiration came from reviewing Relax Gaming's release Purrrminator, an online slot dropping a Reverse Avalanche mechanic, free spins, and little piles of doo-doo.

Purrrminator appears to be the name of a robotic dog piloted by a sadistic-looking cat sent in to deal with the pack of out-of-control canines - and the business they're leaving on the streets. You can see some of the business right there, to the left side of the game grid, like chocolate soft-serve ice cream, except with flies buzzing around in circles. Obviously, Purrrminator has been made with a certain toilet humour in mind, not exactly Punk Toilet or xWays Hoarder, but it leans in that direction, albeit on the more childish side. Trigger free spins, and the game moves to the pound, where naughty, or at least stray, dogs get sent.

A steel grid, like part of a cage, holds the game's symbols in a 6x4 alignment, creating winning combinations using a connected ways pay system, left to right, from the leftmost reel. Purring in the background is a medium-high volatile math model, and the RTP is available at 96.1% at best, though lower return values are possible. Wagers of 10 to $/€200 may be staked, with an option to buy the bonus.

Lumpy spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts are Purrrminator's low pays, and 5 dog symbols are its high pays. Landing a six-of-a-kind card suit line pays 0.4-0.5 times the bet, while the 5 dog symbols pay 0.6x to 3x for 6 OAK. Purrrminator's free spins scatter is also a wild symbol that substitutes for any regular paying symbol.

Purrrminator: Slot Features

Purrrminator isn't bristling with extras, either, but what it has is a Reverse Avalanche feature, as well as free spins that expand the gaming area and expanding symbols.

Reverse Avalanche Feature

Purrrminator's Reverse Avalanche feature locks winning symbols and all other instances of the same symbol type on the grid, as well as wild/scatters, while removing the other symbols. Next, only the winning symbol type, wild/scatters, winning symbols that expand (during free spins), or blanks may land on an Avalanche. If new symbols land, the spin continues; if not, the spin ends, and the total win is paid. If there is a multi-symbol win on the initial spin, for the Reverse Avalanche phase, the highest paying winning symbol remains on the grid - the unkept, lower value symbol win pays before being removed. A round ends when all new symbols are blanks on an Avalanche or the grid is full.

Free Spins

In the base game, landing 3 scatter symbols awards 5 to 20 free spins, 4 scatter symbols awards 7 to 20 free spins, while 5 scatter symbols awards 9 to 20 free spins. Free spins are played on an enlarged 6x5 gaming area. In addition, Avalanches can land winning symbols that expand. Expanding symbols fill all positions in the direction their arrow points - up or down.

Feature Buy

Players willing to pay 50 times the base bet can trigger the free spins bonus round by doing so. The RTP when buying free spins is 96.5%.

Purrrminator: Slot Verdict

Before really getting to grips with the way it functioned, the Reverse Avalanche Feature presented a fun little mind game as to how it might work. Would symbols flow upwards like they do in Klowns, or would they do something even freakier? Instead, the reverse part refers to the way winning symbols are held rather than removed as they are in regular avalanche/cascade/reaction features. This sort of mechanic goes by various names; hold and respin is one term that's been encountered before, if memory serves, or simply respins, as they were called in Serial, for instance, or the Sticky Win feature in NetEnt's Jack Hammer 3. In other words, this stick winning symbols and respin the other positions is a feature which returns every so often, and no wonder, it is a good one when you've got a sweet run of matching symbols crowding up the joint.

Cross your fingers the winning symbol in question is the Doberman or even the bulldog since they are worth quite a lot more than the rest. And while Purrrminator isn't a 'pure' ways game, the connector system provides a lot of ways to win. In addition, the expanded gaming grid alongside the expanding symbol feature in free spins helps open the possibilities up. Purrrminator isn't armed with a ton of features, however, so it might end up in a chasing-your-tail scenario of tracking winning symbols, hoping more winning symbols hit on respins, and that's about it. The theme's cartoon slapstick cats vs dogs rivalry combined with a general animal sass gives Purrrminator a stab of life, plus a 5,000x the bet win cap is better than walking in a fresh, steaming mess. Whilst the mechanic might be a bit too slow, which might annoy some players, and the gameplay, generally speaking, isn't impressive by Relax Gaming's past historical standards, Purrrminator is still a well-crafted slot overall.