Boomberries

Boomberries: Slot Overview

Swedish software provider ELK Studios consists of a creative bunch of cookies, but even they succumb to the pull of an easy release every so often. Case in point is Boomberries, a reskin of the studio's underwater slot Oxygen, released in 2023. That in turn was a game which sought to capitalise on the success of cluster pays slots like Sugar Rush 1000 and the movement towards grid multiplier systems that place multipliers on individual reel positions, then double them on consecutive wins. There's not much more to say than if you're after originality, you'd best look away now, or, if another helping of juicy-based grid multipliers is on the menu, do join us.

Since berries don't grow in the sea, we're above land in Boomberries rather than dipping and diving amongst the waves. A slightly magical feeling pervades the game, brought about by the massive fruit, the floating lights, and a Smurf-like house built in a bomb shape, complete with a flaming fuse in the background. Boomberries' visuals lean to the generic side and possess less individuality than Oxygen, but the cheerful tunes, loads of fruit, and mellow atmosphere make for an all-around pleasant enough experience.

Boomberries stakes out a 6x7 gaming area to land its various pieces of fruit on, creating a winning combination when 5 or more matching symbols land adjacent to each other. Winning clusters are wiped off the grid, causing a drop which refills the reels. If a new win forms after an avalanche, the process repeats again. ELK Studios has dipped back into 94% territory when it comes to the game's RTP, while the volatility sits in the medium-high range. Click the coins, and players can select a wager as low as $/€0.20 or as high as $/€100.

The pay symbols are blue, green, and yellow berries, grapes, watermelons, pineapples, and strawberries. A 5 OAK cluster pays 0.1x to 1x the bet, but the biggest clusters are 14+ in size and are worth 10x to 100x the stake. Big symbols may also land in sizes of 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4.

Boomberries: Slot Features

Boomberries' extras are its multiplier features, Hot Zone Strike, three wild symbols, a bonus game, a super bonus game, and feature buys.

Multiplier Features

The first win on a symbol position activates the hot zone on that position. The following win on a hot zone places an x2 multiplier on the position, and further wins on the same position double the multiplier. Single multipliers can increase up to x2,048. The multiplier collector collects and adds all multiplier values in view of the collector's position. The multiplier collector feature activates when part of a winning cluster, and it can be persistent. The dealer feature also triggers when its position is part of a win. It takes its position's multiplier (or x2 if it doesn't have one) and multiplies all multipliers in a triangular V shape to the left, right, up, or down of its position. The dealer can be persistent and trigger several times, but its multiplier does not increase.

Hot Zone Strike

The Hot Zone Strike can trigger on any symbol drop or bonus drop. It places an x2 multiplier on a random number of grid positions, or it multiplies existing multipliers by x2.

Wild Symbols

The three wild symbols in Boomberries are the regular wild, X-Bomber Wild, and Exploding Wild. The two non-regular wilds trigger an effect when part of a win:

• X-Exploding Wild - Explodes, removing pay symbols, and triggering features within an X shape. It does not activate hot zones or multiplier values.
• X-Bomber Wild - A random pay symbol or wild is selected, and it replaces all pay symbols in an X shape. Exploding Wilds or X-Bomber Wilds in the shape are also triggered. Symbols affected by multiple X-Bomber Wilds turn into wilds. X-Bomber Wilds do activate hot zones and multiplier values in the X shape.

Bonus Game

Landing 3 bonus scatters awards 10 free spins. Multiplier values are persistent when entering the bonus round, and they are persistent between free spins. In the base game, 3 scatters and a persistent multiplier trigger the super bonus, where at least one multiplier feature is persistent. Landing 2 or 3 scatter during the feature grants an extra +3 or +5 free spins.

X-iter

From the X-iter, the Bonus Hunt can be activated for 3x to buy a game round with more than triple the chance of triggering a bonus. For 10x, players may buy a Hot Zone Strike, or 25x buys the Persistent Multiplier feature. The regular bonus may be triggered for 100x or the super bonus for 500x, where at least one multiplier feature is persistent.

Boomberries: Slot Verdict

ELK Studios excels at producing glossy, inventive slots, yet Boomberries feels more like a side project than a final destination. As a standalone release, it performs just fine and packs plenty of goodies for players who enjoy this grid multiplier style. Having seen it all before in Oxygen means the game does lose a few cool points, though, due to the reskin status and to what is something of a visual downgrade as the action shifts from a critter-filled deep blue sea to a more generic, fruity, Smurf-esque woodland fantasy. On the other hand, there's no denying the universal appeal of fruit in slots. So it has been, and so it may well always be, meaning Boomberries might find itself falling into the appreciative arms of a different gambling crowd.

Oxygen was apparently ELK Studios' answer to Sugar Rush, and the developer incorporated the grid multiplier concept nicely. Here, each multiplier can reach a staggering x2,048 each, and there is still something special in seeing a pack of multiplier values building up across the grid, working in conjunction with cluster pays. Two of the undisputed champs of Boomberries are the collector and dealer, in their persistent forms, preferably. When these things are popping, they can spread all sorts of multiplier goodness into the game. Toss in the X-Exploding and X-Bomber Wilds to clear paths, force triggers, or increase multipliers, and it is equally obvious that ELK Studios didn't just want to imitate a successful formula but blow right past it while catering to gamblers who weren't completely satiated with what Sugar Rush had to offer.

To sum up, Boomberries is mechanically strong, capable of being thrilling, and has a 25,000x win cap, but is creatively conservative. It still manages to deliver the goods for players looking for an escalating grid multiplier system complemented by a handful of clever and potent side features. However, if you're after something fresh, iconic, or thematically memorable, Boomberries is going to find it hard to push past functional rerun status to become the headline act.