Joker Drop PopWins: Slot Overview
In a surprise move, Avatar UX's signature mechanic PopWins has been licensed by a competitor studio, in this case, Stakelogic. Up until now, PopWins has been synonymous with Avatar UX, so there was a measure of intrigue over what a bunch of new thinkers would bring to the table. Then again, cast your minds back to Mystery Drop, the PopWins copycat from Stakelogic we reviewed a few months prior, and the studio had already dropped a few hints – more on this later. For now, what's come out the other side is a game wrapped in a common theme but packing a few interesting features to go with the popping action. The real test comes from seeing a game in action, so let's find out what a third party can do with Avatar UX's contribution to the evolution of slots, officially this time.
As mentioned, Joker Drop PopWins' theme isn't the most exciting, based as it is around fruit and jokers in typical Stakelogic fashion. You don't need us to tell you this type of online slot is ever-popular, so it might be of interest to players looking for a traditional looking PopWins game. The setup isn't all that traditional, though, as Joker Drop PopWins is played on an expandable game grid which starts every spin in the base game in a 5x4 layout. However, the symbols, atmosphere, and presentation are full-on old school fruit - a genre Stakelogic is partial to.
Playable, popable, or whatever, on any device, players may select stakes from 20 p/c to $/€10 per spin or pay double the amount to activate the Super Stake feature. Doing so pulls scatter symbols into the bonus game, making it retriggerable. The Super Stake also affects the game's volatility, rated 5 out of 5 when switched on or 4 out of 5 when it's off. The RTP comes in a variety of forms as well, from as low as 88% up to 95.8% at best.
Joker Drop PopWins is a game that pays both ways, so wins can start from the left side of the game grid or the right. In the starting position, this means players get 1,024 ways to win (not including the pay both way element), rising to 16,807 when the grid is stretched to a maximum of 7-rows high. How it works is whenever a winning combination hits, the symbols involved pop and are replaced with 2 new symbols, growing reels and ways to their maximum size.
The symbols used throughout the game are utterly common-looking icons such as 10-A royals, cherries, limes, pears, plums, oranges, grapes, watermelons, and 7s. Any non-royal winning combination made up of 5 symbols is worth a payout of 0.75 to 5 times the base bet. There are wild symbols, but they only appear courtesy of the features; let's check them.
Joker Drop PopWins: Slot Features
As well as the PopWins mechanic, now licensed, Joker Drop has free spins with a gamble drop feature, two collection meters, and a bonus buy.
Collection Meters
Miniature coins or diamond icons may randomly appear over regular symbols and are collected when they do land in their respective coin or diamond meter. Filling the diamond meter adds 5 wild symbols to reels 2, 3, or 4. Filling the coin meter adds mini reels to 5 random positions, which each award a cash prize.
Free Spins
In the base game, when all reels reach 7 symbols high, players are awarded 5 free spins. The star meter on the left side records how many reels have reached this height during a spin. Before free spins start, players can gamble for more spins via the gamble drop feature. This is a pachinko style game which drops a ball from the top of the screen into several buckets at the bottom. Land in a red 'x' means you lose and go back to the base game, or you can win extra free spins, up to 15 at the most.
Free spins are played on a 5x7 sized grid, using a win multiplier starting at x3. Following each win, the multiplier increases by +1. If you entered the bonus round with the Super Stake feature activated, then diamond scatter symbols may appear - 3 of them in view awards extra free spins. Joker symbols are also used in the free spins round as the wild, replacing any of the pay symbols.
Buy Bonus
If buying Joker Drop's free spins feature is an option for you, then the cost for doing so is 120x the bet. Once bought, players have the choice of collecting 5 free spins or gambling them on the pachinko board.
Joker Drop PopWins: Slot Verdict
Reviewing Joker Drop was like opening a Russian doll of surprises. The main shock was seeing Stakelogic had licensed PopWins from Avatar UX instead of just brashly using the device and palming it off as their own like they did in Mystery Drop. Apparently, Avatar UX wasn't having other studios benefit from their creative ideas and stepped in. The following discussions resulted in a deal between the two studios whereby Stakelogic would have six months of exclusive rights to the PopWins mechanic. So, all's well that ends well, money talks, and players partial to PopWins get another studio's take on it.
So on to Joker Drop. You might have thought after all the legal wrangling and back-room hoopla, Stakelogic might have wanted to make something mind-altering to blow everyone away instead of just doing something fruit related. Furthermore, Stakelogic has pumped out a bunch of fruit-based Megaways games in the past, so our expectations might have been set unrealistically high. Or maybe it was a case of fruit overload. Who knows, anyway, the first look at Joker Drop was nothing special. It doesn't help that Avatar UX itself has already gone down the fruity PopWins avenue in games like CherryPop, and to a swankier extent, PapayaPop – both of which have a more unique look than Joker Drop. There is always the case sticking to something familiar was Stakelogic's goal from the start to reel in players warm to the classical look.
Anyway, enough about fruit, let's move to the gameplay. Despite having the license and presumably the blessings of Avatar UX to go hog wild, Stakelogic hasn't been hugely inventive with the PopWins system. The side bits, such as the two collection meters, add a hint of originality, plus there's the pachinko thing, but there isn't much here that hasn't been seen before under Avatar UX's watch. One area the game does compare favourably is in max winnings, which are capped at 20,472x the base bet.
In summation, players looking for a Vegasy PopWins experience will find it in Joker Drop, and to Stakelogic's credit, they've done it quite well. The wins pop in a satisfactory manner, the game plays well overall, and the pachinko styled free spins gamble is a fun addition. If you're are after the most traditional looking PopWins slot out there, steeped in fruit and various other classic slot icons, then Joker Drop is probably the one to go for.
If you're are after the most traditional looking PopWins slot out there, steeped in fruit and various other classic slot icons, then Joker Drop is probably the one to go for.
