Power Pops

Power Pops: Slot Overview

Software provider Backseat Gaming has indulged its sweet tooth with the design of Power Pops, a scatter paying online slot, bolstered by a special Lollipop multiplier symbol. If you've just been dazed with déjà vu after reading that sentence, know this isn't a direct copy of the candied scatter paying classic Sweet Bonanza 1000. Crossovers might occur, but Power Pops utilises individual reel multipliers rather than a combined free spins only multiplier, for one thing, so if you're in a sugary mood, brace for deployment in a teeth-assaulting world birthed by one of Hacksaw Gaming's key partners.

Power Pops inhabits a pleasant if somewhat plain candy-inspired game world. In the base game, clouds lazily float over a pinky, purpley, pastelly earth, dotted with lollipop trees, and icing sugar-like mountains. Nothing here will damage your eyes, but at the same time, Power Pops does look a lot like dozens of other candy-themed slots. Perhaps hardcore sweet slot enthusiasts desire the comfort that familiarity brings rather than sampling a brand new ocular delight. The gaming area is a little plain as well, but as stated, the optics aren't bad in any way, just a bit generic.

This is a scatter paying slot, which means winning combinations are created when 8 or more matching symbols land anywhere on the grid. Its tumble mechanic removes the winning symbols, causing new and existing symbols to drop downwards to fill all of the gaps. Tumbles will continue in this way as long as new wins appear. This all takes place on a 6x5 gaming grid, while out back is a highly volatile math model, producing an RTP of 96.31% at best. To select a stake, players click the up and down arrows to settle on a wager of $/€0.10 to $/€30.

The list of pay symbols is made up of 9 variously coloured and shaped candies. Winning combinations of 8 in size award 0.2x to 2x the bet, going up to the largest 19+ OAK combinations, which pay 50x to 400x the stake. The game does not land wild symbols in any phase.

Power Pops: Slot Features

Power Pops' bag of sweets contains Lollipop multipliers, Sugar Pop bonus, Lollipop Blast bonus, and feature buys.

Lollipop Multipliers

After a Lollipop symbol lands, it reveals a multiplier depending on its colour. In the base game, Lollipop symbols only activate if there is a winning combination on the grid, while in the bonus round, they always reveal a multiplier. Blue Lollipops reveal x2 to x5, Green Lollipops x6 to x10, Purple Lollipops x15 to x75, and Red Lollipops x100 to x1,000x.  The multiplier is added to the reel multiplier below the reel the Lollipop landed on. Reel multipliers apply to all wins that have at least one winning symbol on that reel. If multiple reel multipliers are part of the same win, their values are combined before being applied.

Sugar Pop Bonus Game

10 free spins in the Sugar Pop bonus are awarded by landing 3 scatters in the base game. The base game mechanics are followed, and there is an increased chance of landing Lollipop symbols. Reel multipliers remain persistent for the entire duration, too. Landing 3 scatters awards a further +10 free spins.

Lollipop Blast Bonus Game

Landing 4 scatters triggers 10 free spins in this bonus round. It follows the rules of Sugar Pop, but you get 1 initial Lollipop spin, which guarantees a Lollipop symbol on all reels. All other symbols are dead for that spin.

Feature Buys

The four feature buys include BonusHunt FeatureSpins, making each spin 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus for 2x or Lollipop FeatureSpins for 50x, guaranteeing 1 Lollipop symbol. Both bonuses can be bought. Sugar Pop costs 150x or Lollipop Blast costs 500x the stake to buy.

Power Pops: Slot Verdict

Backseat Gaming's Power Pops is a volatile candy-coated slot built in the tradition of the scatter paying, multiplier symbol-building formula, offering a familiar yet enjoyable take for fans of this style. While the visual design isn't groundbreaking (its pastel landscape, lollipop trees, and sugary mountains are all quite commonplace), the backdrop is pleasantly functional, providing a cheerful world for the game to do its thing, namely, stack reel multipliers and tumble wins. Scatter pays and sweets go effortlessly together like socks and sandals, and Power Pops delivers a dependable if predictable version of this type of gaming.

However, it's not completely predictable. Instead of a single combined multiplier, values stored on individual reel multipliers add the twist this game needed - Gates of Hades style. And while there may be MultiMax connotations, Power Pops doesn't feel like Backseat Gaming necessarily looked at Multifly for inspiration. MexoMax, perhaps. Encouragingly, when it started to seriously add multipliers, they could quite quickly build into rather useful values. This effect was obviously far more pronounced during free spins due to the introduced persistent quality. Additionally, the scatter pays system means winning symbols can pull in reel multipliers from all over the place, rather than focusing on reels to the leftmost side of the grid. Quite entertaining then, in other words, and a 30,000x the bet max win is evidence of Power Pops' ability to pop, potentially quite hard.

Beneath the pastel veneer, Power Pops is able to surprise with moments of enamel melting intensity. Offsetting the familiar with subtle innovation means the game packs a bigger potential wallop than its unassuming dime-a-dozen looks may first suggest, and while Power Pops might not be destined to become the undisputed champ of scatter paying sweet slots, there are delights here to keep players engaged.