Robbits

Robbits: Slot Overview

Like all walks of life, the online slot biz has its followers and its leaders. Do something that stands out, that attracts a certain amount of attention, and there's a good chance it'll trigger inspiration, or be copied in one form or another sooner or later. So it is with ELK Studios' popular Pirots range, which appears to count developer Quickspin as one of its admirers. So much so, the studio has designed its own eating symbols slot, Robbits, where instead of birds, bunny rabbits traverse a gaming area gobbling pay symbols and triggering features. Imitators tend to face an uphill battle when it comes to gaining respect, but Quickspin does know its stuff, so let's see how its gobbling slot fares.

First off, the reason for respelling the word Rabbits with an 'o' is that these bunnies are out on the rob, and their target is the glitzy Fur Seasons Casino and Hotel. That sounds like a glamorous spot to hit, but the base game is anything but, as it depicts a sort of shabby underground lair, like a teen's basement hangout, complete with a beat-up old couch. In actuality, this phase of play is located deep beneath the Casino, so the plan may include burrowing up through the earth to break into the vault. Might work. With its 80s/90s hip hop DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince-esque soundtrack and four playful rabbits, Robbits projects a fun luvin' vibe where crime is committed by furry rogues with a mischievous streak.

Quickspin classes Robbits as a Cluster-Collect slot, which is played on a 5x5 grid that can expand up to 8x8. The traditional way of creating winning combinations has been replaced by an eating mechanic which will instantly be familiar to anyone who has played ELK Studios' popular range of Pirots slots. It comes in four RTP variants, topping out at 96.08%, and is highly volatile. While base bets range from $/€0.10 to $/€100, activating the Extra Bet doubles the stake for an increased chance of landing Carrots on the grid.

Rabbits move about the screen collecting Chips of matching colours. Each Chip is worth 0.1x to 2.5x the bet, depending on its colour and level. Wild symbols substitute for all Chips symbols and may be collected by multiple Rabbits on the same spin.

Robbits: Slot Features

As its features, Robbits has a Cluster-Collect system, Upgrader and Super Upgrader symbols, Helipads, Carrots, Power Ups, free spins, and a feature buy.

Cluster-Collect

The game has four different Rabbit characters, each linked to a Chip of the same colour. Rabbits move around the grid collecting symbols directly next to them horizontally or vertically. When all characters have finished collecting, and they stop moving, new symbols tumble onto the screen to fill the empty spaces. Tumbling ends when there are no more wins.

Upgrader and Super Upgrader

Main game spins start with Chips symbols at their base level. When a character collects an Upgrader symbol, all Chips matching their colour are upgraded by one level till the spin ends. Each Chip can be upgraded up to 5 levels, and each Upgrader can be used only once. Upgraders vanish after use. The Super Upgrader is the same, except that when it is collected, all Chips are upgraded.

Helipad

A collected Helipad symbol triggers a getaway helicopter at the end of the tumble sequence. It expands the grid by an extra row and column. It also triggers a new tumble with Rabbits in new positions.

Carrot

A collected Carrot guarantees a Power Up feature for the character at the end of tumbles. Each Rabbit has its own Power Up feature. The Carrot can have values of x1 to x50, and for each Carrot collected, the multipliers are added to each Rabbit's personal multiplier pot. Multipliers remain until the end of a base game spin, or until the end of a free spins round. Rabbits can collect more than one Carrot before the Power Up triggers.

Power Up

Power Ups trigger at the end of tumbles when a Carrot has been collected. It is active till the activated Rabbits during the Power Up complete their collection. During Power Up, the multiplier from the associated Rabbit's multiplier pot is added to the win. The features act like this once activated:

• Red Rabbit feature - Red Chip symbols are upgraded two levels, and all Rabbits switch positions. The multiplier connected to this feature is applied to all Rabbits' collections.
• Purple Rabbit feature - The Chips around the purple Rabbit transform into purple Chips. Non-pay symbols are not transformed. After the transformation, the character performs a collect with the multiplier from its pot.
• Green Rabbit feature - All the Chips are collected by the character without it moving. Chips are added to the wins, multiplied by the corresponding multiplier.
• Blue Rabbit feature - The Blue Rabbit jumps to each of the other Rabbits' positions that have blue Chips and in the Cluster-Collect direction around them. Collected Chips are multiplied by the character multiplier and added to the win. The original characters in those positions return when the blue character is done, who also returns to its original position.

Free Spins

Rabbits can collect bonus scatters next to them, which get removed from the screen. If 3 bonus scatters are collected, then 6 free spins are awarded, plus 1 free spin for each additional collected scatter. The size of the grid, symbol upgrade levels and carrot multipliers from the base game are carried over and do not reset during the round. These features may continue to be built on during the round. Free spins cannot be retriggered.

Buy Feature

By paying 70x the stake, players can buy into the free spins round triggered by 3 to 5 scatter symbols.

Robbits: Slot Verdict

There's imitation and inspiration, and where a slot like Print Studios' Chomplings might be said to be inspired by Pirots, Robbits feels like it's going the more direct imitator route. The similarities are front and centre from the moment the rabbits start moving orthogonally about the board, munching on symbols. Still, to Quickspin's credit, the studio has managed to graft its own personality onto the formula, creating a slot that feels familiar but not entirely without charm. The cheeky heist theme, the bopping soundtrack, and the four mischievous rabbit characters come together to form a playful atmosphere that's easy to sit back and enjoy, even if the setup draws heavily on its source material.

Where Robbits starts to assert itself is via the features complementing the Cluster-Collect mechanic. The addition of character-specific Power Ups, personal multiplier pots, and the Helipad expansion gives the gameplay a sense of dynamism as the grid grows, symbols upgrade, and multipliers accumulate - when it's all flowing nicely. The layered interactions are able to create moments of entertaining escalation, particularly in free spins, where the goodies do not reset, and improvements are able to stack. However, while Robbits can deliver engaging sequences of gobbling chaos, it is held back by maximum winning potential of 4,257x the bet.

And so, a Pirots beater this ain't, yet it's a bright, lively, and accessible take on the eating symbols concept, built with Quickspin's usual level of polish. Robbits lacks the chaos and complexity that Pirots slots have built up over the years, but it might provide entertainment for less demanding gamblers who are happy to drop the mayhem levels several notches while overlooking its derivative design and reduced maximum returns.