HippoPop Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

HippoPop Review

Hong Kong-based Avatar UX keeps ‘popping’ out new installments in the PopWins series, published on Yggdrasil’s YGS Masters program. HippoPop PopWins comes with a refreshingly bright, colorful and clear jungle theme, compared to some of the more thematically obscure installments from the past. The visuals are inspired by “Oaxacan arts and Alebrijes visions”, and you’re in for a polished presentation this time.

Looking past the impressive graphical display, there is nothing revolutionary to see here, at least not for punters already familiar with the series. It’s all about maxing out the base game grid, and see how you fare in the bonus round that follows. The math model beats most Megaways engine titles, sporting a 48,150x potential and a max bet of £40 per spin. Overall, a solid addition to the series, but we still think the overly slow pace is holding this engine back from reaching its full potential.

HippoPop Slot Reels Screen

HippoPop Features

Both wilds and scatters are long gone in this game, so you’re truly at the mercy of the PopWins mechanic to get into the swing of things. The Win-Both-Ways feature effectively doubles the symbol values if you hit a 5-OAK win, and the highest value golden Hippo pays 4x your stake for 5 on a payline (this can change in the bonus round, as we shall see).

Players familiar with the PopWins engine know what to expect.

Each win removes the original winning symbols, and each is replaced by 2 new randomly chosen symbols. This increases the number of rows and paylines. In the base game, you can go from 3 rows with 243 win ways (or 486 win both ways), to 6 rows with 7,776 win ways (or 15,552 win both ways).

The PopWins keep going until you land no more winning combos, and a progressive multiplier becomes active once you’ve maxed out the grid to 5x6 in the base game. Each following PopWin increases the multiplier with +1, and maxing out the grid is also how you trigger the bonus round (hit rate is 1 in 240 spins).

The multiplier you’ve built up is carried over to the Bonus Round, and you’re awarded 5 free spins per default. However, you can spin a wheel up to 3 times to gamble for up to 12 spins in total, but you also risk losing the feature altogether.

Most of the wheel segments come with +2 extra spins, while a few also award +4 or +5.

HippoPop Slot Wheel Screen

The 5x6 grid is not carried over to the bonus round however, so you will start over with a 5x3 setup. The grid can now expand up to 5x8, and this means 32,768 win ways at the most (or 65,536 win both ways). Each PopWin increases the multiplier with +1 from the get-go, and it does not reset between spins. The grid resets to the shortest row you have achieved when a PopWin sequence ends.

If you manage to max out the grid, it will stay that way for the remainder of the feature. Each fully expanded reel awards +2 extra spins, and reaching 6, 7 or 8 rows means that the golden Hippo symbol pays 2x, 3x or 4x its regular amount, respectively.

Non-UK players (or anywhere it’s permitted) can buy the bonus round for 85x the total stake. You are then granted 5 free spins with a starting multiplier between 2x and 4x. You can gamble for up to 9 spins and a 10x starting multiplier if you wish, but this means you risk losing the feature.

The 200 Spins HippoPop Experience

Our 3-minute highlights video starts out displaying a bigger base game win, and then the bonus round follows. We gambled our way up to 9 spins, and we started out with a decent 7x multiplier.

The actual bonus round starts at 2:13 into the video, and you can see how we fared by hitting the play button.

Review Summary

In a way the stripped down gameplay, combined with a bright and colorful theme, makes this feel like a fresh installment in the series. However, there isn’t much here to entice fence-sitters, as nothing really innovative has been done with the engine. We’ve nitpicked about it before, but the pace is still a problem for us. Play the highlights video above on 2x speed, and see for yourself how much more smoothly the game flows.

A “hip” poppin’ game about Hippos don’t need all these hiccups, and slow-motion filling of new symbols. This is an easy and obvious fix that would greatly improve this series. That being said, fans will probably not be disappointed by HippoPop, and you do get the extra valuable Hippo when the rows max out in the bonus round.

This can all lead to massive payouts up to 48,150x your stake, which is a lot more than what even most Megaways slots offer.

Pros

• PopWin grid expansion
• Bonus round w/ progressive multiplier
• Win up to 48,150x your stake

Cons

• Does little to bring the series forward

If you appreciate HippoPop you should also try:

BountyPop - comes with a 2-tier multiplier mystery wheel up to 10x when you max out the grid with 6 rows. In the bonus round the mystery reel has 3-tiers with up to 100x multipliers, and this can lead to payouts up to 55,000x your stake.

TikiPop - comes with a 2x multiplier boost when you max out the grid, and the bonus round features an unlimited progressive multiplier and up to 33,614 win ways. The volatility is high, and you can win up to 32,000x your stake.

CherryPop - comes with a familiar fruit theme, making it a bit more accessible than many other installments in the series. This one also comes with a bonus buy option (not for UK players), and the progressive multiplier can land you wins up to 56,386x your stake.

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