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6 August 2024 
HippoPop Slot Overview
Yggdrasil YGS Masters Programme Partners AvatarUX are back yet again with ANOTHER instalment in the exciting and immensely popular PopWins series with HippoPop Slot.
This time, Avatar UX have delved deep for inspiration, and they’ve found it from Oaxacan arts and Alebrijes visions.
It’s a pretty unique thing to draw inspiration from, and it really shows in the art style. Unique style aside, something that you’ll definitely recognise as a familiar sight is the gameplay.
At this point, we’ve had PopRocks, WildPops, CherryPop, BountyPop and recently, TikiPop. It looks like the PopWins series of games has served Avatar UX well, and it’s no wonder, given how compelling the gameplay is.
As of yet, none have been quite as great as BountyPop. It may not have been the best statistically, but the theme and popularity of it seems thus far, unrivalled.
HippoPop has taken the top spot in recency, but is it the best overall?
In this HippoPop Slot review, we’ll be breaking down the similarities and differences between HippoPop and the rest of its sister slots, as well as core gameplay features and statistics!
HippoPop Theme
African Chimeras have come to life in HippoPop, with an impressive art style to back them up.
The animals on the reels are African creatures, with glowing eyes and distinctive detail, and the backdrop is a wild life haven with plants, trees and flowers.
The idea behind HippoPop is a culmination if different ideas that come together to make a pretty interesting theme. African animals have been portrayed in slots in many different ways, through many different games, but not quite like this.
It seems like Avatar UX are getting more imaginative with the PopWins series as time goes on, but gameplay has never really differed too much.
The sound and music of the game is great, with a soundtrack that fits well with the African Vibe.
It’s hard to predict what direction Avatar UK might take PopWins in next, especially when we jumped from Pirates to a Tiki theme in the couple of games.
One thing is for sure though, they do know how to keep it interesting.
HippoPop Slot: Betting and Symbols
Betting options in HippoPop are pretty extensive. They’ll cover the needs of most players, with a low option of £/€0.20 per spin, and a high option of £/€40 per spin.
With plenty to choose from in between, there’s surely something for everyone in HippoPop.
With regards to symbols, the highest paying symbol in the game is the Hippo Symbol.
Avatar UX have implemented a feature in HippoPop where the highest paying symbol will pay more depending on the height of the reel, but only in Free Spins. More on that below.
An interesting way to treat the top symbol of the game, and it’s certainly one of the differences between this and other games.
The Hippo is regarded as a ‘super high’ paying symbol, with the Flamingo, Cheetah and Zebra as high paying symbols, and the Frog, Parrot and Fish as Medium paying symbols.
Low paying symbols are a little bit easier to distinguish. These are A, K, Q & J.
HippoPop Slot: The Base Game and Features
Things are quite familiar when you get into the HippoPop Base game, with gameplay mechanics that you’ll definitely be acquainted with if you’ve played any of the previous PopWins games.
3 symbols are on each of the 5 reels, and the left-to-right and right-to-left pay way mechanic gives you 486 ways to win.
Each winning symbol will pop, where it will then be replaced by 2 symbols, increasing the reel height by one. The process is repeatable so long as there are subsequent winning combinations, and as a result, the reels can reach up to 6 symbols tall in the Base Game, and 8 symbols tall in Free Spins, which will give you 65,536 ways to win.
The diversity that comes with left-to-right and right-to-left pay ways makes for some entertaining gameplay that is capable of netting you some decent wins, and the inclusion of a Base Game Unlock Multiplier makes the action even more enjoyable.
The Base Game Multiplier will unlock when all reels are 6 symbols high. The multiplier will start at x2, and increase incrementally by 1 until there are no more wins.
As it so happens, getting the reels to 6 symbols high also transfers to Free Spins, and in a stroke of luck, your multiplier will carry over with you.
HippoPop Slot: Free Spins
Free Spins downgrades you initially at first to 3 symbols on each reel, but the trade of is that the reels may now reach up to 8 symbols, which was previously impossible in the Base Game.
As was the case in the older games, the reels will continue to increase in height until there are no more winning combinations, at which point the reels will reset to the height of the shortest reel on the next spin.
For context, if you got reels 1-4 up to 6 high, but reel 5 was 5 symbols high, then the subsequent spin will start with all symbols at a height of 5.
Free Spins also has a multiplier feature. As mentioned, the multiplier from the Base Game Multiplier will carry over, but in Free Spins, this will increase by 1 for every winning pop for the duration of the entire Free Spins round.
This can mean some massive hits, and of course you’ll want to have racked up a nice multiplier pre-bonus to give you a nice head start.
Avatar UX have actually implemented a little bit of a change here, as the highest paying symbol, the Hippo Symbol, will pay out more as the reels get taller.
- If all Reels are expanded to 6 high, then the Hippo will pay out x2 more for the duration of the round
- If all Reels are expanded to 7 high, then the Hippo will pay out x3 more for the duration of the round
- If all Reels are expanded to 8 high, then the Hippo will pay out x4 more for the duration of the round
This paid with the multiplier can mean big pay outs for connecting the Hippo Symbol within the bonus, and it’s probably why HippoPop is capable of massive wins of up to 48,150x.
Free Spins can also be re-triggered in HippoPop. This happens when you’ve fully unlocked all of the reels in Free Spins, where you’ll be awarded 2 additional Free Spins
HippoPop Bonus Wheel
The Bonus Wheel in the PopWins series of games is either an excited feature, or a dreaded one, depending on your perspective when it comes to gambling spins.
An ever so slight from the norm here, the Wheel in HippoPop has 2 levels rather than 3.
In this Slot, you’re guaranteed 5 Free Spins when you trigger the bonus, but spinning the Wheel has the potential to award additional spins.
- Wheel Level 1: 0-4 Spins
- Wheel Level 2 – 0 – 5 Spins
Unlike previous games, it doesn’t look like you’re gambling your entire bonus away.
HippoPop Bonus Buy
HippoPop has a bonus buy option for those outside of the UK. This will cost you 85x your stake, which is slightly less then games like Bounty Pop cost, which was 100x.
HippoPop Slot: Where to Play?
HippoPop Slot has not yet been released, but it will be available to play at most New Casinos from 31.05.2021
HippoPop Slot: Our Verdict
HippoPop is another great instalment in the PopWins series of games, but in reality its not too different from its predecessors.
The differences really are the Hippo High symbol pay out multiplier, and the theme.
Whether or not this game is for you, is really dependant on what kind of Bonus trigger you prefer.
Some of their games, like Bounty Pop have a bonus trigger that uses traditional Scatter symbols, whereas this requires you to get the reels to maximum height.
Avatar UX say their game is capable of wins of up to 48,150x, which is mammoth, but looking into it, it looks like this is the maximum cap, rather than the maximum achieved win.
The actual highest achieved win in HippoPop through testing was 32015x, which is still huge, but not quite the figure advertised.
That being said, it doesn’t seem as if anyone has reached anywhere near the maximum win in any of the PopWins games as of yet, especially in PopRocks which boasted 72,188x
Whether or not the highest wins are realistically possible remains to be seen, but we can say that this shouldn’t put you off. HippoPop is still among the company of an elite set of games, capable of big things.
As well as that, the RTP for HippoPop is a decent percentage, at 96.10%.
This is a slightly lower RTP than some of the other games in the series, like PopRocks that had 96.8% RTP, but a little higher than BountyPop, which had an RTP which was 96%.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the series, then you’ll definitely like HippoPop.
The only other game that Avatar UX has made apart from the PopWins game is Lilith’s inferno, so you do wonder if its time for AvatarUX to have a go at something else, despite your fondness for the series.
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