Kitty POPpins

Kitty POPpins: Slot Overview

Around the time of review, cat lovers had been spoiled for choice when picking a kitty-themed slot. We had releases like Kalamba Games' Phat Cats Megaways, Snowborn Games' Cat Clans 2 Mad Cats, and Relax Gaming's Fly Cats Dream Drop. Now we've got Kitty POPpins from AvatarUX looking to hop up on players' knees for a pat. As you might expect, Kitty POPpins is a continuation of AvatarUX's 'popping' style of online slots, a concept the studio clings steadfastly to with impressive loyalty, bordering on obsession. A healthy obsession, as it gives the studio a freedom to creatively soar within a certain framework, like a haiku. Here they soar with a solid list of features and a fluffy, purring, clawed theme on top.

Despite a link in the title between Kitty POPpins and Mary Poppins, the game doesn't bear much resemblance to the Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke film. Instead, Kitty POPpins is all about feline royalty and features that start with the word 'Cat'. Graphics are one of Kitty POPpins' strong points, and the base game is held in a sumptuous room, viewed from a cat's eye view from the ground up, as gold light streams in from a bunch of elegant windows. There's a king cat on the left, so presumably, this is some sort of royal room, and if not, it's one cat lovers are sure to be able to enjoy gambling alongside their preferred pet choice in any way.

Despite being cute and cuddly looking, Kitty POPpins is serious-minded regarding the gambling part. It takes bets of 20 p/c to $/€40 per spin and comes with an extensive list of feature buy options. There's an Ante Bet, too, which, when activated, increases the bet by 25% whilst also doubling the chance of triggering free spins. A highly volatile gambling machine, the gaming takes place on a 5x5 sized grid, which expands in certain free spins rounds to produce up to 59,049 ways to win, and has a default return to player of 96%.

To win, matching symbols must land on successive reels, beginning from the leftmost or rightmost side of the matrix onwards. Landing 5 symbol winning combinations awards 0.5 times the bet for the low pay 9 to A card ranks or 1x the bet for the medium pay miscellaneous cat-related objects. At best, landing 5 matching premium cat symbols, of which there are 4 sassy kinds, will get you a payout of 2 times the bet. Wild symbols are not used in Kitty POPpins - perhaps the cats are considered wild enough as it is? Either way, when winning symbols hit, they are removed and replaced by new ones, and a tumbling sequence ends only when no new win lands.

Kitty POPpins: Slot Features

Amongst Kitty POPpins' list of features are MultiPop, King Cat and his Cat named modifiers, free spins, and the Xpress bonus buys.

MultiPop

On each spin, random multipliers appear in random positions on the grid. Added symbols after wins in these positions increase the respective multipliers. The multiplier is attached to the position, not to a specific symbol.

King Cat

King Cat triggers at random, and when he does, one of these modifiers is awarded:

• Cattilycious Respin – extra multipliers are added to the grid, and all those active are locked in position while a respin triggers. If additional multipliers land on a position that already has a multiplier, the values are added.
• Cateriffic Re-Shuffle – frames which may have multipliers attached are added to the grid. Each position with a frame is shuffled around, providing a chance to win.
• Catcellent Removal – up to 2 low pay symbols are removed from the grid for the spin.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols triggers 5 free spins on a grid 7 rows high, 4 scatter symbols award 8 free spins on a grid 8 rows high, while 5 scatter symbols award 12 free spins on a grid 9 rows high. In free spins, the Royal Cat awards have greater effectiveness. Cattilycious Respins now award up to 8 position multipliers, Caterrific Re-Shuffle can shuffle up to 10 symbols, and Catcellent Removal removes up to 5 lower paying symbols.

Xpress

Within the bonus buy menu, players are able to activate these choices. To have the King Cat active on each spin costs 7.5x the bet, whereas buying 5, 8, or 12 free spins costs 75x, 200x, or 500x the bet, respectively. Lastly is the Max option, with 10 free spins (the demo awarded 15) on a 9-row high grid with King Cat active on each spin, costing 1,000x the bet.

Kitty POPpins: Slot Verdict

Kitty POPpins is the umpteenth addition to the 'popping' style slot range; we've kind of lost count by now. AvatarUX has shown impressive loyalty to the concept as the studio seeks to expand, reform, and innovate with each release. Here's a thought, imagine if AvatarUX ever managed to make the perfect 'Pop' game; what next? After reaching the pinnacle of your craft and producing the perfect specimen, something you know you could never top again, would you give up and bow out gracefully, or keep knocking out products that could be good, or even excellent, but never as good as your magnum opus?

Perhaps because perfection isn't really obtainable is the reason people keep soldiering on even when returns are diminishing. The good thing about AvatarUX is the returns certainly aren't diminishing yet, and Kitty POPpins is one of the stronger releases in the lineup. It's funny; the last time we tangled with the MultiPop system was in Zombie aPOPalypse MultiPop - funny because the shambling undead is about as far as it gets from a purring kitty. Interestingly, Kitty POPpins is a big game in many ways, from its 20,000x the bet max win, potentially achievable via a sizeable list of features, and the extensive Xpress bonus buy feature, an optional add-on that gives ELK Studios and its X-iter buy menu a run for its money.

Roll it all together like a hacked-up fur ball, and players have a high-performing 'Pop' game to fire up on their screens. KittyPOPpins' big numbers, big features, and cuddly exterior should be like catnip to fans of AvatarUX's poppin' style slots.