Pigeon Hut

Pigeon Hut: Slot Overview

Pigeons might be everywhere in a big city, flying about railway stations, pecking crumbs off the street, spreading their do-do all over the place, but they are not big in the gambling realm. That could be all set to change if developer Stakelogic has a say in the matter. The studio has designed Pigeon Hut, an online slot with pigeons doing humorous human things, in a double grid game that honours this underrepresented urban animal.

A slot about pigeons is almost destined to be cutely presented, but a couple of realistic pigeons sit beneath Pigeon Hut's game grids, as well, doing whatever it is pigeons do. You may have noticed pigeons hobbling around cities with missing toes. Whilst a number of reasons popped up during a Google search to explain this, it appeared human activity was a common cause in a lot of them in one form or another. Instead of being mutilated by humanity in Pigeon Hut, the characters here have chosen to imitate us, listening to music through headphones, wearing hats, and generally acting human-y. It's cute, though Pigeon Hut doesn't go too overboard with the cute angle.

Sitting between two buildings on the screen are Pigeon Hut's two gaming grids - both utilising a 5x3 formation, and when combined together, there are 40 total paylines for evaluating wins. With a 96% RTP figure, Pigeon Hut runs on a medium-high volatile math model, where the return value appears to stay the same whether betting 40 c to $/€40 per spin or opting for any of the 4 bonus buy options.

Pigeon Hut's eight regular pay symbols are divided into 4 J-A card rank symbols and 4 humanised pigeon high pay symbols. The royals pay 0.5 times the bet when a matching line of 5 of them hits, whereas the high pays award 2 to 5 times the bet for a 5 OAK result. Wilds are linked to certain Pigeon Hut features, but a wild's base job is to substitute for any paying symbol.

Pigeon Hut: Slot Features

Firecrackers are an important symbol in the game, too, leading to a wild convert mechanic and Pigeon Run Respins. Other features are the free spins bonus round and bonus buy options.

Firecracker

When a firecracker symbol lands, it transforms itself and all high-pay pigeon symbols in view within its reel-set into a wild symbol. If more than one firecracker symbol lands, then wild symbols are awarded a multiplier. The multiplier starts on x2 and increases by +1 each time existing wilds are converted. Converted wild symbols are also mirrored to the opposite reel set from where they landed. If firecracker symbols land on different reel sets, then the feature starts from the bottom grid first. After all wilds are revealed, 1 Pigeon Run respin is awarded.

Pigeon Run Respin

For the respin, all wild symbols lock in place. Additional firecracker symbols landing during respins award +1 extra respin. During respins, landing additional firecracker symbols replace symbols with wilds, but they also add multipliers to all wilds in view on the same reel set which were already there. Both reel sets respin each time a firecracker lands. When no new firecrackers land, respins end.

Free Spins

From the base game, landing 3, 4 or 5 scatters awards 8, 10, or 15 free spins, respectively. During free spins, more firecrackers and high-pay symbols are added to the reels. It is possible to win additional free spins while the round is active.

Buy Free Spins Bonus

For those who like to buy bonus rounds, Pigeon Hut supplies 4 options. These are 8, 10, or 15 free spins for 80x, 100x, or 150x the bet, respectively, or a random outcome for 110 times the bet.

Pigeon Hut: Slot Verdict

First off, why Pigeon Hut? There weren't any huts on-screen during the review. Two gaming grids, okay, a side street scene, but nothing in the way of huts. Quite the puzzle to ponder while watching the game's dual reel sets do their thing. Their thing being, hitting firecracker symbols, if you're lucky, in order to convert high pays to wilds, gather potential multipliers, and spread the joy from one reel set to the other. In some ways, it's too bad that high pays are converted to wilds, as one would suppose doing so favours low-pay winning lines over high-pay winning lines, where the values are substantially less. Pigeon Hut also doesn't mention the value of wild winning lines, if they can occur, adding to the mystery, though they would presumably be the same as the highest paying symbols as is usually the case.

Clearer is Pigeon Hut's max win, kind of. The paytable puts max exposure at €140,000, which isn't mega when max betting, equally 3,500x the stake. Is a higher multiplier possible at lower bet levels? Again, another mystery to ponder while keeping a keen eye out for firecracker symbols. As for their use, firecrackers can be quite handy at piling wild symbols onto one reel set, then copying them over to the adjacent reel set in a manner that awoke memories of Pragmatic Play's quad grid game, The Dog House Multihold. Not saying one game is a copy of the other, far from it; it's just that both slots are able to operate more than one reel set at a time, and there is a transference of wild symbols going on, too.

Of the two, Pigeon Hut was the less entertaining game to play, though it's hard to articulate precisely why. While there's nothing glaringly terrible about Pigeon Hut, it fails to leave a lasting impression. Its characters and cheerful urban environment were pleasant to inhabit for a while, and its features were alright, too. Ultimately, however, Pigeon Hut is a mediocre attempt that contributes little to the innovation or diversity of the online gambling sphere, despite its cheerful facade.