Pine of Plinko 2

Pine of Plinko 2: Slot Overview

Pine of Plinko 2 from software provider Print Studios dropped around the same time one of the developer's other slots, Royal Potato 2, had delivered a €1 million result for some lucky high roller. No doubt that win clip inspired gamblers keen to replicate the success, and Print Studios will likely be hoping to replicate the success it found with Pine of Plinko, as well. The original was a charming as a button slot built around a falling ball Plinko Bonus round, which could be absolutely mesmerising when all was going well. The Plinko Bonus round is back, the cuteness factor, too, as are one or two adjustments to how the game functions.

After a first look at Pine of Plinko 2, there was a guess we were heading into an Xmas clone of the original. Triggers for this were the abundance of snow and the slightly muzak in a department store at Christmas time vibed soundtrack. But no, after a few spins and bonus rounds, Pine of Plinko 2 is not so much a Christmas slot as much as one which simply takes place at winter time with snow blanketing a cute wee village up in the trees. The charming atmosphere of the original, as if everyone lives in a cuckoo clock, is back, as strong as ever.

Pine of Plinko 2's base game and bonus round could hardly be more different from each other. In the base game, the highly volatile gaming occurs on a 5-reel, 3-row action area in combination with 10 paylines provided for evaluating wins along. The bonus round removes the game grid altogether and drops balls into a Plinko machine - as you will see. Bets of 10 c to $/€50 per spin may be selected, and by switching the Scatter Boost on, players get more scatters on the reels, though the bet doubles when activated. Alternatively, the bonus can be bought for 92x the base bet. This means the regular RTP is 96.32%-96.49%, when the Scatter Boost is on, it's 96.42-96.53%, and when buying free spins, it comes out as 96.5%-96.56%.

A relatively low number of paylines is compensated for by relatively high symbol values. Not so much the low pays called green, yellow, and purple, which pay 2-3x the bet for a 5 OAK win but hit a line of 5 Waleys, Coneys, Kinglys, or Pineys, and the payouts are 10x to 200x the bet. Interestingly, no wild symbol is provided to help link winning lines.

Pine of Plinko 2: Slot Features

Landing 3 or more scatters triggers the Plinko Bonus. Each scatter displays a number, and when added up, the total represents the number of starting ball drops in the Plinko Bonus. However, if you are not happy with the number on any of the scatters, it is possible to re-roll them for the cost displayed on the individual scatter. Re-rolling is disabled if the number is too high.

Pine of Plinko 2: Plinko Bonus

The player's job in the bonus round is to release balls into a gaming area by clicking the Drop Button. Balls fall down into 15 gaps at the bottom, awarding a corresponding prize value. Each ball pays up to 1,000x. As balls hit the bumpers in the middle of the area, a meter is gradually filled. Completely filling the meter activates the bonus round's next stage. Not filling the meter means the round ends when the Drops at the current stage have been used. Each new stage awards 10 drops and doubles the amount of balls per click up to 256.

Pine of Plinko 2: Bumper Buckets & Golden Ball Pockets

Bumper Buckets may activate randomly at the start of any stage. Balls hitting the Bumper Buckets bounce back up onto the gaming board. Golden Ball Pockets may also activate randomly at the start of any stage. Landing a ball in a Golden Bucket triggers a Golden Ball Drop at the end of the current stage with the chance of winning up to 10,000x. One ball is dropped where more lucrative prizes are available, though bumpers are removed. When the Golden Drop concludes, the Plinko Bonus resumes.

Pine of Plinko 2: Slot Verdict

The original Pine of Plinko slot was one of those games that swept in like a gasp of fresh air on a dusty, smoggy day. The sheer joy of watching masses of balls bounce down a Plinko board, landing in prize gaps, hitting bumpers, filling the meter until a little dude levelled the round up by smacking something with his hammer. When levelling up, the huge number of balls raining down the board could produce smile-inducing giddiness. The presentation was outstanding, the ideas fresh, and the whole experience excitingly new. As a sequel, Pine of Plinko 2 isn't as blazingly new, that's natural, but all of the other praise heaped on part 1 now seamlessly shifts over to the sequel as well.

Not only do players get another chance to burrow deeper into Pine of Plinko's world, but Pine of Plinko 2 offers several new add-ons which enhance the experience as a whole. The first occurred when 3 scatters hit, where players now have the chance to respin the scatters they don't like the value of. This can absolutely be game-changing, flipping a 5 into a 63 (or thereabouts), for example, can make all the difference in the world when there are so many extra balls to drop. There are no guarantees, of course. Gamble features aren't exactly renowned for being generous or even merciful, but this one is an intriguing tool for gamblers to experiment with. The new parts in the bonus round are both hugely positive as well. Bumper Buckets proved exceedingly valuable for spitting balls back onto the board to rack up extra bumper hits. You really notice the difference between stages with Bumper Buckets and those that do not have them. The Golden Ball Drop is likely to be a less frequent occurrence than Bumper Buckets but has the makings of an intense ride when triggered.

Last but not least is potential, where we find double the previous game's max win, bringing the current figure up to 20,000x the bet, providing the final layer of icing on an excellent sequel that takes all the joyful playability found in the original and levels it up.