Pineapple Pop

Pineapple Pop: Slot Overview

Hey woah what, a 'Pop' game which does not come from the masters of all things poppin' AvatarUX? You read that right, Pineapple Pop is an online slot from Games Global partner Neon Valley Studios, following on from the team's Norse mythology release Asgardian Fire. As far as Viking games go, Asgardian Fire was handsomely presented, mythical, a bit mystical, and very easy on the eyes. Its main sticking point was how closely the gameplay mirrored that found in ELK Studios' Gold slots. Pineapple Pop keeps the ball rolling, tipping features such as Escalating Ways, Rolling Reels, and Jumbo Blocks into one fruity cocktail.

First up, Pineapple Pop is not as visually grabbing as Asgardian Fire, but for players into fruit and whatnot, it lays on quite an attractive scene. Due to the frozen symbols, though, it feels like this time, Neon Valley Studios was also inspired by ELK's Tropicool slots, with a dash of the striped sky effect from 4ThePlayer's 4 Fantastic Fish slots. There's a lot going on here, in other words, and whatever was or wasn't the inspiration for Pineapple Pop's existence, it does provide a funky, fruity beach world to inhabit.

Pineapple Pop's expandability means its gaming grid has a default size of 6 reels, 4 rows and 4,096 ways to win, but can grow up to 8 rows high. At that height, players get 262,144 ways to win. They also get a very highly volatile machine generating a default RTP of 96%, though lower models are available. Bet selection is 20 c to $/€50 per spin, plus there's a bonus buy and an Upsizer feature enhancer when free spins trigger.

Twelve fruits encased in ice are Pineapple Pop's regular paying symbols. These are a berry, lime, banana, and cherries as the lows, a plum, pear, mango, and strawberry as the mids, then grapes, kiwifruit, orange, and watermelon as the highs. For hitting a 6-of-a-kind win, the payouts are 0.4x for the lows, 1-1.2x for the mids, and 1.8-4x the bet for the highs. Appearing on all but the leftmost reel is Pineapple Pop's wild, able to substitute for all symbols except scatters.

Pineapple Pop: Slot Features

Amongst Pineapple Pop's features are Rolling Reels, Escalating Ways, Jumbo Blocks, Wild Fill, the scatter, free spins, Elevator, feature buys, and Upsizer.

• Rolling Reels - Every ways win triggers Rolling Reels. Winning symbols are removed to make way for symbols to drop down from above. Rolling Reels sequences continue as long wins keep appearing on the grid.
• Escalating Ways - Following a winning cascade, a row of extra symbols is added to the top of the reels. Up to 4 extra rows can be added this way, creating additional ways to win.
• Jumbo Blocks - Jumbo Blocks can appear during Rolling Reels in sizes of 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4. Jumbo Blocks are available on reels 2 to 6 and can be any symbols except scatters or wilds. However, if Jumbo Blocks have any empty spaces below them, the gaps are filled with wilds.
• Scatter - Each scatter that lands triggers the Second Chance feature, which activates after all wins are complete. Up to 12 symbols in a diamond shape around each scatter explode, creating space for symbols to cascade in. Scatters do not explode wilds, Jumbo Blocks, or other scatters.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols awards 6 free spins, plus each additional triggering scatter grants +3 free spins. The round starts with the Elevator set to 4 rows. The Elevator moves up 1 row after each winning spin, locking in a higher minimum ways to win for the duration of the free spins round – up to 8 rows high. When all wins are complete, any wilds on the grid are collected at the bottom of the reels. Wilds persist until they are part of a win. On a last note, free spins can be retriggered.

Upsizer

The Upsizer is only available when free spins naturally trigger. The Upsizer allows players to pay an amount to buy additional free spins up to 25.

Feature Buy

Players may use this feature to buy 6, 9, 12, 15, or 25 free spins for 70x, 100x, 125x, 140x, or 300x the bet, respectively. The Upsizer is not available when buying free spins.

Pineapple Pop: Slot Verdict

Pineapple Pop has quite a lot of features, but they're all straightforward, rather regular add-ons with little in the way of major innovations to wrap your head around. Some people, teams, studios, etc., are leaders in the field, boldly trying stuff that no one else has done. ELK's one, Crazy Tooth, is another; Neon Valley Studios, on the other hand, if Pineapple Pop is anything to go by, is a follower. Nothing wrong with that. Not saying following the leader is necessarily a bad thing; just reporting back some findings after letting Pineapple Pop do its thing. Clearly, the game must have been 'inspired' by ELK's Gold slots, what with the Escalating Ways, the Jumbo Blocks, and the way spaces below Jumbo Blocks fill with symbols, all stuff which has been ripped out of the Kane playbook. If innovation is a must, or you can't stand imitation, you best be crossing Pineapple Pop off your to-do list, like now.

On the other hand, Pineapple Pop was quite a fun game to play. Its upbeat atmos is easy to vibe with, the colours are bright, the fruit juicy (if encased in ice), and the sounds playful. If you can ignore the fact that Pineapple Pop is, let's face it, something of a knockoff, like a cheap polo shirt with a crocodile insignia sewn on to approximate Lacoste, then there are a few giggles here to be had. Pineapple Pop only goes so far, though, despite the respectable 5,000x the bet max win. What that means is its features combo works fine, but with no multiplier in free spins or any sort of unique extra, collection or otherwise means the bonus round fails to really pop. It works itself up to a certain level, then just chills there, letting ways wins and Rolling Reels do their thing. Or not. In other words, Pineapple Pop lacks the same suspense, the same knife edge of success or failure capable in a solid Gold slot.

Still, as far as imitations go, Pineapple Pop is a pretty good one. However, it doesn't take the mechanics it has borrowed and do anything ragingly new, and Neon Valley Games certainly doesn't beat ELK at their own game. But, for a jazzy, fruity version of the stuff Kane used to do, then Pineapple Pop might appeal to some.