Pirots 3

Pirots 3: Slot Overview

If there is one casino game designer that knows a thing or two about creating a successful series of slots, it is Swedish outfit ELK Studios. The developer has dazzled players through series such as Kane's Gold range, Nitropolis, Toro, and more. Now we learn ELK's range of Fearsome Four parrots has morphed into a trilogy with the release of Pirots 3. A noticeable shift existed from Pirots to Pirots 2, so the expectation was that Pirots 3 would step up by doing things the previous instalments did not. Suffice it to say innovations are on the way.

So far, each Pirots slot has been held in completely different environments. The original was a piraty (hence the name) swashbuckling affair; Pirots 2 went to a dinosaur age, while Pirots 3 is a good 'ol Wild Western number. Although, is it the actual Wild West or a theme park version? Only asking because behind the transparent gaming grid, you can see amusement rides, while some of the stores on the street look like tourist stop-offs rather than dank, dingy saloons. That would make sense because the four parrot characters, its bandit, the train, not to mention crazy hectic gameplay contribute to making Pirots 3 about as far from being a dank, dingy slot as it gets.

Each base game spin sees symbols and parrots drop into a 6-reel, 7-row matrix, which is neither cluster, scatterpays, ways, or payline driven. In a twist, the four birds that drop on the grid are primarily how pay symbols are collected. They are powered by a highly volatile math model, producing the usual ELK RTP of 94%, and take bets of 20 c to $/€100 per base game drop. As well as regular betting, Pirots 3 has the usual five X-iter bonus buy options.

Pirots 3 drops 4 regular paying gem symbols onto the reels, coloured blue, green, purple, and red. Each gem may be collected by a bird of the same colour. Gems can also be upgraded, so while they begin with payout values of 0.05 to 0.1 times the bet each, they go up to 7.5 to 30 times the bet.

Pirots 3: Slot Features

Pirots 3 has four collecting bird symbols that move around the grid. Birds take turns collecting gems of the same colour as they are, and all feature symbols by moving to horizontally or vertically connected adjacent symbols. Birds keep collecting till they cant collect any more, and may move more than once before a symbol refill. There is also a locked-up bandit. When released, the bandit moves around the grid, collecting gems of any colour and all feature symbols.

Collection Meter

Above the grid is a symbol collection meter, keeping track of the collected symbols. Only gems or wild symbols collected by any birds except the bandit count. The collection meter is disabled for the bandit escape feature. When the symbol collection meter is full, one pending feature symbol release is added. Up to 3 feature symbol releases can be stacked at the same time, and all are awarded simultaneously. A feature symbol release occurs before dynamite explodes, as part of the first free drop in the bonus game, or when birds cannot collect any more symbols. A feature symbol release converts a number of random gems on the grid into random feature symbols.

Feature Symbols

The feature symbols in Pirots 3 are bonus scatters, wilds, coins, upgrades, transforms, peanuts, keys, and dynamite. A feature symbol's effect is triggered when it is collected.

• Collected Upgrade Symbol - upgrades the payout level of gems of the same colour as the bird that collected the upgrade symbol by 1-3 steps up to a maximum of level 7.
• Collected Upgrade All - upgrades all gems by 1-3 steps to a maximum of level 7.
• Key - when collected, the bandit's escape feature triggers when birds can't collect any more symbols. When released, the bandit is able to collect symbols like other birds. The bandit duels adjacent birds, and if all 4 are defeated, the bandit coin game triggers, and the bandit's escape ends. If the bandit is defeated, the bandit's escape ends.
• Transform Symbol - when collected, a cluster of gems next to the collector bird are transformed into the bird's colour. A random number of gems may also be converted to feature symbols.
• Peanut Symbol - when collected, a peanut is placed in empty grid spaces. This makes birds able to cross empty spaces one time each to reach more symbols.
• Dynamite - explodes when collected, and birds are unable to collect any more symbols. The explosion removes birds from the grid and all symbols except feature symbols, causing a redrop. It also expands the grid to 8-rows and 7-columns. Dynamite comes in two sizes - one that explodes a close proximity area, another that explodes the whole grid.
• Wild - substitutes for any gem at the current level. Black bandit wilds represent the current highest-paying gem.
• Coin - a collected coin pays its value times the bet. The Max Win coin pays the remaining amount needed to reach the maximum win.

Coin Game

The coin game is triggered when the entire grid is cleared by birds or the bandit. Once started, coin bags and scorpions drop onto random grid positions, and the train arrives - Either the bandit or birds get off the train. The symbol collection meter is replaced by a coin game win counter. Birds or the bandit throw lassos to try to collect coin bags. When catching a scorpion, the bird or bandit is out of the game. The coin game ends when no bird is remaining. When the coin game ends in normal mode, new symbols and the 4 birds drop in again.

Showdown Feature

Two adjacent birds may perform a Switcharoo when they can't collect any more symbols, so they swap places. Alternatively, two adjacent birds may trigger the Showdown feature, while 3 or more birds next to each other will always trigger it. For the Showdown, birds move away from each other, removing symbols, then randomly shoot in a number of directions. Symbols in the shooting direction are affected in various ways. Gems are removed. Bonus scatters, super bonus scatters, keys and coins are collected. Dynamite symbols ignite. Other feature symbols are unaffected. After the duel, birds are redropped, and a symbol refill occurs.

Train Heist

2 or 4 symbol positions on the left and right sides of the grid are marked with a train backdrop. If a bird collects a symbol on a train backdrop and can collect any of the symbols on top of a train backdrop on the opposite side of the game grid, the train heist triggers. The train heist does not trigger in case the bird can reach the opposite side symbols from its current position. When triggered, after the active bird finishes collecting, a train arrives, and the bird gets on. The train travels around the grid, awarding 1 to 3 random feature symbols. The train stops on the opposite side, and the bird gets off to continue collecting.

Bonus Game

A total of 5 free drops are awarded if the birds collect 3 bonus scatter symbols in a game round. Collecting a bonus scatter in bonus mode awards +1 free spin. The regular bonus game starts with the current rows and columns, whereas the super bonus starts on an 8x7 matrix. The progress on the symbol collection meter and the payout level of gems are persistent in bonus mode.

X-iter

Pirots 3's X-iter options are these:

• Bonus Hunt - 3x the bet for one drop with quadruple the chance of triggering the bonus.
• Bandit Jailbreak - 25x the bet for one drop where the bandit's escape is triggered.
• Coin Game - 50x the bet.
• Bonus Game - 100x the bet.
• Super Bonus Game - 500 the bet.

Pirots 3: Slot Verdict

Whether you consider Pirots 3 to be the best thing since sliced bread or a mouldy old bag of apples, we can probably all agree it is absolutely stacked to the rafters with extras. Even more so than the last two games, which were already rich feature-filled slots. Much of the core gaming in Pirots 3 is the same or at least close to Pirots 2, but there is plenty of new stuff here to encourage a look, especially if you liked what came before. It may take time for the birds to do more than pick up a few low-value gems, but when they do, and you can get on the positive side of the game's volatility, then Pirots 3 is able to set up lengthy sequences of events, that might, if lucky, lead to a sizeable monetary result.

It is interesting, in a way, though, how much activity can occur on the reels yet still yield a surprisingly low payout. The peanut symbol is good for avoiding this situation since peanuts allow birds to connect to more gem symbols - and feature symbols, which can be game changers. Duels might help keep a spin alive at times, and the longer a spin is able to keep going, the better the chance of something exciting happening. Although, in this regard, Pirots 3 wasn't quite as captivating as initially supposed. Thoughts kept drifting back to ELK's slot Dam Beavers, where those beavers could boogie, break through different levels while looking utterly adorable, and which ultimately gripped the imagination harder. If you missed it, like Pirots 3, Dam Beavers is also a four-character/gem collector game with a lot of add-ons.

To sum up, whilst reviewing Pirots 3 was a satisfying experience, there was a hint, out there, on the sun-blazed emotional horizon, of diminishing returns. Again, Pirots 3 was totally fine; it appears to be capable of getting as wild as any other Pirots slot and has the same 10,000x the bet max win. Something held it back from feeling like a major advancement, however. Maybe it was the theme, or, not sure. Anyway, Pirots 3 is a smile-inducing number three in the series, just maybe not as unmissable as the previous two.