PopNoir

PopNoir: Slot Overview

Players, anyone out there looking to solve some of the city's dirtiest crimes, or maybe even cause them (metaphorically speaking), might be interested in taking a walk on the black-and-white side of town in AvatarUX's online slot PopNoir. This is a slot which inhabits the smoky world of gumshoes, dames in distress, Maltese Falcons, all that sort of thing. It's also a slot that makes use of the studio's beloved PopWins mechanic, as it pops and fizzes alongside a number of other features which have also popped in the studio's work in various permutations before.

You Better be pulling up the collar on your coat for this one cos we're heading to a well-heeled Art Deco-adorned monochrome game world of skyscrapers and moody, debonair, sassy characters. The kind with 17 layers of hidden agendas, you never quite know who the goodies and baddies are or what their ultimate goal might be. It is interesting how the ambiguity embedded in the noir genre is juxtaposed with the predominantly black and white colours. Admittedly, there is a lot of grey about the place, too. There is in PopNoir's background at least, though its gaming grid is sprinkled with other colours, and the whole shebang is overlaid with a slinky jazz backing tune, adding a final dash of circa 1920s, 1930s, 1940s ambience.

As a PopWins slot, PopNoir's gaming grid is expandable in all phases of play. In the base game, the grid starts each spin by landing 3 symbols in each of its 5 reels, providing 243 ways to win. The reels can reach 6 rows high in the base game, where 7,776 ways to win are available, or 8 rows high in free spins, leading to 32,768 ways. A highly volatile machine, PopNoir's RTP is 96.031%, and it accepts wagers of 10 cents to $/€100.

Winning combinations require matching symbols to land in 3 or more consecutive reels, starting from either the leftmost side of the grid or the rightmost. Though, 5 OAK wins pay one way only. The low symbols are 10-A royals; the mediums are a bottle and a gun; the highs are two character symbols, while the super high is a bird statue. Hitting a winning combination made of up 5 lows is worth 0.6x the bet, 5 mids pay 1-1.5x the bet, 5 highs are worth 1.5x the bet, and 3x the bet is paid for getting a winning way of 5 super highs. Wild symbols are omitted from PopNoir.

PopNoir: Slot Features

AvatarUX has drawn on past PopWins releases to piece together PopNoir's feature set, made up of PopWins, a Base Game Unlock, free spins, a Rewards Reel, super high symbol upgrades, and bonus buys.

PopWins

Each symbol in a winning combination pops off the grid and is replaced by 2 symbols, thereby increasing the reel height. This is repeated as long as there are wins. The reels max out at 6 rows high in the base game. When all reels reach 6 rows high in the base game, players win 2 free spins and a random multiplier.

Free Spins

Landing at least 3 scatter symbols in the base game triggers free spins mode. During free spins, reels can reach 8 rows high, and when they all achieve this size, +2 free spins are awarded. In addition, expanded reels in free spins reset down to the shortest reel height between spins rather than fully resetting them.

Rewards Reel

Before playing free spins, a reward screen first takes place, where 4 rewards are randomly drawn, depending on the number of triggering scatters:

• Starting free spins - 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11.
• Starting Rows (reel height) - 3, 4, 5, or 6.
• Starting Multiplier - x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, or x6.
• Multiplier Growth - +1, +2, +3, +4, or +5.

The more triggering scatters, the better the potential rewards. During free spins, the multiplier increases by the multiplier growth value after each win and is not capped.

Bonus Collection & Gilded Super High

Scatter symbols are collected in the free spins round. When 3 scatters are collected, the super high symbol is upgraded to a gilded version, which grants an uncapped multiplier. The counter then resets to 0. Continuing to collect 3 scatters like this upgrades the gilded symbol to even higher multipliers. The multiplier incremental values are x5 to x50.

Xpress Bonus Buy

In PopNoir, it is possible to buy free spins, free spins plus, free spins premium, or free spins max for 80x, 160x, 400x, or 800x the bet, respectively. Maximum rewards from the Rewards Reel are improved the more expensive the bonus buy.

PopNoir: Slot Verdict

Hmm, yeah, good, not bad. PopNoir fulfils all the duties expected of a PopWins slot without introducing much on the gameplay side of things, which we've not seen before in one form or another. The super high symbol upgrade might be of interest, though. While reviewing the game, thoughts arose of AvatarUX keeping its foot on the PopWins gas to the point it has eventually combined popping symbols with every permutation of a feature known to humankind. A day when the jar is well and truly completely tapped out. We're not quite at that stage yet, but PopNoir did raise this thought process. This says something in itself.

PopNoir's gaming experience should fit like a glove with PopWins players, in a good way for those who can't get enough, maybe not so savoury for those who were hoping for something more innovative. PopNoir is close to CritterPop and JinglePop, for example. The noir theme goes some way to sweeten the deal, though PopNoir's appearance is no MonkeyPop or PapayaPop. The 20,000x win cap doesn't hurt, though it's not exactly a major headlining figure for a PopWins game. PopNoir was a satisfying slot, all things considered, but it's closer to a stepping-stone release rather than a game that hard-forks the PopWins phenomenon into freakishly unexplored territory.