Multi Joker PopWins

Multi Joker PopWins: Slot Overview

Proving that you can't keep a good joker down comes Multi Joker PopWins from software provider Stakelogic. If you're squinting at the screenshots thinking it looks familiar, the reason is that Multi Joker PopWins is a do-over, remake, or upgrade of Stakelogic's first 'official' PopWins licensed game from AvatarUX titled Joker Drop PopWins. It's not exactly the same, and apart from a new moniker, other changes include tweaks to free spins multipliers, feature redacting, plus a few other bits and pieces. Is it better, is it worse, is it the same? Time to find out.

One thing which has basically stayed the same is the game's appearance, which should be music to the ears of those who appreciated Joker Drop PopWins' more classical atmosphere. Where AvatarUX is buzzing about trying all sorts of themes on for size, Stakelogic has been less experimental, sticking to traditional iconographies such as fruit or candy. Not just for PopWins slots, it might be added. The studio does a roaring trade making games with a retro bent where jokers, lucky 7s, and their ilk feature large. In Multi Joker PopWins, players get a game panel in the centre of their display with a fruit and diamond patterned back wall, plenty of lights, and a pretty darn nice EDM track to kick back to. In some ways, it's a tad generic, though not in a bad way, more in a comfortably familiar way.

In the base game, each spin starts on a matrix made up of 5-reels and 4-rows, which grow when wins hit. At the default size, there are 2,048 ways to win since winning combos pay left to right from the leftmost side or right to left from the rightmost side. Bear in mind five-of-a-kind combinations pay just once. The game cranks along this way in a highly volatile manner, with four RTP configurations, and values that are clearly marked in the game rules, so players know what they're getting. When ready to kick off, bets of 20 p/c to $/€20 can be selected.

The same symbols used in Joker Drop PopWins are used again, bearing the same values as before, too. These are 10-A card ranks as the lower value tiles, then cherries, limes, pears, plums, oranges, grapes, watermelons, and sevens as the higher value bunch. Hit a five-of-a-kind win to be awarded 0.5-0.6x the bet for the royals or 0.75-5x the bet for five premiums. The joker chap appears on the wild, which can substitute for anything except scatter symbols.

Multi Joker PopWins: Slot Features

The PopWins mechanic has been kicking around for a while now, but if you're new or need a refresher, here's how it works. When a winning combo lands, the symbols that formed it are removed and replaced by two new ones. Naturally, this increases the height of the corresponding reels, as well as the number of ways to win. Reels are capped at 7 positions high and reset to their default size in the base game for the next paid spin. When reels are at their full height, winning symbols are replaced with just one new symbol rather than two.

Diamond Meter

The Diamond Meter is one of three meters that appears in the base game. Small diamond tokens can randomly appear on top of symbols and are collected on the meter when they land. Filling the meter with 5 diamonds on a single spin adds 5 wild diamond symbols onto reels 2, 3, and 4. Doing so empties the meter, which also resets between spins.

Coin Meter

Crown tokens also land randomly on main symbols and are collected when they do. When the Coin Meter has been filled with 5 crown tokens on the same spin, coin symbols land on the reels, revealing cash prizes. The meter is emptied after it triggers and in between spins.

Free Spins

The third meter is filled when all five reels reach 7 positions high in the base game. When this happens, free spins are triggered. Once triggered 8 - 15 free spins are awarded from a wheel spin, plus a multiplier from a random wheel. Wheel 1 awards a multiplier of x2-x10, Wheel 2 has multipliers of x5 to x15, while the third Wheel awards multipliers of x10 to x25. For free spins, the grid is locked at 7 symbols high for the full duration. In addition, multiplier symbols with values of up to x100 may land. When more than one multiplier symbol hits, their values are added together along with the win multiplier and applied to the current win.

Super Stake

By activating the Super Stake, which doubles the bet, scatter symbols are added to the reels during free spins on reels 2, 3, and 4. Landing 3 scatter symbols awards +5 free spins.

Buy Bonus

This is a button that allows eligible players to buy free spins. It comes with four choices, each awarding up to 15 free spins. With Super Stake off, the options are 100x, 200x, 400x, or 180x the total bet for multipliers of up to x10, x15, x25, or a random win multiplier. Prices vary when Super Stake is switched on.

Multi Joker PopWins: Slot Verdict

Multi Joker PopWins is Stakelogic's fourth PopWins slot, and while they've got a ways to go to match AvatarUX's tally, they're doing a good job of playing catch up. So far, these licensed PopWins slots haven't exactly burst with bold, one-of-a-kind experiences. Perhaps Stakelogic isn't interested in pairing the mechanic with fabulously freaky subject matter, or it's simply happy exploring the sort of themes it's comfortable with and has experience making. Who knows, but so far, Stakelogic's use of PopWins has been restricted to safe themes like jokers or candy. To top it all, Multi Joker PopWins is essentially Joker Drop with a few tweaks and a reduced max win. Hardly hugely inspiring stuff, and yet, Multi Joker PopWins proved to be a satisfying game to play, despite any accusations of being generic or not massively different to its predecessor.

Gaming-wise, Multi Joker PopWins has a few intriguing tricks up its sleeve. Again, nothing fabulously freaky, but good enough to make one pause when the action is heating up. This occurred during free spins, for example, due to the multiplier symbols/win multiplier combo. Multiplier symbols are hardly brand new, yet rarely do so many decent values fall in such a short space of time. Relatively speaking, of course, as players shouldn't expect an x100 on every spin, and maybe we just got lucky. Either way, solid values landed often enough to make Multi Joker PopWins stand out. As mentioned, maybe luck was running hot on the day, but all in all, Multi Joker PopWins delivered a fun time. Perhaps not so fun is the reduction in winning potential from the 20,472x potential of the original to Multi Joker PopWins' 10,000x win cap.

And with that, we circle around to the first point, slightly bummed the art and sound team didn't come up with something a bit more original to go with the decent features, though this is a makeover game, after all. Naturally, players enthralled by slots marrying classic themes to modern twists should be chuffed again by what Stakelogic has crafted. For others, well, jokers have been done, as has candy and the Runner Runner thing, so it might be nice to see Stakelogic throw off the creative blinkers to do something a bit wilder and crazier.