Pine of Plinko: Slot Review and Free Play Demo

Pine of Plinko Review

Finally, a western slot developer has opened their eyes to the massive potential that lies in the Japanese Pachinko concept. Who else could it be than the ever so creative Print Studios, and we really hope Pine of Plinko becomes the big break this small studio deserves. You’re taken into an immersive pine tree fantasy world, with charming characters and symbols, although the base game offers little in terms of features.

All is forgiven when the Plinko Bonus Game triggers, however, and it does so on a highly regular basis as well. The second the first batch of balls start bouncing off the bumpers you’ll be hooked, and it’s no wonder Japanese arcades are full of these machines. You just want it to go on and on (and it can via level-ups), and actually being able to win money from it - to the tune of 10,000x no less - almost seems like a bonus.

Pine of Plinko Slot - Reels Screen

We can’t get past the game’s exceptional outer look, which deserves a special mention. Print Studios are somewhat of an expert at creating fancy slots, and once again the design team has done an outstanding job, putting a lot of effort into the artwork. On the surface, Pine of Plinko is as charming as it gets. Once you load in, you’ll be mesmerised by the beautifully-crafted visuals and stunning attention to detail. Everything seems to be carefully designed, and indeed it is, as we had a chance to witness the step-by-step process of creating the drawings for the slot on the developer’s social media, which is really impressive. Overall, Pine of Plinko certainly falls into the big leagues in terms of the looks, being one of the most enchanting and cosy slots we’ve seen so far.

Process of creating the Pine of Plinko slot

Pine of Plinko Slot Features

You win by landing 3 to 5 matching symbols on a payline, and the 4 character symbols, Miney, Sleepy, Santa, and Piney, pay between 10 and 200 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. There are no wild symbols in this game, and the base game does not come with any features either. You can pay 75 % more per base game spin via the Scatter Boost ante bet feature, however, and this doubles your bonus round chances (as well as increasing the RTP to 96.78 %).

You need at least 3 scatters in view to trigger the Plinko Bonus Round, and each scatter comes with a random number. The summed up number of all the triggering scatters becomes the number of starting drops in the Plinko Bonus Game. You press a button to drop small balls down on the Pachinko-like game grid, and they eventually find their way to the bottom of the grid.

Before the balls drop down to the bottom, however, many of them are bound to touch base with the 3 bumpers in the upper middle of the grid. Each ball that hits a bumper, which can happen multiple times per ball, increases the meter above the grid. Fill the meter to level up and get +10 extra balls that play out on the next level.

Each level-up doubles the number of total balls that will drop. Level 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 awards 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256 balls in total per round, respectively. As the balls find their way to the bottom, they will fall into gaps with different prize values associated with them. The gap values span from 0.1x to 1,000x your stake, and this adds up to your total win when the feature ends. Non-UK players can buy the Plinko round for 79x the stake (RTP of 96.94 %).

There is a Dream Drop Jackpot version of Pine of Plinko, as well as a regular non-jackpot version. If you play the Jackpot version, you need 3 DD symbols in view to trigger the Dream Drop Plinko Jackpot Game. The balls drop down into gaps to fill 5 respective jackpot meters, and you win the jackpot whose meter gets filled first. The Rapid, Midi, Maxi, Major, and Mega jackpots seed at £1, £5, £100, £25,000, or £500,000, respectively, and the Mega jackpot will eventually go as high as £10 million.

The 200 Spins Pine of Plinko Slot Experience

Our 2:36-minute highlights video starts right as we trigger the Plinko Bonus Game, and we got 16 initial drops from our 3 triggering scatters. The feature plays out for the remainder of the highlights video, and you can check it all out for yourself by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

We have been waiting for a long time for a solid Pachinko/Slot hybrid, and Print Studios delivers in spades with Pine of Plinko. The immersive pine tree world is masterfully crafted, although the base game can get a tad tedious after a while. Worry not, however, as you can always switch on the ante bet to shorten the gaps between the all-important and super-captivating Plinko Bonus Round. The regular bonus hit rate is a pretty solid 1 in 100 spins, while it increases to 1 in 50 spins when you pay for extra scatters via the ante bet.

It was hard to put this thing down to actually get the review written, and we can’t wait to get back to drop more balls down that bumper grid. It’s no wonder this concept is so insanely popular in Japan, and hopefully this release can spark a fire also in the west. You forget all about winnings when the balls bounce all over as they trickle down the matrix, and you just want the pine man to hit the bell so you get extra drops. The 10,000x potential is solid though, and we really hope this release gets the mainstream attention it deserves.