ReefPop Slot by AvatarUX Studios 🎰 Free Demo and Review

ReefPop Review

Welcome to the first underwater release by AvatarUX, although it’s pretty much a reskin of their previous PiggyPop. They have made some changes to the math model though, and the most significant change is that you get a more favorable, albeit average, 96 % RTP in this version. ReefPop comes with engaging subsea visuals, and the PopWins mechanic expands the grid from 6x4 to a maximum of 6x6 in the base game.

Maxing out the grid is also how you trigger the bonus round, where the grid can expand up to 6x8 (and become locked there for the remainder of the feature). You also get a multiplier that increases by +1 per PopWin, and it never resets for as long as the feature lasts. It also has no upper limit, and this is how you’re most likely to close in on the 10,000x potential. Visually, we prefer this release, and given the better math model it seems like no-brainer.

ReefPop Slot - Reels Screen

ReefPop Slot Features

You can win both ways in this game, and the dynamic grid offers between 8,192 and 524,288 ways to win. The mid, high, and super high value symbols pay 1x, 1.5x, and 3x your stake, respectively, and there are no wild or scatter symbols in this game. Winning symbols are removed and replaced by 2 new random symbols via the PopWins mechanic, and this is how the grid expands and the number of win ways increase. Up to 6 positions per reel is possible in the base game.

You need to max out the grid so all 6 reels have 6 positions each to trigger the Bonus Round, and the grid can expand to 8 positions per reel during the feature. Reels reset to the lowest reel height you have achieved between free spins, and you start out with only 3 free spins. The free spins tally resets to 3 every time you land a win though, and the global win multiplier starts at x1.

The Win Multiplier increases by +1 per PopWin, and it never resets for as long as the bonus round lasts. It comes with no upper limit as well, and the Golden Shark symbol comes with a multiplier that’s equal to the number of golden shark symbols in sight. Maxing out the grid with 8 positions per reel increases the golden shark multiplier by +2x per symbol in view.

A Gamble Wheel becomes an option before the bonus round starts, and this can increase your default grid height from 4 positions to 5, and from 5 to 6 if you choose to gamble again. Be careful, however, as losing the gamble means that the whole bonus round is lost.

The Bonus Buy menu is available in some jurisdictions, but not in the UK for sure. It comes with 3 options this time, and you can purchase the standard bonus round for 100x the stake. You can also pay 100x your stake to get the Gamble Wheel feature, but you risk losing everything you paid for if the gamble is unsuccessful. In addition, you can pay 400x your stake to get the bonus round with a 6x6 sized starting default grid.

The 200 Spins ReefPop Slot Experience

You get a brief taste of the base game, before we purchase the Gamble Wheel feature. It took us no less than 3 unsuccessful gambles before we finally won, and this gave us a 5x5 starting default grid with 18,750 ways to win. The bonus round starts at 1:27 into the 3:16-minute highlights video, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

There’s no denying that ReefPop is a reskin of PiggyPop, but AvatarUX has apparently made some changes to the math model. The bonus round comes with a hit rate of 1 in 172 spins, which is decent, and wins between 5,000 and 10,000 x your stake has a 1 in 10,035 spins hit rate in the regular bonus round. Thàt hit rate increases to 1 in 2,543 spins in the maxed out version of the bonus round, and the win cap hit rate is 1 in 29,069 if you purchase the top-tier feature.

You have a 33.47 % chance of getting your money back if you purchase the top-tier bonus round, but enough with the numbers already. The biggest problem we have with this release is the awkward spin pace. There is a pause after each spin before the spin button becomes active again, which gets annoying, and this is hardly the first time we have encountered this problem with AvatarUX releases. It gets amended in mysterious ways sometimes, but we don’t understand why they keep doing this in release after release.