Popiplay
Popiplay was established in 2022, and immediately set on business. They’ve managed to grow a really impressive set of online slots, and even conducted a redesign of their website in 2023. They’ve definitely been busy, but has the haste come with a cost? That’s what we are here to find out.
But first, let’s lay down some basic information. The company styles itself as Scandinavian, though the staff seems to mostly reside in Eastern Europe and Balkans. For the moment they are entirely dedicated to producing slots, and in this area they are trying to bring in new mechanics and features. Mobile gaming is something that is deeply important to the company, as is their player-first approach.
Now, let’s see what all this means in detail.
Love At First Spin
Rather than being our opinion, the above is actually the company motto. And it’s quite a big promise, especially as slots tend to fall into niches. And people who like one niche are not guaranteed to like any others. So we’re going to assume this doesn’t apply to each and every game published, rather that you can find a slot amongst the several dozen published that falls within your liking.
At the same time, the company is aiming to create a premium iGaming brand. This means producing the sort of slots that can be found nowhere else. Something of interest is the fact that the company is also aiming to make the games streamable.
Graphics play a huge role in everything, and that doesn’t just include symbols fit to the individual themes. It also means top-notch animations. High definition quality, though still within capabilities of mobile devices. Add in an excellent and intuitive interface, and of course wins that reach sky-high, and we have some indication of how the company aims to reach the top position.
Busy Release Schedule
It’s rather easy to tell small studios and big upcoming studios apart. The difference is usually in the release schedule. Most smaller companies release a handful of slots per year. The fact that Popiplay averages about a slot per month is telling of their capabilities. Those being apparently on par with the bigger companies, and at least with the mid-level game producers.
But there’s always a danger in this sort of approach. If the team falls short of their ambitions, the result will simply be a collection of slots that copy one another, never quite producing anything worthwhile. Is that the case here? Let’s check out those slots and find out.
Online Slots
The first thing of note is that whilst there are plenty of themes that are more or less familiar, the company has also spent a lot of time exploring unknown ground. That is, themes and setups that are a bit more obscure, or don’t have any single obvious source of inspiration.
Take for example Ninja Frog. Obviously there are eastern influences at play, but at the same time the art style and the whole background theme is very unique and interesting. Creepy Ink mixes tattoos and horror, whilst Anaki Skywalkers seems to mash all sorts of sci-fi influences together.
Of course, there’s a whole load of slots that use more normal themes. For example, Wild Wild Bank set in the wild west, Moneyfest with a theme centered around money, Xmas Crash with a seasonal theme, and Keys to the Sea with Neptune in command.
Big or Small Wins?
You can probably guess the answer to this question. Low variance slots, where wins would at best be in the hundreds, have practically disappeared in the online casino space. It’s a simple fact that players prefer high variance slots, with high RTP and high wins.
And that’s about what the case is with Popiplay too. The lower range of max wins is somewhere between two and three thousand times the bet, and most slots seem to hover around five thousand times the bet. There are also a considerable number of games that go above ten thousand times the bet as the maximum win.
Paytables and Ways to Win
So far the company seems to have settled into two different formats with their online slots: paylines and pay anywhere. Some exceptions do exist, like Dogmasons Megawoof, which uses ways to win but in a way that is reminiscent of Megaways.
Twenty paylines seems to be a fairly common occurrence, though the number of reels and symbols on those reels changes around a lot. Oftentimes the reels are extendable, meaning that more symbols can be added together with more paylines.
The pay anywhere system, where each symbol acts like a scatter, is usually paired with massive win potential. For example, Xperiment Gold offers a massive 15 000 times the bet as a main prize, and this isn’t even the highest possible. Of course, in these games you need a lot more symbols matching even for the smallest wins. The default usually being eight or nine, whereas with paylines it’s usually three.
Variety of Features
Bonus spins and respins are quite popular mechanics, and not just in these slots. They tend to be the bread and butter of every slot released these days. No doubt because they are player favorites.
Then the question becomes whether or not Popiplay is able to make their bonus spins stand out. Are they just prepaid rounds, or is there a twist to them? The latter is luckily the case. Though not much in the way of unique mechanics, you still get all sorts of modifiers from multipliers to expanding symbols, added symbols, jackpots and more.
Besides the above, the company has quite a wide range of special features. Some games even come with just wilds scatters and the classic gamble. And whilst some slots rely heavily on bonus features, others opt to offer the high wins directly from the paytable.
Redefining Online Gambling
If you check out the company website, you’ll notice that they are pretty confident in being the next big thing. The one casino software developer to really change the game, and bring about a new era of casino gaming.
Now redefining isn’t the same as revolutionizing. The former gives space for smaller changes, one of which is the return to player. The standard in online slots has settled around 96% for quite a while now, and Popiplay has pushed that a bit higher. In most cases, it’s a lick short of 97%. This might not sound like much, but it is actually a considerable change.
However, what the company aims to do beyond this is an open question mark. They do promise to stay on top of trends, offer mobile-friendly gaming, and aim to always be the players’ favorite brand. Streaming is something that is mentioned more than once, but whether that means some sort of social media presence, or simply playing the games smoothly is not something that the company specifies further.
All in all, it’s early days and it remains to be seen how well the company can deliver on all their promises.
Interpretation
Popiplay, whose name is still a bit of a mystery to us, is without a doubt an interesting company. Definitely one of the freshest slot developers to enter the fray in the 2020s. Their slots stand out in many different areas. They have good returns, the wins easily compete with most other high variance slots, and the games come with a variety of entertaining themes.
The special features are sufficiently different from one game to the next to ensure that there is a slot for every sort of player out there. Even if you are into classic slot gaming. At the same time, the paylines, ways to win, pay anywhere and other systems in use are likewise diverse enough to make you want to try out different games.
There aren’t any considerable downsides. Something that the company hasn’t yet invested in are different bonus systems, such as slot tournaments or network campaigns. But given how fast they are expanding, and how fast they are pushing out new slots, we are certain that this is in the cards soon enough too.
For anyone interested this selection of slots offers a combination of entertainment and core gameplay that should interest all slot players. Check out the best selection of games in our recommended online casinos!
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