KokeshiPop Slot Review

AvatarUX has this intro for their latest offering, KokeshiPop slot: “Follow the lights of the lanterns, which fill with precious ghost-flame.”

The only ghost flames I’m familiar with belong on a hot rod or muscle car. And do you know what started that trend? It was when a pic of Fred Friday’s racecar (bursting into flames at Gilmore Stadium in 1938 due to a fuel leak) went “viral”.

Alrighty then, let’s get into the action.

Gameplay

When I first read the title of KokeshiPop slot, I was like: “dear god, it’s a game about pop music or something similarly horrendous.” Luckily, that wasn’t the case. It’s more like a cartoonish take on Samurai culture, which I’m all in for.

You might not have heard of AvatarUX before (or maybe not often), but these guys have won me over with their incredibly detailed, breathtakingly beautiful games. And their latest is no exception.

The game centers around the PopWins mechanic, whereby every win leads to a symbol explosion that expands the reels vertically (allowing more symbols to be included, for a greater win potential).

Do yourself a favor: bring this bad boy up on your phone. It looks like an arcade game, and the entire screen is filled with vibrant colors in portrait mode. It’s so sweet I just wanna lick it!

A quick note about the Wild symbol: it replaces all others but will only appear during the Free Spins round.

KokeshiPop slot starts with a 5x3-reel grid which can expand – more on that a little later. It offers up to 33,614 ways to win, an RTP of 96.09%, and a medium volatility rate. The max win is more generous than other slots with the same volatility, coming in at €200,000.

As for the currencies you can use, they’ve all been greenlighted, except for Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

Features

POPWINS:

Winning symbols explode and are replaced by 2 others, which increases the reel height to 6 for the base game, and 7 during Free Spins. And this will happen as long as you’re winning.

BASE GAME MULTIPLIER:

You’ll trigger a random multiplier worth 5x, 10x, or 20x during the base game when you unlock a reel. As for how the reels get unlocked, well that’s easy – all you need to do is win until the reel reaches a height of 6 symbols.

Random multipliers double for each subsequent win at this stage, but they do reset between spins.

FREE SPINS:

You’ll trigger the Free Spins round once you land 3, 4, or 5 pagoda Bonus Scatters, which means 5, 8, or 12 spins for your trouble.

The reels are initially 4-symbols high, but they can go up to 7. But here’s the clincher: the progress you make on increasing the reels will reset with each spin if you don’t win.

Before the Free Spins start in earnest, you’ll get a shot at the Wheel of Fortune, which could bolster the number of spins you’ll end up playing with.

The progression goes like this: you start off with 5 spins and winning the first gamble gets you 8 spins. Win the next round and you’re up to 12 spins (the maximum), but a loss (when you hit a section without an 8 or 12 on it) means you’ll be turned back to the base game.

Free Spins start with a multiplier of 1x, and consecutive wins double the value. Fully unlocking the reels (by winning until the reel reaches its max height) unlocks the Kokeshi Multiplier.

Now, the multiplier is multiplied by a random number (being 5, 10, or 20). And the multiplier doubles on each successive win. Fully unlocking the reels during the Free Spins feature also gets you 2 more spins.

BONUS BUY:

Buy your way into the base-level Free Spins round for 60x your bet (you’ll get 5 spins). And remember that you can still gamble the spins to hopefully get to either 8 or 12 spins.

The Buy Bonus Max option costs 240x your bet, but you’ll be guaranteed 12 spins. Do note though, that if the Ante Bet is on, you won’t be able to use the Buy Bonus or Max Buy Bonus.

ANTE BET:

Double your chances of hitting the Free Spins round for 25% of your current bet.

Performance

Like a samurai sword slicing through sushi, KokeshiPop slot decimated the hundreds of spins I threw at it. It didn’t balk or stutter when I transitioned from my laptop to my phone, and neither did it have a conniption when I tried different browsers.

Maximum Win

Yeah, I’m suitably impressed with the max win on offer here (€200,000), and the 10,000x max multiplier is also suitably impressive.

Betting starts from as little as €0.20 and is capped at €20 (or €25 with the Ante Bet option selected).

Conclusion

Many Asian-themed games don’t necessarily have broad appeal (I’m thinking of games such as Fa Fa Babies slot), but KokeshiPop slot isn’t one of those that would preclude players. Or at least, I don’t think so.

I really liked the whole expanding reels / PopWins mechanic. The multipliers are a mixed bag because while it’s awesome that they can double in value during Free Spins, or be bolstered by a random value, it also sucks that they can reset.

I dig the ability to gamble spins for even more of em, I love how the game looks on a mobile phone, and the max win and multiplier also rock.

Yeah, I’m happy with KokeshiPop slot. Give it a whirl, why don’tcha.

Slot Details

Software: AvatarUX
Game Type: Video Slots
Paylines: Up to 33,614 ways to win
Reels: 5
RTP: 96.09%
Bonus Round: No
Progressive: No
Free Rounds: Free Spins
Max Win: €200,000

Published by:
BitStarz, award-winning Bitcoin Casino