Joe Rodeo's avatar Joe Rodeo

Pop Zen Slot Review

Being human in 2024 comes with its ups and downs. If you’re lucky enough to live in a first-world country, life has never been easier 🌍. Technology has made everything simpler 🤖; from checking out groceries 🛒 to doing your taxes 📊, almost everything can be automated.

But in the same breath, many people have never been more stressed out 😓. Inflation is up 💸, AI is set to replace jobs 🤖👩‍💼, and who knows who the next president will be? It has people in a spin 🌀. The way we deal with that stress is the key.

I, for one, love to cycle 🚴. It clears my head and makes me feel alive 🌟. Others go rock climbing 🧗‍♂️ or take up yoga 🧘. For the more severe cases, there’s medication 💊.

But what if you’re not into sports or don’t want to pop a pill 💊? Then you should Pop It 🎉. Pop Its are a modern phenomenon: they are simple rubber fidget toys that let you pop little semi-circles back and forth 🔵🔴.

I’ve tried it before, and I must say, it does have a certain calming effect 😌. Enough to cure the malaise of modern living? Perhaps not, but just enough to make you forget about it for a few seconds ⏰.

Pop Zen slot by BGAMING is the digital slot game version of Pop Its, and just like its rubbery counterpart, it's super relaxing to play 🎰; plus, you could actually win a ton of money 💰!

Gameplay

There are no cinematic intros or explosive animations here. Pop Zen slot is easy on the eye and features a bold yet friendly design and delightful little soundtrack that will, well, zen you out. I love how the symbols cascade from the top down with a squishy effect.

Winning paylines disappear and the reel is filled from the top with new symbols.

The high-paying symbols are a Star, a Heart, a Diamond, and a Golden Circle. If four of the same symbols drop adjacent to each other on the grid, they’ll turn into a Big symbol, which takes up a 2x2 space on the grid.

If a Big symbol is part of a winning combination, its win amount is doubled. If several Big symbols form part of a win, their multipliers (2x) are multiplied by each other and applied to the win amount.

Wilds can’t turn into Big symbols, but they will still form part of a payline that includes Big symbols.

If W symbols form part of a winning combination, they disappear, and a maximum of 2 Wild symbols will appear in their place as new symbols cascade down from the top of the reel.

During this Cascade feature, the symbols in the winning combo pop, disappear, or vanish, allowing new ones to drop down or fill the gaps.

Wild symbols replace all other symbols and are unaffected by special in-game modifiers (Wild Blast, Smash, X-Lines, Re-Spin, and Clone).

At the bottom of the reels, you’ll notice a progress bar. This bar initially contains no points and fills up by 1 point for every winning symbol you land.

Accumulate 25 points (up to a maximum of 100) in a single spin to unlock a random new modifier during base play (I’ll get to the features in a second).

This progress bar resets after each spin.

Pop Zen slot won’t calm the nerves with its very high volatility rate, but the max win of $384,000 should be a big motivator to keep playing. The RTP is 96.25%, the max multiplier is 12,000x, and the betting range is $0.20 to $32.

The game has a Cluster pay system that does away with traditional paylines. This means that a win is achieved by landing 5 or more matching symbols next to each other.

Features

WILD DROP:

Once the Wild Drop modifier is activated, a 3x3 Wild symbol appears on the grid.

That Wild is divided into two 2x2 Wilds during the second bar refill. During the third refill, you get nine 1x1 Wilds. Winning Wilds disappear.

WILD BLAST:

The Wild Blast modifier will turn 3 to 6 random symbols into Wilds, and each symbol will destroy the 4 symbols surrounding them (above, below, right and left) without payment. This opens up the reels for more possible wins because other symbols will have to take their place.

CLONE:

A random symbol changes itself and all other visible symbols of the same type into other symbols of the same type. This does not apply to Wilds.

X-LINES:

A Wild appears in the center of the grid, and all symbols around this Wild turn into the same randomly chosen symbol.

SMASH:

All low-paying symbols are destroyed without payment.

RE-SPIN:

In a spin that did not result in a win, a random amount of symbols can turn into Wilds. In this case, the win is recalculated.

BUY BONUS:

For 100x your bet, you can invest in a Wild Drop. The Buy Bonus Wild Drop works exactly the same as the one in the base game but without the need to fill the progress bar.

Performance

Pop Zen slot is a visual feast that looks great on mobile phones and larger devices. It performed flawlessly when I tested it.

Maximum Win

Pop Zen slot might have cutesy looks, but it has a very high volatility rate. Accept the risk, and you could be popping $384,000 into your bank account. The max multiplier is 12,000x, and the betting range is between $0.20 and $32.

Conclusion

We could all do with a bit more calmness in our lives, and Pop Zen slot is probably the most chilled slot game I’ve played in a while. Sure, the volatility rate is sky-high, but the gameplay is so calming, and the soundtrack soothes like few others.

This slot game is equally as pretty and fun to play on a mobile phone as it is on a larger screen, and I found myself drifting away in my bed when playing.

You also get a ton of cool features that pop up during gameplay and make this cascading slot game more involved than many others.

It might be cute, but it pays out big time: up to $384,000. If I won that kind of money, my life would be all kinds of chill.

Slot Details

Software: BGAMING
Game Type: Video Slots
Paylines: Cluster Pays
Reels: 7
RTP: 96.25%
Bonus Round: Yes
Progressive: No
Free Rounds: No
Max Multiplier: 12,000x
Max Win: $384,000
Published by
BitStarz, award-winning Bitcoin Casino