Pirots: Slot Overview
When you play or review online slots long enough, you start spotting patterns, the goto subject choices, the 👄 favourite themes, and so on. So much so that when something like a pirate-themed slot comes your way (depending on 👄 the mood, of course), it can be a case of, oh great, another one. However, slot designers, some at least, 👄 have the gumption to switch on the creativity when they can or want to, and Pirots from games maker ELK 👄 Studios isn't your typical high seas adventure. One way it differs from the bulk of them is that the pirates 👄 here aren't people; they're parrots, hence the concatenation of 'Pi + rots' in the game's title. What follows isn't just 👄 a slot which is original in subject matter interpretation but one boasting a set of creative features to match. Um… 👄 arrr!?
One of the attractions of using a pirate theme has to be the opportunity to paint an exotically romantic destination 👄 to situate the gaming in. Pirots goes about proving the rule by delivering players to a Caribbean-like location dotted with 👄 mountainous islands, thick vegetation, and blazing sun scapes. One of the good things about being an armchair pirate these days 👄 and indulging in swashbuckling fantasies is there's no chance of getting scurvy, running out of provisions, poor hygiene, rat infestations, 👄 exposure, or being chased down by pirate hunters. Instead, Pirots participants can ease back, enjoy their surroundings, and pick one 👄 of the islands in view as a potential spot for burying loot.
Before burying the loot, though, you gotta get your 👄 mitts on some. Or in Pirots, that would be beaks, presumably, and there are several ways of playing the game 👄 should the X-iter menu be available. Base bets range from 20 p/c toR$/€100 per spin, and no matter how Pirots 👄 is played, the theoretical return to player value remains the same at 94%. Mathematically medium-high volatile, the activity takes place 👄 on an expandable grid matrix, with a default start size of 5 reels and 5 rows in dimension.
On each spin, 👄 or drop as it is called around here, four different coloured birds land alongside the regular paying gems and any 👄 other special symbols. Birds move around the grid collecting feature symbols and gems of the same colour as they are; 👄 the symbols are adjacent in up, down, left, or right directions. The four gems come in colours of blue, green, 👄 purple, and red and start the base game at win level 1, though they can be upgraded in value. Win 👄 level 1 gems are worth 0.05-0.25x the bet each, while at the most pimped-out level, they are worth 3 to 👄 15 times the bet each.
Pirots: Slot Features
The Birds move around collecting eligible feature symbols and gems of the same colour. 👄 All symbols except the bonus symbol are also collected on a meter when they are collected by the Birds on 👄 the grid. When the meter is filled, a feature award is triggered. Then, 3 gems turn into feature symbols when 👄 no more symbols can be collected. More than one feature award can be collected for and triggered at the same 👄 time. When there are no more wins, but there is a chance to create a win, adjacent birds may swap 👄 positions.
Feature Symbols
Pirots has 6 varieties of feature symbols – wilds, transform symbols, upgrade symbols, coins, bombs, and bonus symbols. Here's 👄 what they do:
Wild – the wild substitutes for any gem at their current win level.
– the wild substitutes for any 👄 gem at their current win level. Transform symbol – transforms a cluster of gems around it into the same colour 👄 as the collecting bird or into feature symbols.
– transforms a cluster of gems around it into the same colour as 👄 the collecting bird or into feature symbols. Upgrade symbol – a white upgrade symbol upgrades the gem of the same 👄 collecting bird. If the gem is already at its maximum level, another gem will be upgraded. Multicoloured upgrade symbols upgrade 👄 all gems. No upgrades occur past level 5.
– a white upgrade symbol upgrades the gem of the same collecting bird. 👄 If the gem is already at its maximum level, another gem will be upgraded. Multicoloured upgrade symbols upgrade all gems. 👄 No upgrades occur past level 5. Coins – pays a displayed prize value.
– pays a displayed prize value. Bomb – 👄 collected bombs explode when no more wins are in view. All symbols nearby, except feature symbols, are removed, causing a 👄 redrop. Birds are removed for the redrop but reappear after it in new positions. The grid also expands up to 👄 8x8.
Free Drops
Collecting 3 bonus symbols triggers the bonus mode with 5 free drops. The current grid size carries over to 👄 free drops, where the grid size, symbol collection, and gem win level are persistent throughout the bonus round. Collecting 3 👄 bonus symbols during the round awards extra free drops.
X-iter
Clicking the X-iter feature buy button gives players the chance of selecting 👄 one of five game modes.
Bonus Hunt – 3x the bet for one drop with four times the chance of triggering 👄 the bonus game.
– 3x the bet for one drop with four times the chance of triggering the bonus game. Feature 👄 Bonanza – 10x the bet for one drop with a guaranteed full symbol collection, thereby triggering a feature award.
– 10x 👄 the bet for one drop with a guaranteed full symbol collection, thereby triggering a feature award. Maximum Grid Size – 👄 25x the bet for one drop at the maximum grid size.
– 25x the bet for one drop at the maximum 👄 grid size. Bonus – 100x the bet to trigger the bonus game.
– 100x the bet to trigger the bonus game. 👄 Super Bonus – 500x the bet to trigger the bonus round on the maximum grid size, where all upgrade symbols 👄 upgrade all gems.
Pirots: Slot Verdict
Pirots is, in some ways, a cluster-paying slot, though one with an unusual Pac-Man twist. In 👄 fact, if any studios were planning to do a new Pac-Man slot anytime soon, the way Pirots' avian characters chomp 👄 their way around the board eating gems, and feature symbols might serve as a pretty good template. Throw in some 👄 ghosts, Ms Pac-Man, who knows, could be good. Back to Pirots, it was pretty good too. It's a game that 👄 takes a few drops to clock exactly what is going on. There's nothing overly complex to work your way through, 👄 but the winning symbol collection, coupled with the feature meter and the multitude of feature symbols, makes Pirots a rather 👄 unique experience. One where spending time to get familiar with all of its idiosyncrasies might take a bit longer than 👄 it does with a more 'regular' slot.
Pirots wasn't as convoluted as, say, Sumo Sumo, but it felt like it could 👄 loosely be grouped in with a slot like that in some ways. Pirots isn't the sort of game where you 👄 simply bang the play button in an effort to line up matching symbols to collect cash, nor is it a 👄 straight-out cluster paying slot. Ironically given the theme, ELK Studios has forked away from conventionality to give Pirots a more 👄 experimental feel. Not quite Night Trax level, but something in that direction. The individuality on its own makes Pirots worth 👄 a look, though, like a lot of what ELK Studios has released recently, the low RTP might be a deal 👄 breaker. Not sure why the studio continues to force-feed weak RTPs on players, yet the sub-95% might feel about as 👄 fun as having your shoulder soiled by a parrot. Ah, well, someone's lapping them up and recreational gamblers probably don't 👄 worry too much about it because ELK Studios keeps slinging them out.
One of Pirots' more motivating stats is a max 👄 win figure of 10,000 times the bet. It might feel like an uphill battle at times, but rewards are there 👄 for those with the right map to the treasure or a bunch of good luck, at least. Pirots has one 👄 or two undesirable elements, yet the good things it does are worth taking a look at, regardless, if investigating new 👄 gaming methods is a personal interest.
Related Slots: Pirots 2.
