HippoPop PopWins: Slot Overview

AvatarUX clearly know when they’ve found a winning formula, and they’ve added yet another title to their growing PopWins lineup. Released through Yggdrasil’s Masters YGS Program, HippoPop PopWins marks the sixth outing for the familiar expanding-reels concept. This time, the developers haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel with brand-new mechanics, sticking instead to the usual PopWins-style additions. The effort has gone more into refining the presentation and giving the slot character through a quirky theme.

Aside from CherryPop, the PopWins series has leaned into imaginative concepts to set each game apart, and HippoPop PopWins continues that approach. It draws on influences ranging from Oaxacan art to Alebrijes-inspired imagery—spirit guides in Aztec culture that are essentially animals with human traits. Rather than focusing on Central American creatures, the cast here is made up of African wildlife. All these ideas are blended into a vivid neon look, like an Ayahuasca-style journey through the Amazon basin—just with different animals. It’s a strange combination, but it comes together in its own way and feels refreshingly different.

This neon safari can be played on any device, with stakes ranging from 20 p/c to $/€40. HippoPop PopWins is geared toward risk-takers thanks to its highly volatile model, paired with an RTP of 96.1%. The big upside is there, and the game’s main focus is the free spins round, which is expected to trigger about once every 240 spins. Standard wins appear far more often, with a theoretical hit rate of 20.50%.

Each base spin begins on a 5-reel, 3-row layout with 243 ways to win. Winning combinations pay left to right from reel one, or right to left from the final reel, and they activate a cascade-style sequence. As with other PopWins titles, the grid doesn’t stay static for long. When a win lands, the winning symbols are removed and replaced by two new symbols each, expanding the reel height—up to 6 rows per reel in the base game. The PopWins chain continues as long as fresh wins keep dropping, then the grid returns to its starting size.

The symbols are arranged into 4 familiar Avatar UX tiers. Low pays run from J to A, while fish, birds, and frogs sit in the mid range. Higher-value icons include zebras, cats, and flamingos, and the super premium tier is represented by a single hippo. Returns from the top two groups come in at 2-4 times the stake. The numbers aren’t huge, but thanks to the pay-both-ways rule they double when a 5-symbol win lands. That’s the symbol set in a nutshell—Avatar UX has skipped wilds and scatters entirely, leaving the PopWins mechanic to drive the larger outcomes.

HippoPop PopWins: Slot Features

Once every reel reaches 6 rows in the base game, each subsequent win increases a win multiplier shown on the left side of the screen. Getting all reels up to 6 rows also activates the bonus round.

You start with 5 free spins, though you can risk them on a bonus wheel for a chance to boost the total to 12 spins—or wipe them out completely if things don’t go your way. Also worth noting: the win multiplier from the spin that triggers the feature carries into the free spins.

The free spins round begins on a 5×3 grid, which can expand during the bonus to a maximum of 8 rows. Every win adds +1 to the win multiplier, and it stays in place between spins. Reels also don’t automatically shrink back to 3 rows; instead, they only drop to the shortest reel height currently present on the grid. So, if all reels reach 8 rows—unlocking 65,536 ways to win—they stay there for the remainder of the feature. In addition, each time new reel rows are unlocked, you gain +2 free spins. Finally, when all reels reach 6, 7, or 8 rows, hippos payout x2, x3, or x4 times their base value.

Where available, the bonus buy is priced at 85x the total stake. This awards 5 free spins with a starting multiplier of x2-x4. Alternatively, you can use the gamble wheel to begin with up to 9 free spins and a starting multiplier of up to x10.

HippoPop PopWins: Slot Verdict

HippoPop PopWins doesn’t stray far from what earlier entries have already done, although the theme does bring something a little different. It may feel like an unusual cultural blend, but it’s a welcome change from yet another Egyptian or Irish setting. AvatarUX has mostly steered clear of the most predictable concepts so far, though with PopWins titles arriving so quickly, it’s fair to wonder how long they can keep avoiding the obvious.

As for the gameplay, AvatarUX hasn’t really tried to move the PopWins mechanic forward here. There aren’t any standout surprises or big new ideas. Some previous releases added small twists—like special wilds—to add extra variety. HippoPop PopWins doesn’t, making it one of the more direct and no-frills games in the series. On the other hand, it’s also among the most polished, with AvatarUX sharpening up the supporting details such as animations and overall flow.

Much like the rest of the range, HippoPop is about holding out for that one huge spin that opens the bonus, then growing reel rows and multipliers side by side. The main variation is the added boost to the super premium symbol once the reels are fully expanded. That extra value can matter too, since the maximum potential climbs to 20,000 times the bet.

HippoPop PopWins ultimately delivers familiar PopWins action in a new, vibrant setting. It won’t give PopWins fans any reason to avoid it, but it also doesn’t bring a must-see hook for players who aren’t already sold on the format. Its consistency makes it feel like AvatarUX has refined this style to the point where producing these games is second nature.