Slots review Hacksaw Gaming Hop ‘N’ Pop

Hop’n’Pop: Slot Overview

It seems developer Hacksaw Gaming didn’t quite hit their five-a-day with Frutz, because they’re back for another serving of healthy produce in Hop’n’Pop. This time the action heads straight to where it all grows: a produce farm setting packed with literal hopping and popping. Most of that comes from bouncing multiplier symbols that spring around the board, alongside a cluster pays system, free spins, and progressive multipliers.

The gameplay takes place on a 7×7 sized grid, with 49 food-based symbols landing on every spin. Visually, it’s equally wholesome, featuring wooden barns, white picket fences, and rolling green hills on an organic farm. The upbeat music helps set the tone too—an almost reggae-like jingle you can easily picture animated fruit and veg grooving to while they’re picked. Taken altogether, Hop’n’Pop isn’t as stylistically distinctive as some Hacksaw titles, but it’s bright and pleasant regardless.

That sunny presentation hides a typically unforgiving math model, running highly volatile with an RTP value of 96.20%. Results can swing wildly, and Hop’n’Pop proved to be one of the trickier Hacksaw releases to get going in a while—though the upside is that the potential is there for players who can weather it. As a grid slot, wins land when clusters of 5 or more matching symbols connect horizontally or vertically. Winning clusters burst off the grid, and new symbols fall into the gaps—continuing to cascade and build wins until no further clusters form.

There’s a saying that the healthiest items are found around the outer aisles of the supermarket, and Hacksaw appears to have leaned into that idea. Hop’n’Pop’s paytable, from low to high, features blueberries, aubergines (or eggplants depending on where you’re from), grapes, carrots, green apples, bananas, cherries, and strawberries. Part of what makes Hop’n’Pop demanding is its comparatively modest symbol payouts. Hit a cluster of 15 or more matching symbols and you’ll receive 20 to 80 times your stake. A wild exists too, but it doesn’t show up in the base game—only later during free spins.

Hop’n’Pop: Slot Features

One of the first things that stands out once Hop’n’Pop gets going is the ever-roaming x2 multiplier. It’s progressive or divisive, and it’s joined by free spins plus three bonus buy options.

Starting with the multiplier, it jumps to a different spot each spin, sitting on top of individual symbols. If the symbol underneath is part of a winning cluster, the win is multiplied by the multiplier’s current value. After that, it either doubles before hopping to a new position or splits into two. When more than one multiplier lands on a winning cluster, their values are added together before being applied. You can have up to 4 active multipliers, reaching values as high as x64.

Smiley suns in shades function as scatter symbols—landing 3 or more on the grid awards 10 free spins. Based on how many scatters trigger the feature, you also receive starting multipliers as follows:

3 scatters – starts the bonus with a single x2 multiplier.
4 scatters – starts the bonus with two x2 multipliers.
5 scatters – starts the bonus with four x4 multipliers.

In free spins, wild orange symbols can land, substituting for any paying symbol. On top of that, the multipliers behave the same as they do in the base game, but with the extra advantage that they always stay active for the entire feature.

If you’d rather not wait for free spins to arrive naturally, Hop’n’Pop lets you purchase one of three features. For 100x, 200x, or 400x the bet, 3, 4, or 5 scatters will drop in on the next spin. The RTP is unchanged across all three choices, although volatility rises with the higher-priced options.

Hop’n’Pop: Slot Verdict

Whether it’s the straightforward theme, the laid-back scenery, or the ultra-relaxed soundtrack, Hop’n’Pop didn’t instantly deliver the same spark as some earlier Hacksaw Gaming releases. It lacks the rebellious edge of Chaos Crew or the quirky visual flair of Frutz that gives those games extra bite. Instead, it feels more like a daytime feature on visiting farms to learn where food comes from—the plant-based kind, so nobody gets squeamish. It may be that Hacksaw were aiming for a more upbeat Jammin’ Jars vibe.

Still, a slot’s surface theme doesn’t tell you what’s happening under the hood. Here, the math model is as harsh—and as potentially lucrative—as you could want. The first big element is the springy multiplier that changes position every spin. One key point: multipliers aren’t wild in any sense, so they aren’t as broadly helpful as wild multipliers in Jammin’ Jars, for example. Either the multiplier lands on a cluster and boosts it, or it does nothing for you. That may not be obvious right away, but it’s not a major issue once you understand the restriction. The other factor is the low cluster payouts. The top symbol, strawberries, pays only 80x the bet for 15+, which can feel underwhelming compared to many other cluster pays slots. That makes the jumping multiplier even more feast-or-famine, and it can be rough watching your bankroll do its best “squished grape” routine when the multipliers refuse to cooperate for long spells.

As usual, free spins are where things can finally swing in your favour. When luck is on your side, multiple multipliers can stack on the screen to supercharge wins—up to 12,500x the stake. Hacksaw titles have a strong track record for big payouts, so there’s little reason to doubt what Hop’n’Pop can do, especially since Hop’n’Pop is one of their biggest non-jackpot games to date.