Trollpot 5000: Overview

NetEnt’s cloning/reskin production line was working overtime in 2019, with a big focus on reworking large chunks of its back catalogue for the profitable Asian market. Trollpot 5000 is proof that the copy-and-paste approach is still going strong, as the older slot Grand Spinn gets repackaged for another run. There’s no overstatement here: the two are identical in every respect except visuals and audio. Why the team chose to do it is hard to say, but since it exists, we may as well jump in and see this classic-style slot do what it does.

If you’ve played Grand Spinn, the immediate sensory change is pretty dramatic. The impressively realistic fruit bowls and the Art Deco look have disappeared. Unfortunately, the smooth, toe-tapping soundtrack has gone as well, taking the whole jazz-club atmosphere with it. Instead, you’re dropped into a blue, arcade-like setting with a loud colour palette, and the reels are packed with equally vivid charms. NetEnt says the intention is to capture the feel of a land-based casino.

In certain respects Trollpot 5000 is very straightforward, though in others it’s more involved than it first appears. One thing that’s undeniably simple is the 3×3 fruit slot setup with only 1 payline. With stakes from 2 p/c to $/€200 per spin, the only wins available are three-of-a-kind, using a mixed bag of symbols that feels like a grab-bag assortment.

From lowest to highest, the paytable features Bars, clovers, mushrooms, carvings, stars, and lucky sevens. Land a matching trio and you’ll be paid from 0.5x for three Bars up to 10 times the stake for three lucky sevens. A wild symbol is included to help make those combinations. On top of substituting for any regular symbol, three wilds on the payline also pay 10 times the stake.

NetEnt has clearly lifted the maths straight from Grand Spinn and dropped it into Trollpot 5000, because every statistic matches exactly. Players can expect high volatility alongside an RTP of 96.19%. Most of the RTP comes from standard line wins, with the remainder distributed across the three jackpots. As is common with fruit slots, the hit frequency is a modest 6.49%, which becomes easier to understand once you see how the features operate.

Trollpot 5000: Features

Alongside the fixed jackpots, Trollpot 5000 has a couple of extra neat ideas up its sleeve, including the Nudge feature. Nudges are fairly common in slots, but Trollpot 5000’s are unusually energetic—and they happen a lot. In fact, whenever a winning combination appears on the reels, the game triggers the Nudge feature. It begins on the 1st reel, which keeps nudging until a fresh symbol replaces the original winning symbol.

As this happens, new winning combinations can keep stacking up additional payouts. After that, the same routine runs on the 2nd reel, and then again on the 3rd reel. Watch for the arrow symbols at the the top of a reel once it stops. If one appears, the reel changes direction and moves back the way it came. The sequence then repeats exactly as above, but now in the opposite direction.

Trollpot 5000 also includes Multiplier Wilds, shown as the large grinning jester. These wilds substitute for all symbols except the arrow or jackpot symbols, and they add multipliers of x2, x4, or x8.

The final extra is the 3 fixed jackpots – the Mini, Midi, and Mega. After all reels have finished their nudging sequence, jackpot symbols may be sitting at the top of the reels. If there’s a jackpot symbol on each reel, you win the smallest jackpot currently shown. In other words, to take the Mega Jackpot you need all three Mega symbols; if not, whichever smaller jackpot is completed will be paid instead. The jackpot values are 20x, 100x or 5,000x the stake for the Mini, Midi, or Mega respectively.

Trollpot 5000: Verdict

Putting aside the view that Trollpot 5000 feels like an unnecessary cloning project, there’s still plenty here that fans of this type of slot can enjoy. The jackpots are the most obvious draw on paper, but the nudge mechanic is the real standout—and when it kicks in, it can really kick in. The reels can nudge for what feels like ages, and if you manage to hit an arrow, you essentially get an encore, building wins again in reverse order. It’s a smart idea, and it’s difficult not to appreciate once you’ve watched it play out.

At the moment, Trollpot 5000 is offered only with the 3 fixed jackpots setup, rather than Grand Spinn’s more appealing progressive alternative. There’s no official word on Trollpot 5000 being added, although it remains to be seen whether it connects to the progressive network later on.

Even with its strengths, it’s still a bit odd that NetEnt chose to clone Grand Spinn specifically. Yes, a reskin aimed at the Asian market makes sense if you’re chasing the Yen and Yuan, but Trollpot 5000 broadly keeps the same overall style as the original. For classic slot fans, picking between them is basically a coin flip. Unless you’re especially attached to the smooth jazzy sound of Grand Spinn, there’s very little to separate the two.