CherryPop Burst: Slot Overview
Once upon a time, there was a software designer called AvatarUX that simply lived to create PopWins slots. You could count on release after release, like clockwork, being powered by the pop. PopWins were well and truly its jam. Times have changed, however, and AvatarUX has loosened its grip on the pop feature and branched off to try other things, things that don’t necessarily burst. Sometimes walking in step with Mr Wu, other times on its lonesome. Don’t get the wrong impression, though; the studio hasn’t entirely ghosted the mechanic. PopWins slots are still regularly released and we’ve got another here titled CherryPop Burst, a continuation of the original CherryPop (2020), and CherryPop Deluxe.
AvatarUX has experimented with a large number of themes over the years, and CherryPop Burst is one of their least experimental. It does look pleasant, though, especially if you’re playing it on a hot summer’s day where all the ice, fruit, and splashing effects have an appealing, refreshing look to them. The music’s relaxing too, so if easy-going PopWins is what you’re after, CherryPop Burst might suit. Visually, it sits between the more staid CherryPop and the Pop Art explosion of CherryPop Deluxe.
CherryPop Burst is a ways to win game, awarding wins left to right from the leftmost reel and right to left from the rightmost reel. The 5-reel grid starts each base game 3 rows high, where there are 243 ways, and at maximum size in the bonus round, the reels can be 9 symbols high, where there are 59,049 ways. A wide range of stakes is available from 10c to $/€300 per spin, and should you choose to activate the ante bet, the stake increases by 50%, doubling the chance of getting a bonus. Medium-high volatile, the game’s RTP is 96.04%.
Lows in CherryPop Burst are 9-A card ranks, highs are blueberries, plums, apples, grapes, oranges, watermelon, and bananas, while the super high is cherries. A 5 OAK win pays 1.2x-1.6x for lows, 2.5x-8x for highs, and 15x for the super high.
CherryPop Burst: Slot Features
CherryPop Burst’s features include PopWins, random multipliers, free spins, a gamble wheel, and feature buys.
PopWins & Multipliers
Each winning symbol pops and gets replaced with 2 symbols, increasing the height of the reels. This repeats as long as there are new wins. The reels can expand up to 6 symbols high in the base game. At the start of a spin or during a win, multipliers can be randomly activated, starting at x2 and increasing by +1 after every pop in the base game.
Free Spins
When all reels reach 6 rows high in the base game, the free spins round is triggered. During free spins, the rows can reach 9 symbols high, and they reset to the lowest achieved reel height rather than totally resetting as in the base game. The win multiplier is persistent, too, and increases by +1 after wins. If all reels reach 9 high, the multiplier increases by +2 from then on. Randomly during a win, instead of an increased multiplier, +1 to +4 free spins may be triggered.
Fortune Flip Wheels
At the end of the bonus round, players are presented with three options – take the win, keep 50% of the win and gamble the rest for the chance to 2x, 3x or lose it, or gamble all of the win for the chance to win 3x, 10x, or lose.
Xpress
Opening up the Xpress is where players can buy 5 free spins for 75x, or 8 free spins with a higher chance of features for 150x, or 12 free spins with the highest chance of features for 300x the bet. Lastly, Fortune Spins can be activated here, too; they cost 3x per spin to guarantee multipliers.
CherryPop Burst: Slot Verdict
The first two PopWins slots, PopRocks and WildPops, were Asian fantasy style games, which, while very distinctive, were perhaps a tad niche. CherryPop was the third PopWins slot from AvatarUX, and it represented a major shift towards the mainstream. Gone was the fantasy, and in its place was a much safer, more commercial basket of fruit. Since then, the studio has experimented with a wide range of themes for its PopWins mechanic, from zombies to hip-hop, with a wide range of complementary features. CherryPop Burst is like a return to square one. It’s a slot almost entirely focused on popping stuff. There are no wilds, scatters, special symbols, nothing like that, as if AvatarUX is clearing the slate in preparation for phase two.
What it’s got are regular paying symbols popping to grow reels and popping their way into free spins. On top of this, we’ve got random multis which can help, the progressive multi in free spins, and not much else. CherryPop Burst is strangely devoid of original mechanics. Perhaps the most out there feature is its post-free spins gamble wheel, and it’s a real crap shoot. In about the time it takes to snap your fingers, a bonus round win can be increased by x2 to x10, or be completely obliterated. Otherwise, players get a streamlined version of popping symbols, growing reels, triggering free spins, while sprinkling in multipliers along the way.
As mentioned, it is a pleasant game, with a trim set of features, so it is possible to achieve a level of streamlined satisfaction, but if you’re planning to give CherryPop Burst a whirl, maybe adjust expectations to avoid being disappointed by the lack of innovation.
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