Hop N Pop

I gave Hop N Pop a go recently, and it’s a funny old game from Hacksaw Gaming. It looks dead wholesome with its farmyard setting and a chilled-out reggae tune that reminds me of a daytime documentary. Don't let the white picket fences fool you, though; this 7x7 grid slot is properly volatile with an RTP of 96.20%. It’s all about landing clusters of 5 or more veggies using cascading wins, but luck can run cold pretty quick.

The symbols are exactly what you'd expect from a farm shop. You’ve got blueberries, aubergines, grapes, and carrots paying the low amounts. The bigger payers are green apples, bananas, cherries, and strawberries, but even the top strawberries only pay 80x for a massive cluster of 15. The symbol values feel a bit meagre on their own, so you’re really relying on the features to boost things up.

This is where the game gets interesting. There’s a roaming x2 multiplier that hops to a random spot every spin. If it sits on a winning cluster, it either doubles in value—going as high as x64—or splits into two separate multipliers. You can get up to four of them bouncing around at once. It’s brilliant when they connect, but remember they aren't wilds, so they won't help you link symbols together.

The real money is in the Free Spins, triggered by landing three or more smiley sun scatters. Depending on how many you land, you start with different multiplier setups that don't reset between spins. That’s your best shot at hitting the max win of 12,500x your stake. It’s absolutely brutal when the multipliers miss, but watching four maxed-out multipliers wreak havoc is a sight to behold.

To be honest, Hop N Pop feels a bit simple visually compared to the edgy stuff like Chaos Crew. It’s got a bit of a "one trick pony" vibe with the hopping mechanic. However, if you can stomach the high volatility and wait for the bonus round to pop, it can pay out massive. It’s a decent laugh for a few sessions, provided you don't mind your balance getting squashed like a grape now and then.