PapayaPop (Yggdrasil Gaming) – Review & Demo Play

PapayaPop Slot Overview

PapayaPop is one of those PopWins slots that grabbed me straight away with its art deco fruit style and slick presentation. You play on five reels, where the rows shift between three and nine depending on how long your win chain lasts. The pay both ways system means lines can start from either side, keeping the base game lively even before features kick in. On mobile the grid feels made for portrait sessions, and the rising reels keep your eyes fixed on the centre.

From a numbers angle, PapayaPop sits in classic high volatility territory, with a 96 percent RTP and hit rate around 22 percent. Bets run from 0.20 to 100 per spin, so it covers casual stakes and more serious sessions. The maximum potential is 10,542x your bet, which is on the lower side for a PopWins release, yet still big enough to make those longer hunts worthwhile when the bonus lands cleanly.

PapayaPop Symbols and Paytable

The setting leans into a glamorous golden fruit theme, framed by art deco patterns that look great on mobile and desktop. The layout is clean, with the expanding grid taking centre stage while everything else stays understated. As long as your device handles modern HTML5 slots, the game runs smoothly and feels tuned for quick bursts. With pay both ways in play, you only need three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels to start racking up ways wins.

On the paytable you get low pays of 9, 10, J, Q, K and A. Medium symbols are exotic fruits such as melon, starfruit, durian, fig, mangosteen, dragon fruit and pineapple. The papaya sits at the top, paying 15 times your stake for five of a kind. There are no wilds or scatters at all; everything flows through the PopWins mechanic instead, which shapes both the base game and the bonus round.

PapayaPop Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	Respin
	5	x15
	4	x7.5
	3	x4
	5	x8
	4	x4
	3	x2
	5	x6
	4	x3
	3	x1.5
	5	x5
	4	x2.5
	3	x1.2
	5	x4
	4	x2
	3	x1
	5	x4
	4	x2
	3	x1
	5	x2.5
	4	x1.2
	3	x0.8
	5	x2.5
	4	x1.2
	3	x0.8
	5	x1.6
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.4
	5	x1.6
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.4
	5	x1.6
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.4
	5	x1.2
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.3
	5	x1.2
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.3
	5	x1.2
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.3

PapayaPop Slot Features and Bonuses

In terms of features, PapayaPop sticks closely to the PopWins formula. You have PopWins expanding the reels, the Gamble Wheel before free spins, Unlimited Free Spins themselves, a progressive win multiplier, and a Bonus Buy option in some markets. As a UK player I only get what triggers naturally, since the buy is disabled by default. In practice that just stretches the grind, with the bonus landing about once every 197 spins, where the grid growth and multiplier take centre stage.

PopWins Feature in PapayaPop

The PopWins mechanic is what controls the grid. Any win pops the symbols away, then each position splits into two new symbols, so the reel height climbs with every successful cascade. In the base game you start on three rows and can stretch each reel to six, creating up to 7,776 ways to win, which effectively means 15,552 ways thanks to the pay both ways structure and stacked symbols filling the new slots.

During Unlimited Free Spins, PopWins goes further, letting the reels grow to nine rows high for a total of 118,098 win ways. In the base game the grid always drops back to three rows when a sequence ends, but in the bonus it only falls to the lowest height reached on that spin. When the pops line up, the reels feel like they are rocketing upwards, although dead spells can drain your balance fast on high variance settings.

Gamble Wheel in PapayaPop

The Gamble Wheel comes into play once you have expanded all five reels to six rows in the base game and triggered the free spins. By default you enter with 486 ways and a 2x multiplier, but you can risk spinning the wheel up to twice for better terms. Successful spins raise the starting rows and win ways and can lift the multiplier to 3x, 4x or even 5x, though a bust sends you straight back to base.

Unlimited Free Spins in PapayaPop

Unlimited Free Spins work on a lives system rather than a fixed count. You start with three lives, every losing spin removes one, and any win resets the tally back to three. The reels now have room to stretch to nine rows, and between spins the grid drops only to the lowest height set on that round. That subtle shift changes the rhythm, as you are always one hit away from keeping the round alive and nudging the ways higher.

When the bonus starts the win multiplier is at least 2x, or 3x, 4x, or 5x if you improved terms on the wheel. The multiplier increases by one before every spin whether you win or not, which keeps the pressure building. If you manage to push all reels to nine rows, it then climbs by two per spin instead. There is no multiplier cap, so long chains can stack nicely when the grid stays tall and connections keep dropping.

In practice the feature can feel swingy. The hit frequency sits around 22 percent, and with no wild symbols to help you often burn through the three lives quickly. When the pops cooperate though, the combination of 118,098 ways, sticky high reels and the growing multiplier can start piling up returns at pace, even if the 10,542x cap is lower than other PopWins entries. It is a proper high volatility ride, and bankroll swings reflect that.

PapayaPop Slot Final Verdict

From my time with PapayaPop, I see a sharp looking PopWins slot that plays well but does not push the concept forward. The art deco fruit presentation is strong, the pay both ways system works nicely, and Unlimited Free Spins can be gripping when the reels take off. On the flip side, the game pace can feel oddly stilted between spins, and the lower 10,542x potential might put some high risk hunters off. I still dip in when I fancy that PopWins climb.