If you’ve loaded up the J-POP slot from ELK Studios expecting to be greeted by Japanese pop stars, then you are going to be a little surprised. The J-POP slot is based on a group of aliens that have come to Earth to collect items to take back to their home planet. They do this by arriving at music festivals and intercepting said items. It’s a unique premise and one that the studio could use to explore different locations and themes. Is J-POP likely to be a big enough hit with players at the top casinos online, though? Let’s find out in this J-POP slot review.

As you might expect from a slot with such a quirky premise, there is a lot of fun to be had with the design and theme of J-POP. The slot is set on the stage of an extremely colorful music festival, with the beams of the stage holding the reels up in the middle of the screen. The screen will expand when players trigger certain features, and this design allows for that nicely. 

The symbols are where the game really comes to life, with a selection of unique little alien characters that bring up memories of games like Reactoonz. The standard symbols feature jellies and other assorted candy. It’s a really eye-catching design, which is what we have come to expect from ELK Studios. 

The whacky design of J-POP looks excellent on mobile devices. The game’s colorful symbols and candy-inspired aesthetics make it look as though it was made for mobile play. It is supported on Android and iOS operating systems, and you will also be able to access it on top mobile casino apps. 

J-POP’s base game is, like its design, an awful lot of fun. The game uses a 6x4 grid to begin with, starting with 4,096 ways to win. The grid will increase whenever you land specific wins or when big symbols land. The game grid can expand all the way up to eight rows, offering 262,144 ways to win, which is impressive by anybody’s standards. 

Whenever a win occurs, a Tumble sequence occurs, with winning symbols being removed and replaced with new ones. This continues until no new wins land. The reel size will reset after the end of a Tumble sequence. 

The slot can be played for stakes between $0.20 and $100, which is a fairly average range that will accommodate the majority of playing budgets. 

As if the expanding reels and ways to win weren’t enough, the game also comes with a good selection of bonus features. 

Firstly, you will notice Big Symbols can land on any spin. These can be 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4, and they will count as the number of symbols needed to make up that block. Empty spaces below these symbols are also filled with the same symbol. 

Another special symbol is the Grid Flip. This does as its name suggests, flipping the entire grid when it lands. These symbols will then become Wild. 

The Big Drop symbol can also land on any spin, and it will trigger a drop of Big Symbols that will destroy standard 1x1 symbols beneath them. Like the Grid Flip, this will then turn into a Wild symbol. 

Players will also notice a selection of Wild symbols. The Wild Box will place additional Wilds on the grid while the Walking Wild moves across the grid with a multiplier displayed. This will remain present in winning tumbles. 

Landing three, four, five, or six Scatters will trigger 10, 12, 15, or 50 spins, respectively. During the round, Walking Wilds are persistent on the reels, and on each win, the game increases its safety level, which marks the minimum number of rows available.

The J-POP slot is a bit of a mixed bag with its math model. The game is considered medium volatility and has an RTP of 94%, which is disappointing. That said, it balances that out with a solid 25,000x maximum win. 

J-POP is a really fun outing from the team at ELK Studios. Fans of the gold games from ELK, like Valhall Gold and Pacific Gold, will recognize some of the game’s mechanics, with the company putting these features to use in an entirely new way. The low RTP is likely to disappoint, but the gameplay features can create some extremely exciting sequences and serve up some good winning potential.