Introduction to Pineapple Crush
Set for a summertime release, Pineapple Crush is a fruity, icy, rising multiplier cocktail of a slot designed by Swedish game studio Quickspin. Into this beverage, Quickspin has poured a mix of newer and older ingredients, stirred them up, and dropped in a few cubes of ice. The newer side would be the game’s theme, while the older side, well, Pineapple Crush, is a reskin of the Maneki cat Miso slot, Temple of Paw. This means a return of the rising win multiplier, increased by winning tumbles in the base game, removed winning symbols in the free spins bonus round.
Theme and Setting
To borrow some of Quickspin’s words, Pineapple Crush is hosted by the hottest club in South Beach, La Piña, which is the ‘only place to get your hands on the ice-cold Pineapple Crush’ beverages. Since Pineapple Crush is said to be the ‘smoothest, zestiest, and most refreshing beverage you could imagine’, it sounds quite tempting. Pineapple Crush (the slot now, not the drink) looks quite refreshing as well, its icy cc6 symbols giving the game a Tropicool/Frozen Tropic touch, though one situated in a dreamily-lit hip beach location. South Beach, apparently, so a long way from Temple of Paw, that’s for sure.
Slot Specifications
The stats, facts, and figures bring Pineapple Crush back to the cat game, though, since none of them have really changed. The math model remains highly volatile, rated 5 out of 5, and the default RTP value is 96.01%. With a bonus buy button lingering to the left side of the screen, ready to take willing players directly into the free spins feature, down the bottom right is where users can select an appropriate bet of 20c to $/€100 per base game spin.
Game Mechanics
Pineapple Crush’s active symbol area is a 5-reel, 3-row gaming space with 20 bet lines. During gameplay, winning symbols are removed from the grid and new symbols fall downwards to fill the empty spaces. If a new win happens after the symbols fall, the tumble feature repeats again until there are no more wins. Locked in blocks of ice are Pineapple Crush’s J to A low pay card ranks, worth 1.25 to 5 times the bet, as are the higher value lemons, grapes, watermelon slices, and cherries, paying 10 to 75 times the stake for a 5-of-a-kind winning combination. Wilds are present on all of the reels. They may be used to substitute for anything except the scatter and are worth up to 125x for 5 OAK.
Multiplier Mechanics
What you want to see in Pineapple Crush are wins, not only to collect money but because line wins, then cc6 later individual symbols, are used to increase the win multiplier. This happens in the base game and in free spins, which can be bought.
Multiplier
In the base game, each winning tumble increases the win multiplier by +1. Between base game spins, the win multiplier resets to 1. There is no upper limit to the multiplier.
Free Spins
Managing to get 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters triggers 7, 10, 15, or 22 free spins, respectively. Scatters are available on all reels. However, note that it is only possible to get the sixth scatter when successfully progressing with the gamble wheel. During free spins, each winning symbol removed increases the win multiplier by +1, which does not reset between free spins. It is possible to win an additional +3, +5, or +7 free spins by landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols, respectively.
Gamble Wheel
Before free spins start, players can gamble what they have won for the chance to get an extra scatter on a gamble wheel. Players are able to gamble until all 6 scatters have been won or the entire free spins bonus is lost on a losing gamble. It is cc6 also possible to not gamble by collecting the awarded number of free spins.
Buy Feature
For 100 times the bet, players may choose to buy the free spins feature. The round is triggered by 3+ scatter symbols when bought, and the feature works the same as if triggered by chance. The buy feature’s RTP is 96.51%.
Slot Verdict
Like the game it is built from, Pineapple Crush is a simple, easy-to-grasp, easy-to-follow game with an enticing win multiplier feature as the main event that everything else forks off. The division between base and bonus game is a stark one, and while you get hints of the thrill ride in the main game, free spins are really where Pineapple Crush gets the chance to pull off the breaks and go a bit wild. Increasing the win multiplier after tumbles is nothing whatsoever to write home about. That stuff is about as common as it gets, in large part thanks to the proliferation of the feature in Megaways slots. However, incrementing the win multiplier using each removed winning symbol is far less common and quite a tempting proposal.
As noted in the Temple of Paws review, ELK Studios put the individual symbol raising the multiplier concept to exceptionally good use in its slot Propaganda, and on the whole, that one was the more thrilling game. It is more complicated than Pineapple Crush, however, not to mention challenging in the way ELK slots can be, which might be a turn-off. Pineapple Crush, by contrast, is quick, uncomplicated, and has an easy-going attitude that makes it better suited for casual play. Having said that, Pineapple Crush is able to cc6 turn up the heat, even though it’s coated in ice cubes, technically capable of hitting wins of 7,333.95 times the bet at full capacity.
