PopRocks Demo & review

In PopRocks every winning symbol pops and leaves two new ones in its place, so one win can grow the reels from three symbols high to seven, and the ways from 486 to 33,614. Avatar UX released it in April 2020 as the first game in its PopWins series, with no free spins and nothing to buy. It is built for players who enjoy watching one spin turn into a long chain, and who accept that most chains stop after a pop or two.

How PopRocks works

A spin starts on a 5x3 board with 486 ways. Wins count from the left or from the right, and every extra copy of the winning symbol on a reel multiplies that win's ways: two, three and two copies on three reels make 12 ways. Five of a kind pays from one side only.

The table hides the rule that decides the game. Super High and High symbols are not on the spinning reels at all. They only drop in after a pop, so the top of the paytable exists only inside a chain, and a spin that never pops can pay no more than the small letters and gems on the opening board.

The opening board before our first spin: 486 ways, the multiplier at x1 and no High symbols in sight. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

PopWins: what grows and what resets

A win does not end the spin. The winning symbols pop, two new symbols drop into each place they leave, and the reel grows taller, up to seven symbols high. If the new symbols form another win, that win pops too. The chain ends only when a drop brings nothing new.

The pops also feed the multiplier above the reels. Every seven pops add 1 to it, and it has no upper limit, but it resets as soon as the chain ends, so each spin starts again from x1.

Spin 12 showed a full chain without the bonus. The reels grew to 10,976 ways and the multiplier climbed to x5 before the drops ran dry. The spin paid $57.92.

Spin 12 settled: a chain to 10,976 ways and x5, without Unlock Wild, for a win of 57.92. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Unlock Wild: the bonus inside the spin

Unlock Wild starts the moment every reel stands seven high. One wild replaces a random symbol, each seven pops now add 2 to the multiplier instead of 1, and each pop now brings only one new symbol. There is no separate round and no way to buy it: the only road in is a chain long enough to fill the board.

Our one Unlock Wild came on spin 6. The chain had already reached 33,614 ways, and the bonus took the multiplier from x5 to x7. The spin settled at $63.64.

In practice PopRocks is a question of length. A chain that stops after one pop pays cents, and one that fills the board changes the session.

Spin 6 settled after Unlock Wild: all reels seven high, the multiplier at x7 and a win of 63.64. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

RTP, volatility and max win

PopRocks returns 96.4% in its rules, the same figure Avatar UX's game page gives, and the page lists no lower version. That page rates the variance Super High, the top word on Avatar UX's scale. The splash screen and the game page both put the top win at 72,188x the bet. By the rules, the route there runs through Unlock Wild, where a full board keeps popping and the multiplier, which nothing caps, keeps climbing.

The splash screen in our demo session, with the top win the game advertises. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

The rules page for PopWins, the multiplier and the bonus mode. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Our PopRocks demo test

Two early chains made the session. Spin 6 ran all the way into Unlock Wild, and six spins later a chain without the bonus paid almost as much, so between them they returned more than the whole session cost.

After that the game showed its usual shape. Thirty spins paid, and 18 of those wins were worth less than a dollar: chains that popped once or twice and stopped. The multiplier reached x3 or more in eight rounds, yet only the two early ones went past 20x the bet. No chain climbed beyond x7, so the deep end of the multiplier is described from the rules. A hundred spins cannot measure what a Super High game returns over time.

The paytable in our demo session: the Super High and High symbols that only arrive from pops. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Is PopRocks worth playing?

For a chain chaser, yes. For a short-session player on a small balance, much less so. PopRocks keeps its whole top end out of the base board, so a spin is worth what its chain makes of it, and long chains are rare. When one runs, it is the most watchable thing in the game: the reels stretch, the counter climbs and the multiplier keeps going.

Reactoonz is the choice if you want cascades that charge a meter toward four grid features, on a 7x7 grid with a known 4,570x ceiling. Choose PopRocks if you want the reels themselves to grow, and a multiplier with no limit at all.

In the demo, keep an eye on the ways counter beside the reels. It shows how far a chain is from seven high, which is the moment Unlock Wild takes over.