Paco and the Popping Peppers Slot
Paco and the Popping Peppers is a 5-reel, max 20-pay line online slot from Betsoft. This Mexican-themed slot stars a chubby Latin American named Paco. In this slot's awesome intro video, the tale is told of how Paco arrived at a dusty Mexican village to find it filled with nothing but depression and despair. The reasons for this gloom are not given, but it probably had something to do with the fact that the only inhabitants of this village appear to be a selection of anthromorpic vegetables. Anyhow, Paco and his donkey soon have them up, dancing, and downing pints of tequila. The proposed sequel – Paco and the Marinated Vegetable Kebabs – was never produced, on grounds of taste.
There are five reels in this game, but this is a cascade-style game, rather than a spinning reels one. The symbols (mostly all vegetables – onions, garlic, peppers, chillis, potatoes (we think), tomatoes and pineapples) fall from the top of the screen to fill each column. If you land a winning combination, then all the symbols in the win 'pop' out of existence and new symbols fall from above to replace them. Each time you pop, a multiplier meter to the right of the screen rises one level, from 1x to 2x, then to 3x, and so on up to the maximum of 10x.
You can choose the size of your coin from 0.02 to 1.00, the number of lines you want in play from one to thirty, and the number of credits you want to risk with each spin from one to five. You final wager is these three values multiplied. When you're ready to start popping, hit the spin button.
Payout & bonus rounds
The cheapest veggies are the onion and the garlic – land three of those on an active pay line and you win ten credits. The cream of the veggie crop is the pineapple, five of which wins you one thousand times your line bet.
A donkey piñata is wild in this game. He substitutes for all other veggies, and landing five of him on an active pay line wins 2,500x your bet-per-line.
Look out for the hut symbol. If you land at least three anywhere on the reels then you are through to the bonus game. You are required to play a game of 'higher or lower' with a deck of cards. The further you survive by guessing correctly, the bigger your final prize. Win ten rounds for the maximum reward, but once you've guessed wrong a total of three times, the round ends.
This irreverent slot is a lot of fun, as is Paco who dances by the side of the reels, occasionally tuning his guitar. The popping peppers feature is excellent, especially if you have a good run and get that multiplier meter up into the higher echelons. Our only quibble is the lack of another bonus game, as once you've played the 'Fiesta Bonus' feature it becomes a little tedious. This is one slots title that does not get a 'chilli' reception from us!