Tropicool 5

As we begin to finally break the back of those long, dark, wintry days, some of you may already be thinking about dusting off those bathing suits and sun hats in readiness for the great Spring and Summer thaw.

It’s a stage of the year that brings great excitement to many, with the hopes of vibrant blooms of flowers sprouting, barbecues and beer gardens a-plenty and, most importantly, enjoying some well needed rest and relaxation time on that summer holiday.

The heat clearly isn’t for everyone, however, but those who prefer to live life in the shade can seek a little solace knowing that where there’s a will, there’s a way, and only need to turn to ELK Studios’ long-running and charming series “Tropicool” for some chilling get-away inspiration.

Tropicool 5 Base Game Play

Since the original classic’s initial release back in 2021, players have been captivated by the quirky pairing of Tony Toucano and Fiona Flamingo, following their adventures to a delightful range of far-flung paradise lands, gathering new friends along the way and unleashing an abnormal cold spell at every location.

Whilst fresh faces and features may have spawned as the titles progressed, a core, mechanical model has held strong, and that pattern is set to continue with the studio’s release of “Tropicool 5“; a 6 reel 5 row game offering up ice-tastic action and also sees the introduction of yet another ‘snappy’ chappy.

Once again, the game grid finds itself in another immersive environment, though gone are the Caribbean-style island resorts and gone are the palm trees and cocktails, all making way for a blossoming lagoon laid beneath the ice-capped ocean.

Coral of all colours and sizes flourish along the seabed, as icebergs drift gracefully on the surface, above, with none other than Elmo making his appearance in readiness of activating his enhancing feature, alongside the rest of the tropical crew behind the scenes.

Features once again arrive in abundance, all based within the additional Cool Reel above the main grid, and with inclusions from Mystery symbols and Row Swaps to Locked Wilds and Pearls, this adventure could be set for being the least relaxing yet.

A highly volatile math model runs the action, alongside a 94% RTP and max win potential capped at 25,000x bet so, with the temperatures plummeting, let’s head into the gameplay as we check out all of the rules and features in more detail…

Tropicool 5 Offers Players 15,625 Ways to Win

Tropicool 5 Base Game and Features

Win spins are formed by combining 3 or more matching symbols from left to right, across adjacent reels, over any of the game’s 15,625 win ways.

9 regular paying symbols have been included, consisting of 4 low-paying fruits worth up to 0.4x bet for 6 matching symbols across, and high-paying grapes, melon, lime, pineapple and strawberry, paying between 0.6x to 2x bet for 6 matching symbols.

Wild symbols are also included and substitute for any regular paying symbol.

Upon forming a winning combination, all symbols involved, excluding Wild Egg and Locked Wild symbols, are removed from the reels, whilst remaining symbols tumble to the bottom-most positions available, allowing fresh symbols to fall into the grid to fill the gaps.

Pay symbols, Row Swap symbols, Wilds and Locked Wilds may land on the reels as 2×2 formats, counting as 4 individual symbols of the same type.

Should a Giant symbol be unable to completely fall into the active game grid, it splits into single symbols, allowing some to drop.

Activate Feature Symbols when Tumbling from the Cool Reel, Including Locking Wilds, Row Swaps and Golden Symbols

Cool Reel

Above the main reel set sits the Cool Reel, made up of two rows holding Feature symbols, Ice Cubes and empty positions.

Feature symbols are activated upon tumbling into the grid when filling empty spaces left after winning combinations.

The Cool Reel is always refilled from the right, pushing all remaining symbols to the left.

Upon triggering, Mystery symbols always activate first, followed by Row Swap symbols, the Elmo feature and, finally, Bonus trigger.

• Mystery Symbols – transform to reveal the same instance of a random pay symbol or feature symbol, once no further wins can be formed.
• Golden Symbols – pay symbols can appear as Golden symbols, adopting a multiplier value of x2 when positioned within the top row of the grid, and increasing by +1 for each row below, up to a maximum of x6.  Multiple multipliers within the same reel are added together, and multiple multipliers in different reels are multiplied together during win evaluations.
• Row Swap – replaces all symbols within the same row to a matching payout symbol type.  1 pay symbol is randomly selected within the row to replace all other affected symbols.  If the Flamingo, Toucan, Wild Egg or Wild symbol is selected, all other symbols shall be replaced with Wilds.  Any additional Row Swap feature symbols on the same row will extend the symbol replacement to their reels.  Should a symbol position be affected by multiple Row Swap features, the symbol becomes a Wild.  Finally, a 2×2 Row Swap symbol activates on all rows that it covers.
• Wild Symbols – substitute for any regular paying symbol.
• Locked Wild – remains on the reels in between tumbles for the number of wins displayed on the symbol.  During Bonus mode, Locked Wilds remain on the reels in between spins until the counter reaches zero.
• Pearls – trigger the Elmo Drop.

Land Kyle the Crocodile for Mystery Symbol Rewards

Character Features

3 Character features are included during game play, consisting of the following…

• Wild Eggs and Birds – perform as Sticky Wilds.  Should at least 1 vacant position be present within a reel containing a Wild Egg, it activates and transforms into a Wild toucan or Wild flamingo.  The size of the Wild birds is determined by the number of empty positions within the reel, with sizes ranging from 1×2 up to a maximum of 1×5.
• Elmo Drop – triggered when Elmo collects a Pearl symbol, once no further wins can be formed.  Upon activating, all pay symbols within the top-most 3, 4 or 5 rows are removed, along with any remaining empty Pearl symbols.  All symbols from within the Cool Reel then drop down to fill the empty spaces.  Every Pearl symbol collected has the equal chance of triggering the Elmo Drop feature.
• Mystery Crocodile – appears in the Cool Reel as a 6×2 symbol, with all empty positions beneath being filled with Mystery symbols.  The Mystery Crocodile symbol then moves to the left once no further empty positions remain, and stays persistent between spins until leaving the Cool Reel.

Trigger the Free Spins Bonus Game by Landing 3 or More Scatter Symbols

Tropicool 5 Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, 5 or 6 scatters during the same game round triggers the Free Spins bonus game, awarding 6, 9, 12 or 15 spins, respectively.

During the round, the Cool Reel may also land Extra Drop symbols, as well as Multiplier symbols.

Extra Drop symbols award an additional number of spins, displayed on the symbol, between 1 to 3.

Multiplier symbols add between x1 to x3 to the bonus game multiplier value.

Each additional symbol type is activated upon falling into the main reel set, though cannot land as big symbols.

Finally, the Cool Reel refills with fresh symbols at the start of each spin.

All other rules and mechanics remain the same as base game mode.

During Free Spins, a Persistent Win Multiplier Becomes Active for Bigger Wins

X-iter

A range of purchasable features make up the game’s X-iter menu, which players may opt to utilise in order to enhance play further…

• Bonus Hunt – at the cost of 3x bet, a spin is more than 4 times more likely to trigger a bonus game.
• Mega Hunt – at the cost of 10x bet, a spin is more than 15 times more likely to trigger a bonus game.
• Locked Wilds – at the cost of 25x bet, a spin guarantees 3 Locked Wilds landing.
• Bonus – at the cost of 100x bet.
• Super Bonus – at the cost of 500x bet, with 3 Locked Wilds guaranteed on each spin.

All X-iter options come with a fixed RTP of 94%.

Tropicool 5 Super Bonus Play

First Impression

There can be no denying the popularity of the Tropicool series amongst the online slot community, with each addition to the saga catapulting players to a new, over-zealous location where fresh faces can often be found, ready to unleash new, chilling features into the mix, and whether you prefer to lean more towards those frozen beach-front resorts, poolside environments or thirst-quenching Tiki bars, there’s likely going to be something for everyone.

Tropicool 5 follows in close pursuit of its 4 predecessors, this time boasting a Mediterranean Ocean vibe, full of charm and vibrancy, albeit with that volatile climate wreaking havoc on those sun-soaking temperatures.

Climate crises to one side, another set of core features and mechanics once again make the bill, including the Cool Reel and tumbling feature symbol activations, when entering the main game grid, and with those usual Wilds and Locking Wilds making a return, alongside Row Swaps and Mystery symbols, plenty of that fabled familiarity remains, only enhanced further by Big symbol variations.

So what’s new within this fresh icy frontier?…well, a couple of neat additions, actually, the first arriving in the form of Golden symbols; pay symbols which land with a multiplier value, determined by the symbol’s row position.

Landing within the top-most row, Golden symbols adopt a x2 multiplier, with a +1 increase for each row beneath, and these values really can prove handy when looking for more sizable rewards.

Multipliers within the same reel become additive during win evaluations, whilst multipliers within different reels become multiplicative, meaning that when those larger win way opportunities arise, a typical win can suddenly blast in like an arctic weather front.

A new character also makes his presence known, by the name of Kyle the Mystery Crocodile, and he certainly isn’t happy just making up the numbers.

Appearing within the Cool Reel, all empty symbol spaces below him transform into Mystery symbols, before he slides to the left.

Furthermore, Kyle remains persistent in the reel between spins until finally leaving the active area, making him a handy accompaniment to Elmo and his randomly triggering feature as well as the Wild Birds.

Trigger the Free Spins and a progressive Win Multiplier becomes active, increased by dropping a Multiplier symbol into the main reels, and remains persistent until the end of the round.

The remainder of the feature is then much of a muchness when compared to base game play, however the Cool Reel does replenish with fresh features during each new symbol drop phase.

With a full menu of X-iter options rounding everything up, Tropicool 5 arrives on the scene showing some keen potential, through a helping of additional features that lifts gameplay to fresher levels than ever before.

The max win cap remains at a hearty 25,000x bet, the characters are as quirky as they’ve ever been, and the overall theming proves welcoming and highly immersive.

Another cool extension to the Tropicool series, once again showing that the effects of global warming may have a chance to be overturned by nothing more than a witty Toucan, Flamingo, Sloth and Crocodile…who’d have thought it!?

The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.