Tippy Tavern

Top of the morning to you players; here’s a jolly ol’ online slot from Games Global partner Snowborn, full of all sorts of coins, leprechauns and other assorted larks. The name of the game is Tippy Tavern, which does have a chipper ring to it indeed. It’s also a clone of a prior Snowborn game going by the name of Pile ’em Up. If you’ve played that one, you’ll be aware of the coin symbols collection feature, free spins with more coin collecting, and a hold & win round called The Happy Hour Bonus. If you haven’t, well, why not come hit the tavern to see what it serves.

Snowborn had been on something of a cuteness binge for a while, releasing games like Cat Clans, Cats of the Caribbean, and Peaky Pigs. This one doesn’t feature animals, though it does headline a leprechaun; presumably, his name is Tippy, but don’t quote us on this assumption. It also has a stack of iconography that often appears in a leprechaun game, namely beer, pipes, clovers, harps, and pots o’ gold. The visuals have a trademark Snowborn amiable simplicity, are easy on the eyes and are cheerfully arranged. A positive, if somewhat cliched, first step is successfully achieved.

After busting out the magnifying glass and having a close peep at the stats, we couldn’t find anything that differed from the mould slot Pile ’em Up. Not a terrible thing since the max RTP comes in at 96.22% (though lower configurations are available), whereas the math model would suit players who like things on the highly volatile side. Some of Tippy Tavern’s features are saved at current bet levels, so maybe spend a little extra time working out the appropriate stake where options range from 20 p/c to £/€30 per spin.

Tippy Tavern is played on a 5-reel, 3-row gaming matrix with 20 paylines. It is possible for regular pays to create wins of three to five-of-a-kind in length, and the lower four on the table are purple, blue, green and red bottle caps with J, Q, K, and A on them paying 1-3.75x the bet for a line of five. Next are more traditional items – a pipe, four-leaf clover, harp, and a dice worth 12 to 20 times the stake for five-of-a-kind. Wilds pop up in the base game and free spins. They are on all five reels and either substitute for any pay symbol or create wins of their own up to 111x the bet for five wilds on a line.

Tippy Tavern: Slot Features

Tippy Tavern comes with several happy hours, so to speak, in the form of Coin Symbols & Collect, Coin Booster, Free Spins, and an actual Happy Hour Bonus round.

Coin Symbols & Collect

Coin symbols land in the game with values of 0.2 to 50 times the bet. If coin symbols land at the same time as a collect symbol on reel five, their values will be awarded.

Coin Booster

The Coin Booster is a multiplier that starts at x1. Whenever a 1UP frothing beer mug symbol lands, it increases the Coin Booster up to a limit of x10. When coin symbols are collected, as noted above, the Coin Booster is first applied to their total value before being awarded. After coins have been paid out, the Coin Booster resets to x1. The Coin Booster multiplier is stored per bet level and is available in all facets of play.

Free Spins

The scatter symbol appears on reels 1, 3, and 5. Landing all 3 of them triggers 9 free spins, and the current Coin Booster multiplier is moved over. While the feature is running, landing 2 or 3  scatters gives players +3 or +9 extra free spins. All coins in the round are collected in the Respins Pot, and when the round ends, players get a chance to win the total Pot value multiplied by the Coin Booster.

Happy Hour Bonus

Collecting a bonus symbol on each reel over several spins triggers the Happy Hour Bonus, with the current Coin Booster moved over. Bonus symbol collection is also stored at the bet level. The feature comes with 3 initial spins, which reset when a symbol lands. Coins stick to the reels until the feature ends, but 1UP symbols are not sticky. When the spins have been used, the total value of the sticky coins has the Coin Booster applied and paid. If all positions are filled, the round ends, but all coins are transformed into 50x coins. The total value then has the Coin Booster applied and awarded.

Tippy Tavern: Slot Verdict

What is this, the season of the clone? Seriously, at the time of reviewing Tippy Tavern, it felt like every second or third review was of a copy, clone, or reskin. Tippy Tavern is one of the purest clones of the lot, as just about everything about its predecessor Pile ’em Up has been copied over, barring the audio-visuals. It didn’t make Tippy Tavern a chore to play as such, though it might have been nice if Snowborn had rammed in something new to freshen the gaming up a bit, add a bit of curiosity to the second go around, and all that.

What’s here is pretty good, though, and there’s plenty going on as well. Instead of just having a straight coin collection feature, building a Coin Booster Multiplier adds a dimension and, hopefully, better wins in the process. The same applies to the Happy Hour Bonus, as the Coin Booster helps expand it too. Not to extraordinarily great lengths, neither this nor the last slot are major groundbreakers, but they are fun, with winning potential of 7,500x the bet. Neither slot is exactly an all-timer, yet there’s a light-hearted warmth to them, which is easy to go along with. Tippy Tavern is arguably the more crowd-focused slot due to its theme choice.

All up, Tippy Tavern was no less fun to play than Pile ’em Up was, which is kind of a given since it’s a straight reskin. However, if leprechauns are a personal fave, and judging by the number of leprechaun slots on the market, there must be quite a few enthusiasts, then Tippy Tavern might just pip Pile ’em Up in the enjoyment stakes.