Bouncy Balls 2

The animated spheres return in Bouncy Balls 2, one of the new online slot from Eyecon in 2021. In a manic game of spinning and winning, you’ll need to land clusters of the same character to win real cash prizes. The premise seems simple but you’ll need a dose of good fortune to collect the top payout of x11,000. 

This is the second in the Bouncy Balls series, and this sequel looks very similar to the first, albeit brighter and with a few new characters. However, the gameplay is significantly different - but more about that below! This game is based on Cluster Pays, a mechanism that provides an alternative to the standard paylines. Cluster Pays aren't as typical as classic pay lines, but there's an increasing number of games from various studios such as Mega Dragon (Red Tiger), Sweet Alchemy (Play'n GO) and Jungle Falls (Inspired).  

With Cluster Pays, the reels are usually more prominent than the standard 5x5, and Bouncy Balls 2 is no exception. You'll be playing on 5x5 in the base game, plenty of room to get those clusters lined up! Betting is in the modest range, with a minimum of 0.10 and a max of 10.00. This is ideal for occasional players but might fail to excite jackpot hunters seeking big paydays. A top payout of x11,000 is possible, but with a low variance, you'll have to work hard for the bigger prizes. 

Who doesn't love cute bouncy balls, right? And there's no denying that this crowd of characters are charismatic with their range of comical expressions. That might sound similar to the original Bouncy Balls, and you wouldn't be wrong, but this version has been tweaked to be far more visually pleasing. A beautiful backdrop, vivid colours and exquisite design make Bouncy Balls 2 a step up from its predecessor.  

You'll need a cluster of five balls to get a win, and this means they need to be touching vertically or horizontally. You get nothing for a diagonal match, which is similar to other games with Cluster Pays.  

There aren't any wilds to give you a helping hand, so it's primarily the six main characters that appear on the reels. The more you can cluster together, the higher your payout will be; get 16 or more for the maximum prize. All of the balls are worth different values, just like in a regular slot. You'll see far more yellow, and green matches as these are at the lower end of the paytable, with blue, orange, purple and flaming red offering ascending values. The flaming reds are the hardest to cluster, so you only need nine to get the max symbol payout of x10,000. 

The reel also features the cascading mechanism, so the balls disappear from the reel every time you get a winning cluster, and the remaining balls shuffle into the spaces. New balls then cascade down from above, which could net you a second round of wins. This process keeps repeating until there are no more visible clusters.

The original Bouncy Balls had a progressive jackpot but no bonus features, but that's been reversed in this slot. The progressive jackpot is gone, but in comes a potentially lucrative free spins round.  

To unlock it, you'll need to land three free games symbols anywhere on the board. You'll move to a new 5x5 grid but with the addition of the Powergrid symbol. Every time it lands, the grid expands to 6x6, then 7x7 and finally 8x8. Once you hit a win on the maximum 8x8 grid, the feature will finish, and you'll return to the main game.  

The increased size of the expanded grid means it's much easier to land bigger clusters, setting you up nicely for a big payout. 

Are there more sophisticated slots out there? Yes. But is Bouncy Balls 2 a lot of fun? Also yes! Although the concept is fairly simple, Eyecon has done an excellent job creating a thoroughly entertaining and compelling game. It's easy enough for complete newbies to play, but the Cluster Pays and regular wins are hard to resist, even for more experienced players. In our opinion, the switch to the free spins from the progressive jackpot is a good move and means better chances of winning a higher prize. Thumbs up to Eyecon; this is one to add to the must-play list!