Fruit Shop Frenzy

Review Fruit Shop Frenzy

As the original Fruit Shop pokie was released in 2013, it is rather outdated. This wasn’t really solved by the 2021 Megaways edition as it used a lot of the first game’s visual elements. Fruit Shop Frenzy is very different from the previous launches as it wants to tell a story to the player. The playing field is found somewhere in a shop in Europe as the Vespa-like scooters distinguish the setting from its other southern European neighbours. This is where la dolce vita stands for: fruit, colours, and the Italian way of living life. If that sounds like the perfect trip for you it is time to make the most out of this game.

How to Play

Online pokies that are designed by NetEnt are known for their simplistic design and playing field which is why you don’t need a minimum level to be able to play these games. Here is how to get started and play Fruit Shop Frenzy:

• Always make sure to first check out the rules of the game. Do this for both the base game and the bonus features. Trying the free demo is the best way of doing this.
• Go for the ‘pays’ button which is found in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. This is where you’ll be able to familiarise yourself with the rules of the game.
• Set your bet after having chosen a stake. In Fruit Shop Frenzy bets start at $ 0,10.
• Go for the spin button to make your first spin.
• Most of our partner online casinos give players in New Zealand the chance to make use of the limits, timeout sessions and self-exclusion tools. Do make use of these when playing online pokies. Make use of them to protect yourself. Stop with your session when you have reached your limits or when the online pokie stops being fun.

Symbol Wins

Although the fun happens in Italy this time, the reels of the game are once again set inside a small shop, just like in the original pokie. The five standard playing card values, blue icons from 10 to Ace, are the ones that represent the low value symbols, giving players payouts of 0.3 to 9x the bet. These payouts are actually a lot higher than in most online pokies, which is obviously a good thing. It gets even better for the high value symbols. The watermelon and orange, for instance, pay up to 12 or 25x the stake which is quite a nice number. Lemons provide 1.2 to 40x the bet and a Plum gives us payouts of 1.5 to 50x the bet. Out of the fruits, the cherry symbol is the most valuable one of all, giving players 0.3 to 100x the total stake. Here is more info about the symbols:

Bonus Features

With a nice range of bonus features, the new Fruit Shop Frenzy pokie will give players access to the free spins round when landing a high value fruit symbol. When this happens, every win will increase the multiplier and give you extra free spins. Landing the Helper symbol, will make you either increase the multipliers, or move to the next multiplier. It can also help you whilst you play the Frenzy Mode feature. In this case, you’ll come across 10 multiplier steps with the Helper symbol doing all of this and adding random wilds and double multipliers.

Free Spins Feature

To activate the Free Spins feature, 1 or more winning combinations including fruit symbols are required. Doing so will award 2 free spins and an increasing multiplier. Starting at a value of 1x, every winning spin during the feature will make you get an additional free spin and increase the multiplier to either 2x, 3x, 4x and eventually 5x via the Multiplier Bar.

Helper Feature

When you make it to the free spins, be sure to pay attention to the special Helper symbol as it can randomly trigger a modifier. The Helper symbol can land on the fifth reel which is the one found on your right. The following modifiers can be triggered:

• Multiplier values will increase by 1 (in the Multiplier Bar).
• Will make you advance to the next multiplier.
• Will activate the Frenzy Mode feature.

Frenzy Mode Feature

Triggering the Frenzy Mode feature will make you earn 3 extra free spins. This will also see you increase the multiplier bar from 5 to 10 steps. This also means you’ll see multipliers up to 10x in the Multiplier Bar. Also, every win will make you receive an extra free spin and 1 step forward on the Multiplier Bar. If the Helper symbol lands on reel 5, the multiplier values will increase by 1 or you advance to the next multiplier. There are 2 features to enjoy:

• Random Wilds feature: 1-6 Fruit Shop Wilds are added to the grid. This happens at random positions on the three middle reels.
• Double X feature: doubles the value of multipliers in play in the Multiplier Bar

Bonus Buy Feature

Players in New Zealand can make use of the Buy feature. Directly buying your way into the Frenzy Mode feature is possible by paying 20x the total stake. The RTP for this specific feature is 96.1%.

Payout Metrics

The Fruit Shop Frenzy RTP is labelled as 96.04% which is perfect as it’s higher than the 96% average. It is, however, lower than the game released in 2013 which came with an RTP of 96.71%. Like the original part, Fruit Shop Frenzy only has a single RTP so you won’t have to worry about ranging RTP’s in this casino game. The variance level is set at medium-high and the hit frequency is 29.32%. This is also a very favourable number with the same being true for the top wins of 10,868x the stake. The highest prizes can be won during the free spins which is thanks to the various extras activated by the Helper symbol.

Summary

The former two previous Fruit Shop instalments were successful but very simple, both in terms of design and extra features. With the FS multiplier trail up to x10 being added to the Megaways edition, the series already became a lot more interesting for players with Fruit Shop Frenzy once again outperforming its predecessor. We therefore consider Fruit Shop Frenzy as an outstanding pokie with the newest addition bringing the overall experience to a new level. Making it to Frenzy Mode isn’t as easy as we’d hoped for, but the Helper symbol can definitely be the way to do this. The game is actually all about the Frenzy Mode, so make sure you make it this far as it can get very exciting here. The multiplier trail is also enhanced when this happens, and the values can be doubled by means of the Helper symbol. This is why you can make it to the top potential of 10,868x the bet, contributing to our overall evaluation that Fruit Shop Frenzy is the best pokie in the series.