Popiplay Launches Japanese Card Slot and Is Nominated for “Rookie of the Year” Award

Popiplay has been all about the action recently. From fresh new online slot releases to forming partnerships with other well-known brands, the developer is building itself and its game catalogue up. Doubtless, this is all with the intent of becoming much more popular with online gamers. The brand is going the right way about it, too.

Another recent game to launch under the Popiplay banner is entitled Hanafuda. This slot draws much of its inspiration from the Japanese cards of the same name. Typically smaller than the standard Western playing cards, Hanafuda cards feature a different plant, animal, bird, or man-made object on each one. There is a single card in the pack that depicts a human being, with the back side of all cards usually being plain.

It is these cards that form the basis of the symbols in this Popiplay slot. It comes with a maximum win possibility of 3,525x your bet, operates as a high volatility release, and feature a 95.99% RTP rate.

Details on the Hanafuda Online Slot Game

Choosing to play the Hanafuda slot machine by Popiplay will present you with a game layout consisting of five reels and three rows. It is upon these reels that you will see the various card symbols dealt into position on each spin.

If there is one thing you can say about the game, it’s that the developer has gone to town with the design of it. Every symbol features eloquent graphics to depict what is on them. Flowers and birds and so on stand out on their faces. Yet it’s not just the cards that are wonderfully designed. Popiplay has also crafted a stunning surround for the reels, with swinging lanterns at either side, as well as bonsai trees to marvel at.

Spinning the reels will see you try to form wins on 20 paylines, which are fixed in place. You can adjust your game bet easily with the + and – buttons at the bottom of the screen, too.

These offer players a betting range of between $0.20 and $50 per spin. There is also a ‘Max Bet’ button to reach the highest level instantly, a lightning bolt button to speed up the spins, and an autoplay function, should you like using such.

The card symbol with the devil on it serves as the slot’s wild addition, and this can substitute for other symbols to form wins. The wild also features multipliers of up to 3x.

There is also the inclusion of the scatter symbol, which is the tree with the word ‘Bonus’ written on it. This one can land on reels one, three and five, and if this occurs simultaneously, you activate the slot’s free spins round. Sticky wilds come into effect when this feature round is active, and you can win up to 18 free spins in total before the round begins.

Anyone not wanting to wait for free spins to hit naturally can buy into the bonus round instead. This costs 75x the wager you have in play.

Popiplay Nominated for Rookie of the Year Award by SlotCatalog

Popiplay’s dedication to launching new games and forming exceptional partnerships with other brands has led to recognition from various companies. One of those companies is SlotCatalog, which is well-known by many gamers online already. Every year, the organisation provides its own awards, which feature a selection of categories.

The Rookie of the Year category is one that highlights the top up-and-coming brands in the gaming industry. It is this category that Popiplay is nominated in, alongside six others. They include brands like Octoplay, High Limit Studio, Area Vegas, and Indigo Magic. To qualify for this category, a developer needs to have been established within the past two years and have achieved notable success early on in their existence.

Popiplay has had a rapid ascent since launching within that time period, and it continues to have a growing influence on the iGaming landscape.

The SlotCatalog Awards serve as a distinguished milestone within the sector, and they are renowned for offering a unique approach to honouring top brands. Accolades are granted based on analytical data rather than any kind of subjective judgement. It is most common for the award winners to be determined by analysing the presence of games within casino lobbies. Thus, a clear and quantifiable measure of a title’s popularity can be garnered.

For the 2024 edition of the awards, SlotCatalog has expanded its methodology. For the first time, the analysis will include spin statistics, which are sourced from the company’s data partners. With this also in play, a more detailed and dynamic picture of the landscape can be acquired. As a result, there is an even richer basis for the awards.

Popiplay being nominated for the Rookie of the Year award highlights the brand’s exceptional growth within a short period. It reflects the company’s innovative approach, as well as its capability when it comes to creating engaging online casino games. The Rookie of the Year will be crowned, and this will follow in the footsteps of the 2023 winner Print Studios, and the 2022 winner Reel Kingdom.

The other categories in the SlotCatalog Awards include the Game Studio of the Year, which is segmented into three separate sub-categories for large, medium, and small companies. Brands like Pragmatic Play, Relax Gaming, Playtech and more are nominated in this category.

An extra twist has been added to this year’s awards too, as for the first time, it will provide three new award categories based on geographic markets. Awards will go to the best game development companies in North America, Central Europe and countries with developing markets.