Introduction to Pelican Payday
Pelican Payday is a casino slot from Pragmatic Play where our friendly, feathery fisherman takes us out on the sea for a day. While being a Pragmatic Play release, this game is developed by Pragmatic Play POP, a sibling studio known for its mobile-first releases, which is exactly what Pelican Payday is. While it may be designed around mobile play and, in turn, is rather simple, Pelican Payday is a vibrant fishing-themed game with very few features. This may seem like a bit of a red flag to some players, but we can see the game’s potential for a more casual audience that cares more about sending a few spins for the fun of it, rather than for the expectation of explosive and potentially highly volatile wins. The gameplay loop is centered around its Money and Collect Symbols, which can lead to Cash Prizes up to 10X or Grand Jackpots up to 1,000X the bet. These prizes then become a bit easier to hunt down in the Free Spins feature, where all Prizes are collected into a Money Pot, helping you reach the max win of 5,000X the bet.
Pelican Payday is a simple game, both in its visuals and gameplay, that leans more into casual, mobile-first spins than anything else.
Theme, Gameplay, & Payouts
Pelican Payday is a video slot from Pragmatic Play with 3 Reels, 5 Rows, and 10 Paylines. You can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.1 and a Max.bet of 250. Pelican Payday comes with a higher-than-average RTP of 96.59%, a hit frequency of 18.58%, low volatility, and an okay max win of 5,000X the bet. However, do take note that the max win hit probability is 1 in 2,506,266 spins, the Free Spins hit frequency is 1 in 146.02 spins, and the game comes in multiple versions with lower RTPs of 95.61% and 94.59%.
The game starts out on a beach, with the waves rolling in underneath the playing grid. The titular pelican joins us above the playing grid, already having reeled in a handful of bills. Soundtrack-wise, the game has an arcadey yet beachy vibe that we kinda like, and it pairs well with its vibrant theme. You can play the game on most notepads, mobiles, and desktops.
The lower-paying symbols are J, Q, K, and A. Creating a win with 3 of the same symbols will pay out 0.3X to 1X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are a fishing lure, a tackle box, and a goldfish. Landing a win with 3 of the same symbols pays out 1.5X to 10X the bet. We also have a few Special Symbols, including Money, Collect, and Scatter Symbols, but more on these in the next section.
Special Features & Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Pelican Payday?
You can win up to 5,000X the bet.
What features are available in the slot Pelican Payday?
The features are Money and Collect Symbols, and Free Spins.
Money and Collect Symbols
Money Symbols can appear on all reels with a random Cash Value of 0.5X to 10X the bet or a Mini (20X), Minor (50X), Major (100X), or Grand (1,000X) Jackpot. However, these can only pay out by landing a Collect Symbol at the same time, which can only appear on reel 3 in the base game.
Free Spins
By landing 3 Scatter Symbols, you will be awarded the Free Spins feature with 8 spins. During the bonus game, all collected Money Symbols will go into a Money Pot, which will stay persistent between spins. Collect Symbols can now appear on all reels, and each time they do, they will collect the value in the Money Pot. You can retrigger the bonus game by landing 3 extra spins, awarding an additional 8 spins.
Final Thoughts on Pelican Payday
Pragmatic Play POP has had an interesting story, starting out under the name Fat Panda, which created exclusive mobile-first games for Pragmatic Play. Its releases weren’t anything special, but definitely catered to a specific audience, and after its rebranding into Pragmatic Play POP, that hasn’t changed, but we have seen a slight shift in their releases, and we would say for the better. Pelican Payday may not be the best game out there, but it does feel like a step up from what we saw before the rebranding. When it comes to the actual game, it delivers a rather solid experience. While its theme isn’t exactly original, its visuals pair well with the vibrant style and vibes the game aims to convey, and these extend to the gameplay and its stats.
Gameplay-wise, Pelican Payday isn’t the most complex, immersive, or engaging game, as it is, for the most part, rather boring, but we can’t deny there’s an audience for these simple games. The regular paytable and Cash Prizes aren’t the best, meaning if you’re looking for bigger wins, it is all about the Jackpots. However, in the base game, we wouldn’t really say that the prizes feel very reliable, and with no Feature Buy in sight, it means you might be stuck in the base game waiting room with the occasional small wins to keep you going until you hit the Free Spins bonus game. With that said, we do enjoy the Free Spins Money Pot mechanic, and even though we’ve seen it in other releases, many of which have even done it better, we think it works rather well, and can actually be pretty exciting if you hit an early Jackpot Prize to start cashing out on sizeable prizes. But at the end of the day, the game may just be a bit too simple for much of the modern audience, meaning it falls into a niche category where it serves as an okay slot experience.
Pelican Payday is a mobile-first slot release with a very simple gameplay loop of Cash and Jackpot Prizes, targeted at a more casual audience.
