Pirots slot review

Pirots slot in brief

Pirots swaps reels and paylines for a board game. Gems drop onto a square grid, and four coloured parrots move around it picking up any gems of their colour that sit next to them. What you win depends on what the birds collect, not on symbols lining up.

ELK Studios holds a Gambling Commission licence (account 40844), and Pirots launched a series that now includes Pirots 2 and Pirots 3. Our ELK Studios guide covers the rest of the studio's games, and the full list of reviews is on our slots hub.

No paylines: how the Pirots grid pays

In a line slot you need matching symbols in a row from the left. In a cluster pays slot you need a group touching each other. Pirots does neither. Each parrot is matched to one gem colour, and when a bird moves it gathers every gem of its colour in the cells beside it. Collected gems are paid according to the paytable, and the space they leave is filled by new symbols.

Because nothing has to line up, a single drop can involve several pickups by different birds. That makes the game feel busy, but the busy feel doesn't change the arithmetic: the average return across all that action is 94p in the pound.

Why the grid size matters

A 5x5 grid has 25 cells. An 8x8 grid has 64, more than two and a half times as many. A bigger board gives the birds more room to roam and more gems to find, which is why expansion is the thing to watch for during a session. The help screen explains exactly what makes the grid grow.

How the features work

The developer's description of Pirots names a set of extras that land on the grid and interact with the birds, and SlotCatalog's Pirots listing (opens in a new tab) describes the same set. Here's what each does, in plain terms, without adding values the published description doesn't give.

• Wilds are the flexible pieces on the board; the paytable explains how they combine with the birds.
• Upgrades raise gems to a higher level, so they're worth more when collected.
• Transforms change symbols on the grid into something else, which can turn useless gems into ones a bird can pick up.
• Coins are another extra that lands on the grid; the help screen shows what they're worth.
• Bombs act on the symbols around them; the game rules set out exactly what they remove.

Everything the birds collect also fills a feature meter at the side of the grid, so ordinary collection does double duty: it pays, and it builds towards extras.

Free drops

Collect three bonus symbols and you get five free drops, the game's free spins round. The key difference from the base game is persistence. Grid size, symbol collection and gem levels all carry over from one drop to the next instead of resetting. If the board has grown and the gems have levelled up, that progress stays for the whole round. Three more bonus symbols during the round add extra drops.

Feature details follow the developer's published game description. For trigger rules and exact values, open the paytable in the game before you play.

Pirots RTP of 94%: the honest cost

Pirots returns 94% on average, so the house edge is 6%. That's noticeably higher than the 96% or so found on many slots we review, and it's the single most important number on this page if you care about value. Expected loss is stake times edge, so the gap is easy to show.

Put another way, Pirots costs half as much again as a 96% game for the same play. That's the price of the design. If you enjoy the collection mechanic, you may decide it's worth it; just know you're paying for it. Our guide to whether a higher-RTP slot is better looks at how much RTP should drive your choice.

Medium–high volatility and a £20 Pirots budget

Pirots is rated medium–high volatility. That sits between steady low-volatility games and the swingiest releases. Expect regular small collections, with the larger results coming when the grid grows or the free drops land.

Running £20 through the game once costs £1.20 on average at any stake. What changes is how long that takes. At 10p you get ten times as many drops as at £1, so more chances for the free drops to appear before the money runs out. Short sessions vary widely from this average in both directions.

Pirots max win: 10,000x in pounds

The top prize is 10,000 times your stake. At 10p that's £1,000; at 50p, £5,000; at £1, £10,000; at £2, the top stake for 18–24s, £20,000; and at £5, the cap for players aged 25 and over, £50,000. It's a high ceiling for a medium–high volatility game, but it's also the rarest result the game can give. Plan around the average cost, not the maximum.

Pirots against Pirots 2 and Pirots 3

The sequels keep the birds-and-grid idea. Here's how the published figures compare.

All three share the same 94% RTP, so the choice between them is about feel. The original is the only one rated medium–high rather than high. Other ELK games with a higher published RTP include Wild Toro at 96.4% and Cygnus at 96.1%.

How to play the Pirots slot, step by step

1. Pass the casino's age and identity checks; UK sites need these before any play, demo included.
2. Before the first drop, fix a deposit limit and decide what the session may cost.
3. Open Pirots from the casino lobby and read the paytable, including the RTP shown.
4. Pick a stake per drop; remember the £5 cap at 25+ and £2 at 18–24.
5. Press to drop. Watch the birds move and collect, and note the feature meter filling.
6. If three bonus symbols land, the five free drops play out with your grid and gem progress kept.
7. Stop at your budget or time limit, using the net position and timer the game displays.

UK rules for Pirots and other online slots

Pirots counts as an online slot under the Gambling Commission's rules, so the slot stake limits apply in full. The Commission's stake limit guidance (opens in a new tab) sets £5 per game cycle for players aged 25 and over (from 9 April 2025) and £2 for 18–24s (from 21 May 2025). Design rules since 31 October 2021 ban autoplay and turbo, require at least 2.5 seconds per spin and stop a game celebrating a return at or below your stake. Game rules, including how likely you are to win, must be available to you under RTS 3 (opens in a new tab).

Some slots sold outside Britain include a bonus buy. Here, since a Gambling Commission warning in January 2020, feature buy-ins are not offered to British players. More in our guides to the autoplay ban and feature buy rules.

Who the Pirots slot suits

Pirots suits players who value an unusual mechanic and accept the higher price. If value matters most, compare RTPs first using our RTP explainer.

Where to play Pirots in the UK

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18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.