Software developer Pragmatic Play has built itself a reputation of churning out slots fast, and in most cases, at good quality. However, it seems that creativity isn’t always at the top of this developer’s priorities. Many Pragmatic slots are all about the improved execution of games and themes that were already done before.

Put on your bikini (or another swimsuit that fits), grab your beach towel and join us for a Wild Beach Party review of this summertime slot! Inspired by the slot’s name, we came to the beach expecting something wild. What we found was a reskin of Pragmatic’s Fruit Party slot series...

The layout is very similar, with the 7x7 grid filled with fruit symbols. Why would we come to the beach to play a fruit machine? The only beach-related symbol is the clam scatter, which was not enough to inspire a wild beach party.

Yes, we did spot a few tropical pineapples on the reels, but most were the standard apples, bananas, pear, and berry pay symbols. Even the wild is made of fruit pieces stuck together. Perhaps the connection is the fruit you would pack to the beach in a plastic container? We’re still not sure.

A bikini-clad anime girl greeted us on the right side of the game grid. She’s flirty, as much as one can be in cartoon form, which might attract or repel players, depending on what floats your boat. During bonus games, the girl dresses up, which confused us a bit. A win meter and free spins-buy button are shown on the left. We liked the meter that shows your wins on every spin, and the option to buy free spins is also a great way to get the party started.

A cluster-pay mechanism lets you trigger wins by landing a cluster containing between 5 to 15 fruit symbols anywhere on the reels. Wild Beach Party also features tumbling reels. So winning clusters are removed from the reels to make way for more winning combinations. If you land more than 15 matching symbols in a cluster, you are awarded between 20x and 150x your stake.

What got us into the party mood was the wild symbol that starts with a multiplier of 2x. The wild becomes even wilder when it appears in a tumble sequence. It then doubles itself, awarding multipliers of 2x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 128x, and 256x. The party really gets started when you trigger the bonus round. 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatters anywhere on the reels will award you 10, 12, 15, 20, or 25 free spins, respectively. To make things even wilder (if possible, at this stage), multipliers during free spins can get up to 729x!

Wild Beach Party is a high-variance slot that won’t trigger wins as often, but when winning, clusters pay nice prizes that give you a reason to party. The slot is within the market average with a 95.45% RTP (return to player), though we'd prefer a higher return to match the high variance and carry us through winless spins. Bets limits are between $0.20 and $20, so high rollers may want to look for other parties. However, for low-medium rollers looking for a fun, wild afternoon on the beach, Wild Beach Party is the ticket. With chances to win 5,000x your stake, things can really get wild!