Play Demo
Four armed parrots. A caged vulture eyeing the grid from the left. A train circling the outside of the reels. Three cow skulls on the right slowly light up as the bonus approaches. Load up Pirots 3, and the first thirty seconds tell you everything you need to know. This is not a game you drop into mid-commute. The western setting is less an authentic frontier and more a theme park version, with funfair rides visible behind the grid, souvenir shops flanking the saloon, and that self-aware looseness turns out to suit it perfectly. ELK Studios’ CollectR slot takes its four gem-hunting birds somewhere they’ve never been and packs the trip with more moving parts than anything else in the series so far.
Pirots 3 doesn’t use paylines. Instead, four birds (red, green, purple, and blue) sit on a 6×7 grid and physically move to collect adjacent gems matching their own colour. A bird can chain multiple moves before a refill occurs, and wins are generated by how many gems each bird collects during that sequence. The grid starts every drop at payout level 1, but can be upgraded across a round. At level 7, a single collected red gem is worth 7.50 per coin rather than the 0.10 it starts at. The difference between an average drop and a good one is almost entirely about how far up that ladder you’ve climbed before the big collection begins.
Above the grid sits a progress bar that fills with every gem and wild the birds collect. Once full, one pending feature symbol release is stored, and up to three can be stacked simultaneously. When the birds exhaust their moves, all stored releases fire at once, each converting three random gems into feature symbols. Rounds that keep going pile up more injections, and the more feature symbols enter the grid, the more likely the next refill is to push things further.
There are eight feature symbol types, and understanding what each does is not optional if you want to follow what’s happening on screen.
The key symbol is what lets the caged vulture out. Once released, the bandit lands on the grid and starts collecting any gem colour and any feature symbol. His running total is tracked on the wanted poster to the left. When the bandit encounters one of the four birds, a duel plays out. A bandit win eliminates that bird and collection continues; a bird win ends the feature, and the bandit’s accumulated total is paid out. Beat all four birds and the bandit clears every remaining symbol on the grid, then triggers the Bandit Coin Game.
Two adjacent birds that run out of moves have a random chance to swap positions via the Switcheroo. Three or more adjacent birds with no moves available trigger the Showdown automatically. Birds move apart and fire in multiple horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions, collecting bonus symbols and coins while igniting any dynamite in their path.
Two or four positions on the left and right edges of the grid carry a train backdrop. When a bird collects a symbol from one of those positions, it boards the train, which travels around the grid’s perimeter dropping 1 to 3 feature symbols from its carts, then deposits the bird on the opposite side. Red carts carry any feature symbol type; golden carts always carry coin bags.
Clear the entire grid, and the coin game activates. The grid is replaced by a field of coin bags and scorpions, and the four birds take turns throwing lassos from a train above. Each successful catch adds the bag’s multiplier to a running total; catch a scorpion, and that bird is done. The accumulated total multiplied by the active bet is paid out when no birds remain.
Collect three bonus symbols during a single game round and the free drops bonus activates with 5 drops. Each additional bonus symbol collected in bonus mode adds one more drop. Grid size, collection meter progress, and current gem payout levels all carry over from normal play, so whatever you’ve built persists into the bonus. The super bonus variant starts immediately on the maximum 8×7 grid.
ELK’s bonus buy menu offers five entry points. Bonus Hunt at 3x adds quadruple the trigger chance on the next drop. The 25x option guarantees the bandit’s escape, 50x guarantees the coin game, and 100x buys a direct entry to the regular bonus. The super bonus costs 500x the bet and starts on the maximum grid with full upgrade potential from the first drop.
The CollectR format removes fixed paylines entirely. There are no winning combinations to chase in the traditional sense. What you’re watching is four birds physically navigating a grid, collecting gems one adjacency at a time. Getting comfortable with that logic before the first drop makes everything else easier to follow.
Bets run from $0.20 to $100.00, with each bet representing 100 coins. The grid opens every normal-mode drop at 7 columns by 6 rows with all gems reset to payout level 1. Dynamite detonations during a round can push dimensions to a maximum of 7×8, though the following drop resets back to 6×7. Autoplay is available via hold-down on the spin button or the dedicated Auto Spin control.
The RTP is 94.0%, as listed in the rules panel. Volatility sits at a high 8/10, with a hit frequency around 25%. Long stretches between meaningful wins are built into the math. The max win is 10,000x; the MAX WIN coin symbol is the direct route when conditions align.
Values at a $1.00 bet (100 coins). Each gem has seven payout levels, covering the full range from level 1 at the start of each drop through to the bird hat symbol at the top of the upgrade ladder.
| Symbol | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 (Hat) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Gem | 0.10 | 0.25 | 0.50 | 0.75 | 2.50 | 7.50 | 30.00 |
| Purple Gem | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.60 | 1.60 | 5.00 | 15.00 |
| Green Gem | 0.05 | 0.15 | 0.30 | 0.45 | 1.20 | 3.75 | 10.00 |
| Blue Gem | 0.05 | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.30 | 0.80 | 2.50 | 7.50 |
Figures reflect a $1.00 total bet; adjust for your chosen stake. The wild substitutes at the gem’s current payout level. The black bandit wild acts as the highest-paying gem on the grid at the moment of collection.
Coin symbols pay their displayed multiplier multiplied by the active bet when collected. Values from 5x through to 2,500x appear during the coin game. The MAX WIN coin bypasses standard collection and immediately pays whatever remains between the current total and the 10,000x cap.
Pirots 3 is ELK Studios at their most ambitious and occasionally their most exhausting. The production values are hard to fault, the feature set is genuinely deep, and the western theme park setting has personality. The 94% RTP and the complexity of tracking eight feature types, a bandit, a train, and a coin game simultaneously are the real barriers. Built for patient, system-oriented players who want more from a slot than matching symbols.
The bandit’s escape arrived earlier than expected. A handful of drops in, the key symbol landed, the cage swung open, and the vulture was on the grid before we’d had much time to build anything. A duel triggered almost immediately, the bird won, and the round paid out £10.90 before the wanted poster slid into place and the cage reset. It’s a clean loop. Threat arrives, tension builds, result lands, and the whole sequence queues up to run again. As a standalone feature it’s one of the more satisfying in the series.
The coin game put all four birds on the train above a grid of coin bags and scorpions. Each took a turn with the lasso. Some collected multipliers, some caught scorpions and sat down. The total came to roughly £10. Not spectacular, but the format is immediately readable even the first time it fires, which is more than can be said for several other features here. Spin four of the super bonus brought the Showdown. Two birds separated and fired diagonally across the grid, bullet trails crossing, a £50.00 hit landing in the middle of the visual chaos. Those animations are genuinely impressive.
The honest version of this review acknowledges that Pirots 3 never quite found the rhythm the earlier format promised. The complexity is part of the appeal for a certain type of player; knowing how the meter, the upgrades, the bandit, and the train interact opens a layer of anticipation that simpler games can’t offer. But it also means you’re never fully switching off. At 94% RTP across what are often long, feature-heavy rounds, the patience requirement is real.
Pirots 2 runs on a 6×6 grid in a dino-park setting with a broadly similar feature set; the game moves faster and individual rounds feel more contained. Pirots 4 takes the birds to outer space on another 6×6 grid and introduces portals, black holes, and an Alien Invasion feature that can reverse a dead round in a way Pirots 3’s tools don’t quite manage. All three share the same 94% RTP and 10,000x cap, so the choice largely comes down to theme and how much feature complexity you want layered on top of the CollectR foundation. Pirots 3 sits in the middle of the series by complexity. More feature-dense than 2, more navigable than 4.
Worth a run in free play. The animation alone earns that. Just read the rules first.
In the coin game, each bird takes a turn with the lasso, hoping to collect multipliers but lands a scorpion and that bird is out.
The Showdown mid-Super Bonus with birds firing in multiple directions across the grid. This one landed a $50.00 win on spin five of five.
