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Four parrots in space suits chasing gems through an expanding space station while dodging alien invasions and detonating corner bombs. That is Pirots 4 from ELK Studios, the fourth main entry in a series that has taken its cast of collectible-hungry birds from pirate ships through prehistoric jungles, across the Wild West, and now into outer space.
The game opens with animated cut scenes that feel closer to a Pixar short than a slot introduction, setting up a story where an alien villain has stolen the birds’ treasure through a black hole. What follows is one of the most feature-dense slots available in any demo, running on ELK’s CollectR system where wins are generated not by paylines but by birds physically moving across the grid to collect matching gems.
The 6×6 grid can expand to 8×8 through corner bomb detonations, and across a single round you might encounter upgrades, transforms, black holes, alien invasions, a Lost in Space coin game, and a Power Clash. It is a lot. The RTP is 94.0% across all modes, volatility is high, and the maximum win caps at 10,000x.
Pirots 4 does not use paylines. Instead, four bird symbols sit on the grid, each paired with a gem colour. Birds move horizontally or vertically to adjacent gems of their matching colour, collecting them for payouts.
A bird can move multiple times before a refill occurs, creating chain-like collection paths across the grid. Collected symbols are removed, remaining symbols drop down, new ones fill from above, and the process repeats as long as any bird can still move. Gems start at payout level 1, ranging from 0.05x to 0.1x per gem, and can be upgraded through the round up to level 7 where individual gems pay 7.5x to 30x.
The space station surrounding the 6×6 grid has four sections, one at each corner. Each corner contains a bomb assigned a random bird colour. When a bird of the matching colour collects a symbol sitting on top of its corner bomb, the bomb activates and detonates once birds finish collecting. The explosion removes gems in a 3×3 area, destroys the connected station section, and expands the grid. This can happen up to four times, growing the playing area to a maximum of 8×8.
Destroyed station sections become tunnels that birds can pass through if collectable symbols sit at both ends, and each tunnel can reveal up to two hidden feature symbols. At maximum grid size, space portals appear in the corners, allowing birds to teleport between them.
A meter above the grid tracks total gems and wilds collected by all four birds. When it fills, a pending feature symbol release is added. Up to three releases can be stored and all trigger simultaneously. A feature symbol release converts random gems on the grid into feature symbols, introducing new elements into the round. The meter does not count collections during the Alien Invasion or symbols collected by the Space Bandit.
Pirots 4 includes ten different feature symbol types. Upgrade symbols raise the payout level of gems matching the collecting bird’s colour by 1, 2, or 3 steps. Upgrade All symbols raise all four gem colours simultaneously. Transform symbols convert a cluster of nearby gems into the collecting bird’s colour and may also generate additional feature symbols. Wild symbols substitute for any gem at the current payout level. Coin symbols pay their displayed value when collected. The MAX WIN coin pays whatever remains to reach the 10,000x cap.
When two adjacent birds cannot collect anything, they may perform a Switcheroo, swapping positions. A Space Switcheroo variant can send one bird to the grid edge or to the next collectable symbol in its path. When three or more birds end up adjacent and stuck, the Power Clash triggers. Birds converge on one position, destroying all gems in a 5×5 area and then flying outward in different directions, collecting or activating any corner bombs, coins, scatters, or special symbols along their flight paths.
When a bird collects an Alien Invasion symbol, the feature activates after normal collection ends. The Space Bandit arrives and begins collecting symbols column by column in random order. The Bandit can collect gems, birds, and most feature symbols, building up a value total displayed on its spaceship. When the Bandit encounters a bird, a space duel occurs. If the Bandit wins, its spaceship multiplier increases, the defeated bird is removed for the rest of the feature, and the Bandit continues collecting from a new random column.
If the bird wins, the Alien Invasion ends and the spaceship multiplier is applied to all accumulated value before payout. If the Bandit defeats all four birds, it collects everything remaining, applies the multiplier, pays out, and places random coins on the grid before the feature ends.
Collecting a Black Hole symbol triggers a feature that absorbs all symbols and birds from the grid, then drops them back in a completely different arrangement. One, two, or three birds can be removed during this process, and gems matching removed birds convert to the colours of the remaining birds.
The Spacecorn symbol places bridges in empty grid spaces when collected, allowing birds to cross gaps they normally could not. If the Spacecorn feature leads to the birds collecting every single collectable symbol on the grid, the Lost in Space coin game triggers. This plays on a full 8×8 grid with one bird in each corner and 3 initial drops. Landing coins or bridge symbols resets the drop counter to 3. When drops run out, birds collect adjacent coins using bridges to reach otherwise unreachable positions. If two or more birds connect through the same coins, collected bird values become collectable by the next bird in the chain.
Collecting three bonus symbols during a round triggers the bonus game with 5 free drops. The bonus starts at the current grid size and retains all gem upgrade progress and meter status from the triggering round. Each bonus symbol collected during free drops awards one additional drop. If one of the three triggering bonus symbols is a Super Bonus symbol, the super bonus game triggers instead, starting at the maximum 8×8 grid with all upgrade symbols affecting every gem colour simultaneously.
This feature can randomly trigger when birds are stuck. It activates one to four corner bombs simultaneously, expanding the grid and potentially opening new collection paths.
ELK’s X-iter system offers five purchase options. Bonus Hunt costs 3x for one drop with quadruple bonus trigger chance. Alien Invasion costs 25x for one drop with a guaranteed Alien Invasion and super bonus if the bonus game triggers. Lost in Space costs 50x for guaranteed entry to the coin game. Bonus costs 100x for guaranteed entry to the standard bonus game. Super Bonus costs 500x for guaranteed entry to the super bonus with maximum grid and upgraded symbols. All X-iter modes maintain the 94.0% RTP.
Pirots 4 uses ELK Studios’ CollectR system rather than traditional paylines. The 6×6 grid starts each round with four bird symbols and a field of coloured gems. Birds move to adjacent gems of their matching colour, collecting them for payouts. The grid can expand to 8×8 through corner bomb detonations. Bets range from £0.20 to £100.00 per spin, with each bet representing 100 coins. The RTP is 94.0% across all modes including all X-iter bonus buy options. Volatility is high. The game uses a dropping symbols format where collected and activated symbols are removed, remaining symbols fall, and new ones fill from above.
Gem payout values depend on their current upgrade level. At level 1, each gem collected pays between 0.05x and 0.1x your total bet depending on colour. Gems can be upgraded up to level 7 through upgrade symbols, where individual gem values reach 7.5x to 30x. Wild symbols substitute for any gem at whatever payout level that gem currently holds. The maximum win for any round is capped at 10,000x your total bet. If a MAX WIN coin symbol appears and is collected, it immediately awards whatever amount remains to reach the cap.
Pirots 4 is the most ambitious slot ELK Studios has produced. The sheer volume of interconnected systems creates a game that can produce wildly different outcomes from one round to the next, and the space theme gives the studio room for dramatic visual set pieces. The cut scenes and animated transitions are genuinely impressive. But the complexity comes at a cost. The 94.0% RTP is below the industry standard, the learning curve is steep, and the interface does not always make it easy to understand what is happening or how to configure your bet. For players willing to invest the time to learn the systems, there is real depth here. For everyone else, it may feel overwhelming.
The opening sequence immediately signals that Pirots 4 is not a typical slot. Animated cut scenes introduce the space setting with a style that sits somewhere between Saturday morning cartoon and something you might find on an adult animation streaming platform. The quality is striking. ELK Studios has invested heavily in the narrative framing, and it pays off in making you feel like you are entering an actual game world rather than just loading another grid of symbols.
Once the reels load, the Space World setting delivers an atmospheric, slightly eerie soundtrack with dramatic orchestral undertones. The mood is distinctly different from the previous entries. Where Pirots 3 leaned into Western twang, this instalment creates a sense of floating isolation that suits the space theme. However, after twenty minutes the sound design started to wear thin. The looping patterns became repetitive, and by the end of our session the audio was more irritating than atmospheric. This is a game best played with the volume turned down after your first few rounds.
The grid itself is where the visual quality dips. The birds and gems are functional but the illustration style feels less polished than the cut scenes promise. There is a disconnect between the cinematic quality of the transitions and the somewhat flat appearance of the actual playing field. The earlier Pirots games had a more cohesive visual identity between their animated elements and their gameplay graphics.
Usability is a genuine concern. The bet configuration is not immediately obvious, and with the X-iter options, collection meter, corner bomb indicators, and feature symbol tracking all visible on screen, there is a lot of visual noise competing for your attention. The game assumes familiarity with the Pirots series, and new players will likely spend their first several rounds confused about why birds are moving, what the coloured indicators mean, and how the corner bomb system works. The in-game rules run to several pages of dense text, which reflects both the depth of the game and the challenge of explaining it.
The comparison to earlier Pirots games is important. The original Pirots (2023) introduced the CollectR system on a simpler grid without the space station expansion. Pirots 2 added a prehistoric theme with new feature types. Pirots 3 brought the Wild West setting and refined the formula significantly. Pirots X departed entirely with a cluster pays format. Pirots 4 returns to the CollectR core but layers more systems on top than any previous entry. The corner bombs expanding the grid, the Alien Invasion with its duel system, the Lost in Space coin game, and the Black Hole feature are all new. If you enjoyed Pirots 3 and wanted more complexity, this delivers. If you found Pirots 3 already at the edge of what you could follow, Pirots 4 may push past that line.
Our bonus round experience was underwhelming. A Lost in Space bonus buy at 50x returned a fraction of the purchase cost. The free play demo makes this sting less than it would in a paid session, but it illustrates the reality of high volatility at 94.0% RTP. The maths model requires significant upswings during feature-rich rounds to compensate for the below-average base return, and any individual session can easily miss those peaks. The 10,000x maximum provides the theoretical ceiling for those rare convergences where gem upgrades, grid expansion, and multiplier stacking all align.
Pirots 4 is a game that rewards investment. Not financial investment, but the time spent learning how its interconnected systems feed into each other.
When you understand that corner bombs expand the grid, which opens tunnels, which reveal feature symbols, which fill the collection meter, which releases more features, which can trigger further chains of events, the design elegance becomes apparent.
It is an ambitious, sprawling, occasionally frustrating slot that asks more of the player than almost any competitor. Whether that makes it worth the below-average RTP and steep learning curve depends entirely on what you want from a demo session.
The grid is, let’s just say, different! And provides a novel gaming experience not seen on most slot demos.
We won only $28 from our first $50 bonus buy (Lost in Space).
