The Home of Fluffy Favourites
Welcome to Fluffy Favourites Slots. Here, we focus only on listing casinos and bingo sites where you can play fluffy favourites. The offers below will reward players who like to play with free spins, subject to standard T&Cs. So, if you’re looking for Fluffy Favs sites, look no further!
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A Look at the World of Fluffy Favourites Slot Sites
There have been a few games in the history of online slots which can be almost universally regarded as classics. Tastes vary; as in many art forms, the critics’ view does not necessarily agree with the general public. In the movie world, for example, few reviewers had good words to say about the ABBAtastic Mama Mia. Yet, it won the hearts of millions in cinemas nationwide.
Contents
- The Home of Fluffy Favourites
- A Look at the World of Fluffy Favourites Slot Sites
- Development of Fluffy Favourites
- ‘Wild’ Symbol
- Bonus Toybox Pick Feature
- Summary
- The Fluffy Too Slot
- Fluffy Favourites Fairground
- Fluffy in Space Continues the Launch of New Slots
- Fluffy Favourites Megaways™
- Fluffy Favourites Jackpot
- Fluffy Favourites Bonus
- Fluffy Favourites Slots Today
- Fluffy Favourites in the News & Bad Press of the Title
Similarly, in pop music, some laud the intricate song craft of some obscure unknown independent band yet airily dismiss the talents of mega-popular artists like Coldplay, James Blunt and Ed Sheeran as being mass market sell-outs just because they’re famous.
The same happens in the online casino industry, where casino connoisseurs and industry insiders can be slightly dismissive of the more basic slot designs. Spectacular graphics and complex special features grab the attention, while the more straightforward, animation-style games tend to be ignored, slipping under the radar when the plaudits are handed out. Just like in all the other areas of artistic design, this is intellectual snobbery. Fashion police are a very influential force in the mass media.
You can see this clearly in the online casino industry, too. There have been many excellent slots which have grabbed the headlines and won big industry awards. Still, few have received the almost universally widespread acclaim of the Fluffy Favourites slot. The industry grandees may ignore such games when the end-of-year gongs are handed out, but the evergreen mass acclaim for such games pays for their annual conferences in the Caribbean.
In defence of the corporate bigwigs, the original Fluffy Favourites is basic by contemporary standards. Then again, this is not surprising. Initially launched in 2006 by Australian computer software designer Eyecon, this can seem like a lifetime ago in the fast-moving world of online gaming.
The Fluffy Favourites slot arrived in a world where the industry was relatively new. Its simplicity was a necessary quality back in the days of dial-up modems and dodgy landlines before the instant connectivity of the Wi-Fi technology we enjoy today. Moreover, playing online games on your phone was not even on the horizon. Mobile phones were commonly referred to as “handsets” and had only recently evolved beyond the ‘brick’ format of the first phones, launched in the 1980s. Nokia was still the king of the mobile industry, and a flip top was the height of modernity.
Today, the advent of smartphones and the vastly improved Wi-Fi and 5G technology connectivity has completely transformed how we play games online. Software and graphic design improvements have also revolutionised what is possible when creating new online slots and casino games.
Yet despite this revolution within the online gaming industry, Fluffy Favourites remains an all-time classic. Younger players may be used to more recent designs’ spectacular and complex graphics, but there is still room for the Fluffy formula of simple charm and evocative playfulness.
At the same time, the slot game is loved by older players for bringing back happy memories of younger days and more carefree times. This heartfelt connection works in much the same way as hearing a song from our youth on the radio, which also brings a wistful smile to our faces. Everyone has their favourite anthem; for millions, Fluffy is their favourite slot game.
So you will find no unwarranted snobbery here. These pages are rightly focused on celebrating one of the most crucial games in the history of online slots. And while the original is the best for many, the inaugural Fluffy Favourites has spawned several superb sequels as further forms of fantastic fluffiness have flowed from the Eyecon offices.
This means that today, there are a variety of game formats for you to enjoy, which can only add to the popularity of the Fluffy franchise. There truly is something for everyone in the Fluffy family. Here, we will celebrate them all in all their glory.
From the company’s history, which created it, to the story of each Fluffy Favourite format, here is your helpful Player’s Guide.
Development of Fluffy Favourites
The original Fluffy Favourites truly is a basic design. The conventional five-reel, three-row format is presented before a green background, perhaps a fuzzy representation of a traditional village green. Above the reels, the upper ‘skyline’ consists of a basic depiction of the sun and its rays, a rainbow, and a traditional red-and-white striped traditional fairground tent.
The game has up to twenty-five winning lines, with matching characters only paying from left to right. The RTP (Return to Player Rate, a theoretical average return) is around 95.4%.
There are some basic player controls in this game. You can vary the number of winning lines you wish to bet on. You can play Fluffy Favourites with just one winning line if you choose. The advantage of playing with fewer lines is that your stake level can be lower, but most players opt for the maximum twenty-five as this maximises your chances of winning.
You can also choose the amount you wish to bet per spin. This can be from 1p up to 50p per potential winning line. This flexibility is why most players prefer to use all twenty-five lines. Even at this level, the minimum stake is a reasonable 25p per spin (a penny per line). The maximum stake per line is 50p, giving a maximum bet per spin of £12.50.
Admin over, let’s get back to the actual game itself. The reel characters consist of various animals in the form of colourful soft toys. In American English, these are known as ‘plushies’, but this is a British design (it’s called Fluffy Favourites, not Fluffy Favorites), so I’m sticking to the cuddly toy’s description.
These reel symbols include a conventionally coloured Giraffe, a Panda and a pair of Tropical Fish. You also get a yellow Duck, a lion, a blue Rhinoceros, a green Tortoise and more. The top-paying symbol is the purple Hippopotamus, which will pay out 5,000 times your original stake if you get all five on the same spin in a winning line.
The star of the show, though, is the iconic pink Elephant. She is the game’s ‘Wild’ symbol, acting as a substitute for all the other characters apart from the Scatter to increase your chances of achieving a winning combination.
The Scatter is a Claw Machine symbol intended to represent the mechanical grabbers seen on traditional seaside amusement arcade games where you can attempt to grab a soft toy or even something more valuable from a tempting mound of prizes behind a Perspex screen. Sadly, in real life, the feeble grip of the grabbers is rarely able to secure you a decent prize. In Fluffy Favourites, the odds are much higher in your favour. Get three or more Claws anywhere on your reels, and you trigger some free Picks.
Aside from the minimalist graphics, the soundtrack is also basic. The reels run silently apart from a quiet click as they spin. A low note sounds whenever a pink Elephant or set of Claws appears on your screen, and a line win is announced by a kind of electronic ‘fruit machine’ style jingle. However, any win resulting from the appearance of the Elephant results in a more spectacular announcement. Some rhythmic jungle drums sound out, and the Elephant dances a little jig in front of a colourful rainbow before collapsing in a heap and falling asleep!
‘Wild’ Symbol
There is more to the dancing pink Elephant than meets the eye. In addition to her role as a handy substitute for all the other animals, she also pays double the amount of your prize whenever she appears as part of your winning combination.
But there’s even more! Get three or more anywhere on your reels to trigger some Free Spins. Get a minimum of three pink Elephants to launch fifteen Free Spins. If you find four Elephants, then you trigger twenty Free Spins. Get all five, and receive a magnificent twenty-five Free Spins.
Moreover, all attached prizes during your Free Spin round are tripled. Even better, your Free Spins can re-trigger during your bonus round. All you need to do on your next win is find at least three more Elephants on any spin. Free games can be re-triggered up to fifteen times to build up truly impressive prizes.
Bonus Toybox Pick Feature
Fortunately, you don’t need to demonstrate your manual dexterity skills when you trigger this bonus game. It all runs automatically. You need to get three Claw symbols anywhere on your reels (they don’t need to be part of a ‘winning line’). You get one Toybox Pick Bonus for every Claw symbol in the triggering combination, so you are guaranteed at least three Picks.
Each Toybox Pick could earn you up to 100 times your original wager. Your total prize is paid out at the end of the feature. It represents all your successful Picks added together up to your last win.
As with all online slots, any malfunction voids your win.
Summary
There is no grand strategy involved in playing Fluffy Favourites. This is indeed part of its charm. Complicated tactics and logical deduction are not required, so you can reserve any intellectual gymnastics for other games and relax and enjoy the fun. The game is bright and colourful, and the sparse soundtrack is strangely soothing.
So whether you are young enough to ask your parents what a dial-up modem is or simply new to the game, this timeless slot is a perfect choice. And if you are of sufficient maturity to remember it from the first time around, you won’t need reminding of its nostalgic, evocative charm.
Fluffy Favourites’ several sequels are all charming, but to many, the original is the best. Enjoy!
The Fluffy Too Slot
The first of these sequels came with the release of Fluffy Favourites Too. Eyecon kept their fans waiting because it took around ten years for the first new instalment to arrive in the collection of fluffy slots. It was undoubtedly worth the delay, though. The new game had a new look, with updated graphics and features. The characters were much the same but looked much fresher and well-defined against their new brilliant white reels.
The dancing Pink Elephant is still here, but its dance routine was upgraded from the cute shuffle of the original game to a more modern cheeky twerk. A new background meant the game was played in front of an attractive seaside scene with a colourful fairground along the sandy beach. The sounds were unchanged, though, helping the new version retain much of the charm of the original.
The elephant continues to act as Wild and Scatter as before, but this time, there is a brand new Bonus Game to play. The trigger for this game is the new Gold Coin symbol. Get three or more anywhere on your reels to begin the Coin Pusher feature. This nostalgic game is another reminder of those old-school arcade games, usually played with 2p or 10p pieces.
This time, though, the new feature was equally familiar to younger players due to the daytime TV success of the popular game show “Tipping Point”, which also featured the exact mechanism as its central theme. You get one pick per coin in the original triggering win this time. Possible prizes can again reward you with up to 100 times your total wager.
The game remains in the standard five-reel, three-row format, and the RTP for the sequel remained at 95%.
Fluffy Favourites Fairground
Producing the first Fluffy upgrade may have taken a decade, but recent years have been much more productive. The third instalment arrived in 2018, with Fluffy Favourites Fairground. Again, the standard reel format and twenty-five winning lines were retained. The RTP also remained at 95%.
This time, the new screen graphics were further modernised. A more contemporary-looking plain blue screen replaced the individual reels in previous versions, while the background featured a colourful fairground complete with a Big Wheel.
The characters were mostly the same, but again re-drawn with a more contemporary and impressive look. The Pink Elephant was again given new dance moves to perform, this time a kind of jaunty four-leg jump – quite a tricky manoeuvre for an elephant. Sounds again were unchanged.
The new bonus feature this time was a “Hook a Fluffy” game – another iconic and nostalgic amusement arcade and fairground reference. The game is triggered by getting three or more of another brand new symbol anywhere on your reels. This time, it’s a Big Top, which brings you your bonus.
It is still the same game, but the new look gave the Fluffy Favourites franchise a considerable upgrade. The Fluffy Fairground format almost certainly helped introduce the game’s pleasures to a whole new generation of players.
Fluffy in Space Continues the Launch of New Slots
A further upgrade came in 2019 with the release of the Fluffy in Space slot. This was by far the biggest upgrade thus far in the series. This time our intrepid Fluffy heroes are kitted out in space suits and helmets and sent out into the universe. The blue background remains much the same, with the addition of some twinkly stars, but the characters’ outfits are very different. The Yellow Duck has a jet pack. The Green tortoise looks more like a Power Ranger and the Tropical Fish looks as if it is trapped in a very small bowl.
But the really radical change this time is the soundtrack. Fluffy in Space sees its soundscape completely upgraded. There’s a jolly tune running in the background and a little plushy squeak as the reels come to a halt. Wins are also signalled by a more contemporary jingle.
The regular characters are pretty much all present and correct, just better drawn and kitted out with their new astronautical attire. The Pink Elephant is now apparently officially called ‘Nellie’, but she does still have her dancing shoes on. As befits a space elephant, she also has special powers, triggering impressive yellow plasma whenever a possible bonus game is in prospect.
Indeed, this development highlights another change in the game. On this incarnation of the Fluffy franchise, getting three ‘Nellie’ Pink Elephants anywhere on your reels triggers a new bonus game, called Fluffy in Space. This is a separate game where the aim is to get as many ‘Nellie’ Pink Elephants as you can on your reels. The ‘Nellies’ you have on your reels in the triggering spin are held in place while you are rewarded with three extra spins. Every time you get a new ‘Nellie’, you also win another additional spin. The process continues until you run out of spins without adding a ‘Nellie’. At this point, all your Elephants do a little dance, revealing a prize multiple as they twerk. These are added together to reveal your total multiple, which is used to calculate your final prize.
The Wild in this game is simply a neon ‘WILD’ symbol, which can substitute for all the other characters apart from Nellie and the Scatter. Nellie the Pink Elephant is also relieved of her Scatter duties this time. She is replaced by a Planet. Your potential reward for getting three or more on your reels is much the same though: from fifteen to twenty five free games, depending on the number of Planets you get on your reels in the triggering spin.
Despite all the technical and graphical enhancements, the game remains a five reel, three row format title, with the same twenty five potential winning lines. The RTP has improved though, to 97%.
Fluffy in Space is without doubt the most radical re-fashioning in the Fluffy Favourites franchise to date. It was the first to venture from the basic soundscape of the original game, and has features which would have been considered incredibly futuristic on earlier Fluffy incarnations. Indeed, it may be a bit too much of a radical departure for some of the game’s original fans. Then again, perhaps the series could do with a more contemporary approach, so that it can keep pace with the latest technological developments in software design.
In this sense, Fluffy in Space seems like a logical step in a more progressive direction. Judging by player reaction, the game has had a bit of a “marmite” response: you either love it or you hate it. I love it, although even its biggest fans must surely find its reel squeak a bit irritating after a while.
Fluffy Favourites Megaways™
Even more good news arrived for Fluffy fans in 2021, with the release of yet another reimagined version of the game. This time, the game’s designers decided to incorporate the super cool Megaways™ format to give the game a new more contemporary flavour. .
This exciting reel expanding mechanism was invented by fellow Aussie software geniuses Big Time Gaming. Megaways TM has certainly taken the industry by storm, with Eyecon / Playtech joining the many games design companies which have licenced the format. It is frequently added in the hope of sprinkling some extra magic on to already popular slots. The question is, does it work for Fluffy Favourites? Let’s take a look…
This upgraded format of Fluffy Favourites features a familiar looking background, only even more colourful than before. This time the traditional stripy Big Top tent is even larger. The bright blue sky and rainbow backdrop is also enhanced by some additional fairground features such as a Big Wheel, plus more balloons and bunting. The soundtrack, complete with some fairground squeals and screams, adds to the fun of the fairground atmosphere. Fluffy Favourites Megaways™ should suit all budgets – you can choose your bet level from as little as 20p up to £10 per spin.
All the familiar Fluffy characters are still here (thankfully this time without their spacesuits), but the innovative Megaways™ design means that there are now six reels, not five.
These reels can vary in format, too, with each one containing different-sized symbols for each spin. The Expanded Reels can contain large characters up to three times the smallest size, giving you extra chances to win.
This additional reel and the varying symbol sizes mean the traditional Fluffy 25 winning lines format is no longer used. There are now thousands of potential winning lines on every spin. These vary, with the number applied to each spin displayed prominently above your reels. This number varies widely, which is one of the fascinating bonus features of the Megaways™ format. The number of ‘ways to win’ is always in the thousands for every spin but can reach a maximum of 117,649 ways to win at its highest.
This new Fluffy format offers further fancy bonus features, such as Cascading Reels. This phenomenon means that the matching symbols magically explode and disappear whenever you achieve a winning combination. The resulting space is then filled by other reel symbols dropping into place to fill the gap. If you get another set of matching symbols, this triggers another line win, with each successful Cascade also adding to your Prize Multiplier. The process continues until you fail to get any more matches. It’s a great way to add additional wins from the same spin and build up some impressive prizes.
The Claw is the Wild symbol. It can substitute for all the other symbols apart from Nellie. If it is part of a winning combination of scatter symbols, it drops into action, picking up a random multiplier to further boost your prize. This can increase your winning sum up to 5 x.
Nellie the Elephant is the Scatter here. You can get three anywhere on your reels to trigger nine free games. The Cascades and Multipliers still apply during free games, plus every Elephant you have on your reels at the end of any cascade awards you another couple of free games.
Undoubtedly, the Megaways ™ magic does add something extra to the familiar Fluffy formula. It’s an innovative update of the traditional game, which many love. It’s not for everyone, though – the increased complexity means that it does require a bit more concentration than the simple five-reel spins of the original game. Nevertheless, all the friendly fluffy characters are still here, Nellie continues to dance her jungly twerk, and the iconic Claw is still around to grab you some extra cash. The Return to Player Rate (RTP) for Fluffy Favourites Megaways™ is 95%.
Fluffy Favourites Jackpot
Also worth a mention is the Fluffy Favourites Jackpot game. This is more of a variant than a different version, as it’s virtually identical to the original game. The only difference is that it includes the prospect of triggering a random progressive jackpot win. If the jackpot is triggered, the minimum prize is £5,000 with substantially more possible depending on the number of players playing the game and how long ago the jackpot was previously claimed.
Fluffy Favourites Bonus
Finally, there is also the Fluffy Favourites Bonus. This is not a full slot game but an instant win game, which is more of a scratch card format. Unlike many other similar scratch cards, you can win bonus games in addition to the instant win on typical scratch cards.
Fluffy Favourites Slots Today
Bringing things up to date, several alternative formats are already in the Fluffy Favourites portfolio. Five are completely discrete slot tiles; there’s a further slot – the Jackpot game – a simple variant of the original game, plus the scratch card.
The game is as popular as ever – the new formats have driven up interest in the game, and it is a regular on many online casinos now, as well as its original home as a slot option with online bingo sites. It is so influential that some casino operators have chosen to theme their entire sites on the game. Fluffy-focused titles include Fluffy Wins, Fluffy Spins and the impressively named Super Mega Fluffy Rainbow Vegas Jackpot Casino, which intends to use Fluffy Favourites as the primary anchor for its site.
With original design company Eyecon now under the wing of new owners Playtech, the Fluffy Favourites family will continue to go from strength to strength. Who knows what the next incarnation of the Fluffy franchise will be?
Fluffy Favourites in the News & Bad Press of the Title
You may think a game as inoffensive and cuddly as Fluffy Favourites would be the last to cause a political kerfuffle, but you would be sadly mistaken. Recently, the game has come under fire for encouraging underage gambling. This is because the game’s theme and characters comprise a colourful array of soft toys that would be attractive to young children.
The story broke in the UK’s newspapers in 2017 after a critical report from the Government’s regulatory body, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). The report stated that as a result of its research, it estimated that around 450,000 children aged between 11 and 15 were gambling every week. Fluffy Favourites was explicitly named as an example of the type of game encouraging this behaviour. As a result, websites were ordered to remove advertising and other promotional material for such games. The broadsheets and the tabloids widely reported on the issue with some shock/horror headlines. It even featured on the national TV and radio news for a while.
Indeed, the gambling industry does not have the best reputation for dealing with such matters, and it was perhaps an easy target for journalists looking for an attention-grabbing headline. However, the criticism may have been slightly unfair, especially concerning Fluffy Favourites.
Whilst colourful soft toys indeed appeal to children, it is undoubtedly also the case that this predominantly applies to the preschool age group. The attractiveness of soft toys declines significantly as children grow older, and very few of the age group surveyed in the report (11 to 15-year-olds) would continue to favour cuddly elephants, lions and giraffes as their plaything of choice.
So despite the alleged child-focused theme, Fluffy Favourites is aimed at adults who are nostalgic for comforting childhood memories rather than soft toy-obsessed youngsters. Indeed, it seems a little unlikely that there are thousands of toddlers throwing away their comforters, disposing of their teddies and reaching for their parents’ mobile phones, logging in, accessing mobile banking and playing merrily on Fluffy Favourites.
Nevertheless, the furore certainly created some handy headlines for newspapers looking for stories to scare their readers, perhaps selling a few more copies and adding a few online clicks. The result was more likely a surge of additional grown-ups, driven to re-visit the game in a frenzy of nostalgia.