Pink Elephants review
Pink Elephants is the 2017 Thunderkick slot that started the Swedish studio’s longest-running franchise. The game information sheet is dated September 2017, while Thunderkick’s own press release for the third instalment says the original debuted in November of that year. It plays on six reels and four rows with 4,096 ways, and its signature idea lives in the free spins: four coloured mid-value symbols turn into elephants one by one, and every transformation makes the rest of the round richer. Two sequels later, that collect-orbs-to-upgrade loop is still the backbone of the series.
The pink dimension and ways to win
The story is deliberately silly. Tiny tribal minions are hunting for a magical peanut that will wake the Pink Elephants, and you follow them into a whimsical pink dimension. Absurd humour is the studio’s house style, from exploding mariachi skeletons to a king who cannot stop touching gold, so a herd of pink elephants fits right in.
The art serves one purpose: making the bonus transformations obvious. The elephant is the biggest, most distinctive picture on the reels. The four mid symbols are told apart mainly by colour, red, yellow, green and blue, and the card ranks are drawn more plainly so they fade into the background. When a coloured icon swaps into an elephant, you notice even on a small screen. A 16:9 aspect ratio gives the six-reel grid room to breathe on a wide monitor.
Paylines play no part here. You are paid for matching symbols on consecutive reels counted from reel 1, whatever row they occupy. The count is a simple product of four rows across six reels: 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 4,096.
A quick example shows why duplicates matter. Say a green symbol sits twice on reel 1, once on reel 2 and twice on reel 3, with none on reel 4. You get a three-reel win across 2 x 1 x 2 = 4 ways, and the three-symbol payout is counted four times. One more green on reel 2 doubles it to 8 ways. On a ways grid, an extra copy in a column multiplies the payout rather than nudging it up.
Only the highest applicable match pays per way, with round totals added at the end. Wilds replace everything except the peanut scatter. Connecting two matches on reel one, one on reel two, two on reel three and two on reel five through a Wild on reel four gives eight ways across five reels. This is an illustrative layout rather than a claim about a Wild position’s average value. Symbol awards are shown in cash for the current bet.
Mystery, peanuts and round length
Between features, any spin can see the Mystery feature add one to five Mystery scatters. They join whatever peanuts already landed and raise your chance of reaching the three needed for free spins. You cannot predict when it fires; it is part of each spin’s random outcome.
Three or more peanuts trigger free spins; two or more during the bonus extend them. Intermediate retrigger awards are unspecified in the supplied data and belong in the help screen. The bonus retains the triggering spin’s stake. Neither the starting spin count nor past blanks guarantees completed meters.
| Peanuts | Trigger award | Retrigger in the bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | — | +3 |
| 3 | 7 | see paytable |
| 4 | 11 | see paytable |
| 5 | 15 | see paytable |
| 6 | 19 | +11 |
Orbs and four transformations
Thirteen symbols include the elephant, four red, yellow, green and blue mids, six A–9 card ranks, Wild and peanut. Cards do not transform. During the bonus, orb-carrying elephants fill separate mid-symbol meters; a completed meter replaces its colour with elephants on every reel until bonus end and adds one spin. Orb thresholds and weights are undisclosed.
In an illustrative four-peanut round, eleven spins become twelve after the blue meter fills, a peanut pair adds three and a yellow meter adds one. Two mid types now show elephants while other colours and cards remain. Extensions provide more chances to fill meters without the example establishing frequency or a typical event order.
Maths and later herds
RTP is 96.1%, hit rate 22.8% and volatility high. No other build is listed in the material, which does not prove none exists. Maximum exposure of 8200x means the round’s maximum relative to the stake rather than an exclusive four-meter scenario. The sequel’s stop-at-limit rule does not transfer to the original, whose description does not establish it. Mystery and bonus frequencies are unpublished.
Pink Elephants 2 arrived in 2020 with the same ways, goats replacing coloured icons and stepwise upgrades to all-elephant mids after the fourth meter; its limit is 10,000x. November 2025’s Trinity adds six levels, a seventh centre reel, up to 16,384 ways, 144 peanuts to reach the triangle apex, a 14,000x limit and four Ante options raising trigger chances threefold to one hundred forty-fourfold at higher cost.
Esqueleto Explosivo uses cascades and exploding skeletons; Carnival Queen offers another Thunderkick theme. The original’s supplied dates differ: a September information sheet and November debut in the press release do not establish an exact launch day.
