18+ Only. Play Responsibly.
The pinecone was going the wrong way.
It had already bounced through the canopy, survived the middle of the tree and reached a metal bucket near the roots.
That should have been the end.
A gnome pulled a red lever.
The bucket snapped backward.
The pinecone shot straight up through two levels of branches and landed almost where it had started.
The gnome adjusted his hat.
Pine of Plinko 3 had been open for less than ten minutes and gravity had already lost control of the forest.
I was playing at €1.
The reels sat between snow-covered pines, little wooden workshops and enough brass piping to suggest the gnomes had spent the previous winter unsupervised.
Some pinecones were ordinary symbols.
Others arrived carrying numbers.
Three of those numbered Scatters landed together.
They showed 3, 4 and 5.
Twelve drops.
The reels folded away.
The tree opened.
It was much taller inside than anything outside had suggested.
The top section disappeared into snowy branches. Beneath it sat a middle level packed with pegs, gates and little rotating arms. The roots formed the bottom board, ending in prize pockets and several suspicious-looking buckets.
Twelve pinecones waited at the top.
The first dropped through the canopy, clipped two wooden pegs and found €2.
The next landed in €1.
The third hit a glowing brass bumper.
A meter beside one of the gnomes moved.
Another pinecone struck the same kind of bumper.
The gnome began winding a handle.
By the time the fifth pinecone reached the middle level, the meter was full.
He slammed both hands onto a brass button.
Every pinecone still moving split into two.
Seven live drops became fourteen.
The tree immediately developed a pinecone surplus.
They bounced through the canopy together, knocking into pegs and spilling down different routes. Three entered the trunk level at once. One fell through a trapdoor. Another caught a moving gate and was kicked sideways.
The first few reached pockets worth €1, €2, €3 and €5.
Then one landed in the bucket.
The gnome pulled the lever.
Up it went.
Back into the middle of the tree.
A second pinecone dropped into the same bucket almost immediately.
Up again.
The forest had built a Plinko machine and then installed machinery specifically to prevent things from completing the Plinko machine.
Another cluster found the glowing bumpers.
The meter filled again.
The clockwork gnome hit the button.
The surviving pinecones duplicated.
The screen went from busy to agricultural weather event.
Brown shapes bounced through the snow-covered branches. Gnomes opened gates, pulled levers and fired catapults uphill. One pinecone dropped almost cleanly through the centre while six others crossed behind it in different directions.
The prize total climbed slowly.
€18 became €24, then €31.
The number of pinecones moving around suggested considerably more.
Then a gold one appeared.
It had been created during the latest split.
The gnomes stopped waving.
The Golden Pinecone glowed as it entered the upper level.
It hit one peg.
Then another.
A narrow brass rail caught it and guided it into the trunk.
One of the catapult buckets caught it.
The lever dropped.
The Golden Pinecone went back up.
It returned on a better angle.
Peg.
Gate.
Another peg.
Then it disappeared into a hollow carved into the centre of the tree.
Everything flashed.
A separate set of prize pockets opened underneath.
The gold pinecone dropped again.
No €1.
No €2.
It bounced twice and landed in €40.
That finally matched the amount of engineering taking place around it.
The ordinary pinecones were still falling.
Another duplication meter filled.
The gnome hit the button.
More splits.
The live count passed ninety.
At one point there were ninety-six pinecones working their way through a structure being operated by creatures approximately the height of the prize pockets.
One gnome kept turning a crank.
Another stood over the duplication button.
A third fired the same three pinecones uphill so often that they appeared to have become regular commuters.
The prize total crept upward through €64, €71 and €79.
Dozens of impacts.
Repeated duplication.
One Golden Pinecone.
Several successful launches against gravity.
The feature finished at €87.
The tree folded itself back into the forest.
A gnome appeared beside the reels holding a wrench and looking as though the last minute had gone exactly according to plan.
Financially, almost nothing dramatic had happened.
I stayed at €1.
The next stretch became strangely calm.
One numbered Scatter appeared.
Then two.
Never three.
A pinecone marked 5 landed beside one marked 4, but the third never arrived.
The gnomes remained visible in the background beside all that dormant machinery.
After ninety-six pinecones, ordinary spins seemed like an administrative error in the forest.
A small event broke the quiet when three plain pinecones landed together.
Only the lower half of the tree opened.
Three quick drops followed.
The pockets returned €2, €1 and €5.
No duplication.
No catapult.
No Golden Pinecone.
The gnome beside the brass button did not even stand up.
The reels returned.
A line win produced €6.
Another gave €3.
Then the game drifted again.
The first Plinko payment was slowly disappearing one €1 spin at a time.
Two numbered Scatters came several times.
On one spin the third pinecone passed through the final reel and disappeared below the line.
The gnomes remained patient.
Eventually all three arrived.
This time they carried 2, 3 and 4.
Nine drops.
The tree opened again.
The first pinecone landed in €2.
The second hit a glowing bumper.
The third hit another.
The meter filled much faster than before.
Button.
The active pinecones doubled.
Then a bucket caught one and launched it back toward the canopy.
Another followed immediately.
One of those returning pinecones struck another glowing bumper on the way down.
The meter started filling again.
A few drops escaped to the bottom, finding €1, €3, €2 and another €1.
Then the second duplication came.
The remaining pinecones split.
The tree filled again.
Not ninety-six this time.
Enough to make all three gnomes start moving.
One opened a side gate and sent three pinecones down the same chute. Two reached €5. The last found €10.
Then another Golden Pinecone appeared.
It entered high on the left.
First peg sent it right.
Second sent it back left.
It passed cleanly through the middle gate.
The hidden hollow sat almost directly beneath it.
One final brass peg remained.
The gold pinecone hit the peg.
Moved perhaps an inch.
Missed the hollow.
Dropped into €3.
The same golden object that had previously opened a special prize section had just completed an elaborate journey through three levels of machinery to finish beside ordinary brown pinecones.
The gnome next to the hollow did not move.
There was no lever for that.
The remaining drops drained away.
One catapult fired a pinecone upward only for it to return into €2.
Another reached €5.
The feature total moved through €51, €58 and finally €65.
Then the tree folded away again.
Two full Plinko features had now produced a spectacular amount of forestry and almost no financial distance.
I played a few more €1 spins.
One paid €4.
Another produced two numbered Scatters.
The third did not appear.
Then a single ordinary pinecone landed on the middle reel.
No feature.
No glowing bumper.
No duplication.
No catapult.
It dropped through a little wooden chute in the background and landed at the bottom.
Straight down.
First attempt.
The three gnomes beside the machinery turned toward it.
For once, the forest had encountered a pinecone that understood gravity.
I tried one spin. Worms of Valor tried my patience.