🎤 3 Pigs Instant Blitz Slot Q&A with Alexandros Mavroudis

Q: 3 Pigs Instant Blitz brings your most successful franchise into the new Instant Blitz vertical. What made the pigs the right characters to launch this faster, round-based format, rather than a brand-new IP?

AM: “The pigs were a natural choice because they already have a strong identity and players understand that each one brings something different to the experience. That gave us a familiar foundation for introducing a format that plays very differently from a traditional slot.

Rather than asking players to learn a new game and a new set of characters at the same time, we could use the Red, Yellow and Blue pigs as clear guides to the progression. Their individual powers also map neatly onto the structure of Instant Blitz, with one expanding the playing area, one increasing value and one extending the action.

It allowed us to preserve the personality of the franchise while showing that the pigs can work in a completely new type of game.”

Q: The move from a traditional spinning reel to a round-based ‘press ROUND to reveal’ model is a significant shift. What player behaviour or market gap is the Instant Blitz vertical designed to address?

AM: “We wanted to explore different ways of delivering instant-win entertainment, rather than simply recreating a slot in a shorter form. Instant Blitz is designed as a self-contained burst of play, almost like purchasing a compact feature experience in which a great deal can happen across four rounds.

That cadence suits players who want an outcome quickly, but still value progression, anticipation and the possibility of the game changing as it unfolds. It also helps us cover a broader instant-win space within the Gaming Corps portfolio, including a play pattern that will feel familiar in markets where scratchcard-style products are already well understood.

The aim was not to strip out depth, but to compress it into a shorter, more concentrated experience.”

Q: The game opens with just 4 rounds and 3 of the 6 rows locked. Why start players in such a constrained state, and what does that do for the sense of progression as rows and rounds unlock?

AM: “We did not really view the opening state as constrained. We saw it as loaded with visible potential. Although 3 rows begin locked, players can see what lies behind them, so there is an immediate sense of what the game could become if the Red Pig is collected.

That matters in a 4-round format because progression needs to be easy to understand and meaningful from the outset. Every unlocked row changes the scale of the playing area and creates further opportunities for collections and cascades.

Alongside the extra rounds and multipliers offered by the other pigs, it gives players several ways to improve their position during a very compact game. The excitement comes from watching that initial setup evolve, sometimes dramatically, before the final round.”

Q: Collection works on a ‘5 of a symbol awards its prize, overflow counts toward the next’ basis rather than paying per cluster. What led you to that accumulation model over a more conventional cluster-pays payout?

AM: “The accumulation model gave us another way to build anticipation across the 4 rounds. With a conventional cluster pay, a win can feel complete as soon as that cluster disappears. Here, every collected symbol contributes towards a clear target, so even a smaller group can matter because it moves the player closer to the next prize.

Allowing overflow to count towards a subsequent award was important too, as it means successful cascades never feel wasted. It creates a more continuous sense of progress and makes players pay attention to what is building on the paytable, not only what has just landed on the grid.”

Q: The Prize Pot sits at the centre of everything: cascades, scatters and the wheel all feed it. How did you approach balancing a single accumulating pot so the multipliers feel rewarding without runaway wins?

AM: “The Prize Pot is the thread that connects the whole game. Instead of treating each win as a separate event, we wanted every collection, cascade and bonus reward to contribute to one total that players can watch develop across the session.

That creates the feeling that they are always one strong round, 1 extra feature or 1 multiplier away from a much bigger result. From a balancing perspective, the fixed starting length, the caps on Pig Scatter triggers, the staged Yellow Pig multiplier and the 2,000x maximum win all give the maths clear boundaries.

The important thing was to let the pot feel capable of accelerating without making that acceleration routine.”

Q: Each pig has a distinct job: Red unlocks rows, Yellow drives the x2-to-x5 multiplier, Blue adds rounds, and each can trigger up to 3 times. How did you decide which pig owned which mechanic, and how did you tune those caps?

AM: “We wanted the 3 powers to be immediately distinguishable, both visually and in terms of what they contribute. Red is the most direct and disruptive of the pigs, so giving it the ability to break open locked rows felt like a natural fit. Yellow is closely associated with value, which made the escalating Prize Pot multiplier an intuitive role, while Blue changes the rhythm by adding time and further opportunities.

The 3-trigger cap gives each mechanic room to develop without allowing any 1 feature to dominate the entire game. It also creates a simple progression that players can read quickly.”

Q: The Blue Pig’s escalating +1, +2, +3 round awards reward repeat triggers within a game. Was extending session length a deliberate design goal, and how do you keep that from feeling like it drags?

AM: “Yes, extending the game was a deliberate part of the design, but the value is less about session length and more about opportunity. Once players understand the cadence of Instant Blitz, it becomes clear that even one additional round can materially change the outcome.

It is another chance to complete a collection, reveal a Pig Scatter, reach the Wheel Bonus or add value before a multiplier is applied. The escalating +1, +2 and +3 structure also makes repeat Blue Pig triggers increasingly exciting.

We avoid the mechanic feeling drawn out because each round is quick and purposeful. Extra rounds do not interrupt the flow or create a separate feature sequence. They simply give the player another immediate shot at building a larger Prize Pot.

Q: The Wheel Bonus tops out at GRANDx2 for 2,000x, exactly the game’s max win. Was the wheel deliberately built as the primary route to the ceiling?

AM: “Yes, that was deliberate. We wanted every major feature to feel capable of producing a significant result, and the Wheel Bonus provides the clearest direct route to the game’s 2,000x ceiling through the GRANDx2 reward.

Because the wheel guarantees a prize, its arrival also creates an immediate moment of hope, regardless of which segment is ultimately selected. At the same time, it still feeds the same Prize Pot as the rest of the game, so it feels connected to the wider progression rather than operating as an isolated bonus.”

Q: The game ships at 3 RTP versions: 96.15%, 94.15% and 92.05%. From a design standpoint, how do you keep the experience feeling consistent across a spread that wide, and what’s your view on operators choosing the lower versions?

AM: “The core experience has to remain recognisably the same across every RTP version. The grid structure, 4-round cadence, Pig Scatter progression, Prize Pot and Wheel Bonus do not change, so players still encounter the same central mechanics and moments of anticipation.

The mathematical adjustments sit behind that experience and are tuned so the game retains its intended rhythm and identity. Operators ultimately select the version that fits their regulatory, market and commercial requirements, and that choice is not unique to this title.”

Q: With the pigs now spanning both your classic games and the Instant Blitz vertical, where does the franchise go next, and are there other Gaming Corps titles you’d like to bring into this format?

AM: “Instant Blitz demonstrates that the 3 Pigs franchise can move into a very different format without losing the character and identity that made it successful. That gives us plenty to explore, both for the pigs themselves and for the wider Gaming Corps portfolio.

We are interested in the point where an established theme, character or mechanic can genuinely add something to the Instant Blitz structure, rather than moving titles across simply because we can. The format needs ideas that can develop meaningfully over a small number of rounds.

There are certainly other Gaming Corps worlds that could suit that approach, but we would rather keep the specifics under wraps until we have something distinctive and fully formed to show!”

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