Behind the Barbecue: Hangovers & Holidays with Cameron Fraser
Pineapple Play breaks down Hangovers & Holidays, combining dual multiplier engines, All-Ways cascading mechanics, and top-reel modifiers with a 10,000x max win potential. The studio team shares how they balanced Burnout features, crafted Billy's Aussie character, and tuned the math for maximum spin momentum.
We noticed that Hangovers & Holidays is the second consecutive title where you've layered two distinct multiplier engines: the additive grid multipliers in Spread the Love and the global spin multiplier in the Cooler Box. Is combining dual multiplier systems becoming Pineapple Play's official mathematical signature, and what can we expect on this front in your upcoming releases?
Good spotting! It's something we have found ourselves coming back to. The two multipliers do different jobs. Spread the Love works on the grid, so you can see exactly which win it touched. The Cooler Box is applied at the end of the spin to the spin total. We find they work well together allowing wins and anticipation to build up over the course of a spin.
You'll see the combination again, but not in every game.
Around 90% of modern 6x5 grid slots default straight to a Scatter Pays engine. What inspired the team to break away from that industry standard and build Hangovers & Holidays as an All Ways cascading slot instead?
When we spoke about Toothrot Tilly, we said you'd see ways games from us again. Here it is!
The win type is shaped by how we want the gameplay to feel. In Hangovers & Holidays, ways wins anchor the features and make room for Burnout, where every symbol on a reel turns Wild. Dropping five Wilds onto the grid at once is much harder to make work with scatter pays.
Ways wins are also easy to understand. Players match symbols on adjacent reels from left to right, with no paylines to trace, so they can focus on the features. That matters here, because there's a fair bit going on visually, with the Character Reel and Trigger Reel, the Cooler Box.
On a 6x5 grid, there are also thousands of ways to win, so the grid stays lively and the cascades keep the momentum of each spin building. Different win types suit different games. For Hangovers & Holidays, ways wins with cascades was the right fit.
The top 2x1 Character and Trigger reels add incredible dynamic energy to base game spins. How did you approach balancing the trigger rates of modifiers like Burnout and Spread the Love alongside the main Daddy's Dime bonus feature?
We start by deciding the role each feature plays, how they should interact and how frequently they should land. Burnout and Spread the Love are the base game's regular moments. They keep sessions lively and give real substance to the Cooler Box multiplier. Daddy's Dime is the holiday, the bigger moment players wait for. The Character Reel and Trigger Reel gives each feature its own visible trigger which make it clear that every feature needs its own pair to land in the same spin.
Then we play it, a lot. We know how we want the gameplay to feel, and numbers that look right on paper can still feel wrong when you play the game. We're checking the rhythm, not too long between moments, and not so often that the features start to feel routine.
Billy, the backyard BBQ setting, the mullet, flip-flops, and Aussie summer vibes give the slot tons of charm. How much fun did the studio have building Billy's persona, and is there any chance we'll see him return in a future sequel or spin-off?
Way too much fun! Billy is the bloke every Australian knows, knows of, or is. Singlet, thongs (flip-flops for everyone else), mullet, beer in hand and not a worry in the world. The base game is his backyard on a perfect summer's day. The Daddy's Dime bonus game is his tropical holiday, where the night before is forgotten and the good times roll on.
Will Billy be back? Never say never.
Billy looks like a man living through one serious weekend. If the Pineapple Play team had to endure a similar backyard hangover while testing and fine-tuning this math model, what was the studio's official cure, and exactly how many beers from the Cooler Box were required to balance that 10,000x Max Win?
No hangovers here, just a lot of fun and good spirits the whole way through. The official cure was pineapple juice, a sausage sizzle and a very long nap. Now we're just excited to see Billy head off on his holiday on 28 October!
About Pineapple Play
Pineapple Play: The Bold New Australian Studio Ready to Innovate
A new and ambitious contender has emerged from Down Under, set to bring a fresh burst of creativity and energy to the global online gambling industry. Pineapple Play, a dynamic new Australian game studio founded in 2024, is poised to make a significant and lasting impact. Headquartered in the vibrant city of Brisbane, Australia, this ambitious company is entering the competitive market not just to participate, but to lead with a clear and distinct vision.
Strategic Launch and Experienced Team
A significant signal of their market-readiness is their strategic partnership as a Hacksaw Gaming OpenRGS partner. This collaboration provides a powerful platform for their debut, ensuring their games reach a wide audience. The studio is kicking off its portfolio with its first-ever title, "Coconut Chaos." This debut game is more than just a launch; it represents the first step in the studio's ambitious journey to reshape player expectations and introduce a new standard of entertainment.
Pineapple Play was born from an ambitious vision to build a studio founded on core principles of agility, boldness, and relentless innovation. Their leadership team has explicitly stated a desire to create an environment where they can experiment with new ideas and forge their own unique path, rather than simply following established trends. This commitment to fresh thinking is at the heart of their operations.
Based in their Brisbane headquarters, the company prides itself on being a close-knit team. This isn't a faceless corporation; it's a collective of passionate creatives, talented artists, dedicated storytellers, and skilled engineers. What unifies them is a shared passion for gaming, a deep interest in technology, and an unyielding drive for innovation. While the studio itself was founded in 2024, the team behind it is composed of industry veterans. They bring a formidable amount of expertise to the table, boasting a combined experience of over 30 years in the gaming industry. This powerful blend of a fresh, agile startup mentality and deep, time-tested industry knowledge forms the core of their strategy.
A Philosophy of Quality and Craft
The studio's philosophy for creating great games is rooted in a specific and deliberate formula. The team at Pineapple Play believes that true success starts with a unique, compelling vision. This vision is then intricately blended with clever mechanics that are designed to engage, surprise, and excite players.
However, the process doesn't stop with mechanics. The studio places immense and equal value on presentation, firmly believing that a game must be a complete sensory experience. They are committed to bringing their concepts to life through meticulous, handcrafted visuals and an overarching dedication to high-quality production. This dedication to craft is central to their mission. They are not just looking to create functional games; they are looking to create polished, artistic experiences that resonate with players on both a visual and a mechanical level, setting them apart in a crowded marketplace.
Mission: A Fresh Take on a Mature Industry
Pineapple Play has set an exceptionally high bar for itself. Their goals are twofold and crystal clear: to release a portfolio of games that are implicitly trusted by operators and, most importantly, that consistently entertain and captivate players. The studio is on a mission to prove that even in a mature industry, there is still significant opportunity to bring a fresh take. With their 30+ years of combined experience, a clear philosophy, and the backing of the Hacksaw Gaming OpenRGS platform, they are exceptionally well-equipped to achieve this vision. All eyes will be on their debut game, "Coconut Chaos," as the industry and players alike wait to see the first glimpse of this bold new Australian creative force.
