Fox Festival review: plinko meets a Japanese lantern festival
No reels, one ball and a board full of lanterns. Here is what changes when a plinko game gets gates, a windmill, spirit foxes and a jackpot.
Published 4 October 2026 · Updated 5 October 2026 · Nocturn Play
Fox Festival is a plinko-style casino game made by Nocturn Play: you drop a ball from the top of a board with 14 rows of lantern pegs and it lands in one of 9 pockets. Pockets further from the centre pay more, torii gates multiply wins by up to ×10, and touching a spirit fox starts the Fox Procession bonus. The game launched on 4 October 2026 with a top prize of 5,000× the stake, and you can drop balls for free on nocturnplay.com.
The festival
Picture a summer night in a Japanese shrine town: red lanterns strung in rows, wooden torii gates, a little pinwheel turning in the breeze and three spirit foxes watching from the board, Ember, Moon and Ink, each with its own colour. The pegs are the lanterns themselves, so every bounce lights one up for an instant. It is calmer than most casino games to look at and quick to read, and the soft lantern glow makes it easy on the eyes during a late session.
How to play Fox Festival
Choose one of the 7 bet levels, then pick where the ball starts: there are 5 positions along the top rail. Release it. The ball works its way down through the lanterns and settles in a pocket. The centre pocket is special, the outer ones pay the most. That is the whole loop, and a round takes seconds.
What can happen on the way down
- Torii gates multiply the win by ×2, ×3, ×5 or ×10. If the ball passes through two, they multiply each other: a ×3 then a ×5 gives ×15.
- The windmill can catch the ball and push it toward a better pocket.
- Spirit foxes open the Fox Procession when the ball touches one.
- The centre pocket opens the jackpot ladder, which climbs through four tiers from the Bell to the Grand Fox, with Moon and Sun in between.
The Fox Procession, explained with one drop
You send a ball from the second rail position. It bounces left, clips the Moon Fox halfway down and the board changes mood: the procession begins. Balls start raining from the top. A shared multiplier rises each time a ball touches a peg, so long, busy paths are good news. Some lanterns stay lit when struck and release an extra ball. When the last ball lands, the pocket values are paid with the multiplier the procession has built up. You can also buy the Procession straight away instead of waiting for a fox.
Plinko, pachinko and where Fox Festival sits
Most online plinko games, such as the versions from Spribe or BGaming, keep things bare: a triangle of pegs, a row of multiplier slots, a risk setting. They are fast and abstract. Japanese pachinko, at the other end, is a loud vertical machine full of steel balls and side events. Fox Festival borrows the clean decision-free drop of plinko and the vertical board and little events of pachinko, then adds a proper bonus and a jackpot ladder, which most plinko titles don't have.
Who will like it
It fits short sessions and players who want something lighter than a five-reel slot without losing the chance of a big moment. Because rounds are so quick, decide your budget first and keep the stake flat; autoplay can stop by itself when the Procession starts so you don't miss it, and turbo trims the animation if you only want results.
Mobile and desktop
A tall board is made for a phone held upright, and that is how many people will play it. Landscape and desktop screens show the full festival scenery around the board. It is one HTML5 build for every device.
Play it, or add it to your casino
Start dropping balls for free on the Fox Festival page, or see the other new releases. If you like games without reels, our Night Bingo review is the next stop. Casino operators connected to SoftAggregator found Fox Festival in their lobby on release day; like every Nocturn Play title it is billed at 8% of GGR.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fox Festival a slot?
No. It is a pachinko and plinko-style ball game with no reels: a ball falls through 14 rows of lantern pegs into one of 9 pockets.
Does the drop point change my chances?
No. The result is decided when you place the bet. The drop point only changes the path the ball takes on screen.
How do you trigger the Fox Procession?
The ball has to touch one of the spirit foxes on the board. The Procession can also be bought.
What are the jackpot levels?
There are four, reached through the centre pocket: Bell is the first rung, then Moon, then Sun, and Grand Fox is the top prize.
Can I play Fox Festival on my phone?
Yes, in any mobile browser, free on nocturnplay.com, without installing anything.
