ELK Studios

About ELK Studios

ELK Studios is a Swedish studio founded in 2013 and based in Stockholm, with 15 slots in our library (November 2026). It is known for the CollectR and X-iter mechanics, in games such as Pirots and Cygnus. It is one of the studios on our slot providers list.

According to ELK's About page, the studio was founded in 2013 and supplies hundreds of licensed operators. Its timeline puts the first office on Engelbrektsgatan, a move to Vasagatan 40 in September 2015 and, from March 2017, an office at Stockholm Central Station. ELKAB Studios AB is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission under account 40844, according to the same page, and ELK Studios Malta Ltd holds a Malta Gaming Authority B2B critical gaming supply licence issued on 27 February 2019. The studio also lists a Romanian licence for software production and hosting.

ELK Studios signature features

CollectR comes first. ELK introduced it in Pirots and describes it as a new way of paying wins: birds collect gems of their own colour, and each symbol pays its value as long as the colours match. Collected symbols fill a feature meter that awards chests of feature symbols such as coin wins, wilds, grid expanders and symbol upgrades. Pirots 2 and its sequels add a super bonus.

X-iter is the other half. It is a platform feature that lets you pick a predefined mode and jump straight in, with up to 5 modes per game. In Pirots, ELK says the modes range from a 3x bet with more than four times the chance of a bonus to a 500x bet Super Bonus. Four of our 15 games carry the bonus buy tag.

Step by step, per ELK's Pirots page: the birds sit on a 5x5 grid and collect gems of their own colour; each collected symbol adds to the feature meter; a full meter awards three chests of feature symbols (coin wins, wilds, grid expander, symbol upgrade, symbol transform, bonus symbols); three bonus symbols collected in one round trigger the bonus, where grid size, gem win level and the meter stay put. In Pirots 2, the gems upgrade up to 7 times, raising the payout at each step.

X-iter prices its modes as multiples of your bet. In Pirots, ELK says the five modes run from 3x the bet, with more than four times the chance of the bonus, to a 500x bet Super Bonus at the maximum grid size. At 20 cent that is 60 cent for the cheapest mode and €100 for the top one, five times a whole €20 session. Pirots 5 tops out at 250x (€50), and Cygnus 6 runs from 2.5x (50 cent) to a 500x Cygnus Realm entry. Whether a casino offers these modes depends on the casino and the market, so check the game's info screen.

ELK also makes cluster pays games: in Pirots X and Avalon X, wins come from clusters of 5 or more matching symbols, and each win leaves a wild behind. Both use a global multiplier.

Best-known ELK Studios slots

RTP 94%HIGH

Pirots

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Pirots 2

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Pirots 3

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Cygnus 6

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Avalon X

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 96.2%HIGH

Katmandu Gold

ELK Studios

Play demo

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  Pirots

  ELK Studios

  5x5 pirate-bird slot with CollectR, 10,000x max win in the studio's description.
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  Pirots 2

  ELK Studios

  6x6, adds a super bonus; ELK's timeline also notes that it won a Game of the Year award in May 2024.
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  Pirots 3

  ELK Studios

  A 6x7 western with duels and a train heist, 10,000x.
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  Cygnus 6

  ELK Studios

  6x4 celestial slot with an instant max win symbol, 50,000x in the studio's description.
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  Avalon X

  ELK Studios

  6x7 cluster slot, mystery boxes and a super bonus, 10,000x.
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  Katmandu Gold

  ELK Studios

  Avalanches expand the rows up to 9 and 531,441 ways, and ELK calls it its first slot with a Buy Bonus feature; 96.2% RTP.

ELK Studios game series

ELK builds in series, and our library has six Pirots games (Pirots, 2, 3, 4, X and 5) and six Cygnus games, from Cygnus in December 2019 to Cygnus 6. The series evolved one mechanic at a time, according to ELK's pages. Pirots is a 5x5 grid with CollectR and a single bonus. Pirots 2 moves to 6x6, adds a super bonus and a popcorn symbol that lets birds cross empty spaces. Pirots 3 is a 6x7 western: two adjacent birds can duel, a bandit escapes and a train heist awards feature symbols. Pirots 4 goes to space with a Space Bandit and a Lost in Space coin game, and ELK says it introduced time-based evolution, an in-game countdown that ran after release. Pirots X swaps the collecting grid for a 5x5 cluster game with a global multiplier. Pirots 5 returns to CollectR in a cursed temple, where a secret door rotates the grid and Captain Blackfeather turns birds into ghosts. ELK lists a 10,000x potential for every Pirots game in the series. Avalon Gold and Avalon X form a smaller pair.

RTP 94%HIGH

Pirots 4

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 96%HIGH

Pirots 5

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Pirots X

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 96.1%HIGH

Cygnus

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Cygnus 2

ELK Studios

Play demo

RTP 94%HIGH

Avalon Gold

ELK Studios

Play demo

ELK Studios RTP and volatility profile

All 15 games in our library have an RTP. The average is 94.42% and the median 94%, from 94% to 96.2% (Katmandu Gold); 12 sit at 94%. This is the whole library for the studio, not one game, and it is below the 96.33% median across our full library.

In euros, 100 spins at 20 cent is a €20 session. At 94% the expected loss is about €1.20, against €0.80 for Pirots 5 at 96%. All 15 are high volatility, so most of the return sits in the features. The same split shows in the Cygnus series: the original Cygnus shows 96.1% in our library and Cygnus 2 to 6 show 94%, which on €20 is about €0.78 expected loss against €1.20. A 10,000x win at 20 cent is €2,000 and Cygnus 6's 50,000x would be €10,000, but hitting a cap is very unlikely.

ELK Studios themes

The most common themes are stars (6 games), pirates (3), space (3) and birds (3), with parrots in 2. Cygnus supplies the stars; Pirots supplies the birds, pirates and space. By look, 4 are cartoon-style, so see cartoon slots for the family.

New ELK Studios releases

Two ELK games in our library are from 2026: Cygnus 6 on 6 January and Pirots 5 on 23 July. ELK's own timeline lists 21 launches between January and October 2026, two a month on average, so most of its year is not in our library yet. All new releases are on the new slots 2026 page.

1. 2013

   ELK Studios

   Founded, with its first office on Engelbrektsgatan.

2. 2014

   ELK Studios

   The Lab, its first slot, goes live in October.

3. 2017

   ELK Studios

   Wild Toro wins Game of the Year at the EGR Operators Award, per ELK's timeline.

4. 2021

   ELK Studios

   X-iter wins game innovation of the year at the 5 Star Starlet awards, per ELK's timeline.

5. 2023

   ELK Studios

   Pirots launches with the CollectR mechanic.

6. 2025

   ELK Studios

   Pirots 4 arrives in July.

7. 2026

   ELK Studios

   Pirots 5 arrives in July; 21 launches listed by October.

ELK Studios in Ireland

Casino coverage. 14 of the 37 Irish casinos we review carry ELK games, from the game-provider lists in our casino reviews (November 2026). That compares with 25 for Playtech and 36 for Pragmatic Play, so ELK is a catalogue to look for, not one every lobby has.

What Irish lobbies show. In our check of casino lobbies in early November 2026, LeoVegas IE's first row of slots included Pirots 5. It was one lobby on one day, so read it as a snapshot.

How people look. In Google, "pirots" gets about 590 searches a month in Ireland (November 2026), "pirots 4" 30 and "pirots 5" 30; "elk studios" gets 210 and "elk studios slots" 10. Irish players search for the game by name, and many will not know who made it.

Irish themes. ELK has no leprechaun or Irish-themed games in our library. If you want those, Irish slots lists 145 from other studios, including Blueprint Gaming.

Where to play ELK Studios slots in Ireland

Each casino chooses which ELK games it carries, so search for the title before you deposit. Our best slot sites in Ireland list shows the casinos we recommend for slots.

Real money is different from a demo. The GRAI has licensed remote betting in Ireland since 1 July 2026, and online gaming licences are due from 2027, so look at the casino's licence on our real-money casinos list first. These are high volatility games, so set a budget you can lose. Play is for adults 18 and over. If gambling stops being fun, GamblingCare.ie runs a free 24-hour helpline on 1800 936 725, and there is more help on responsible gambling.