Sweet Bonanza Slot Review

19/12/2020 | Categories: Pragmatic Play Slots | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 05/01/2024

Released in June of 2019, Sweet Bonanza was somewhat of an unexpected success for Pragmatic Play, and it still ranks among its fifteen most played slots. Due to its surprising popularity, the Malta-based company decided to churn out a sequel/update five months later, in time for the winter holidays. They called it Sweet Bonanza Xmas. While more of the same, it proved to be an even bigger hit. However, we decided to tell you why a surreal reel-spinning adventure on the original sugary reels is worth playing.

Theme & Design

The theme here is, well, sugar, we guess. Sweets and fruits that contain lots of sugar, which exist in a magical Dr. Seuss-like setting. The game aims to immerse you in an imaginative and vibrant candy-land, where the landscapes consist of cake glazing and candy wool floors, and mountains of delicious desserts. If you are looking for a bright and colorful slot full of mouth-watering treats, then look no further.

The reels here spin in the middle of your screen, a bit to your right, on a blurry background. The game needs real estate on the left to show off some of the tasty scenery and the bonus bet features. A thin candy cane frames the reel grid, and it has some whipped cream at the top. There, the game’s name shows up, as well as its max exposure and other game info. These switch every few seconds or so.

The button configuration is the standard Pragmatic Play one, which the company has utilized for the past couple of years on all its titles. There’s a small difference here in that it features a bar that darkens the background so that the white buttons do not blend in with the backdrop. The spin, auto-spin, and bet adjusters are on the right, while the mute, info, and settings buttons are on your left. The win information is in the middle, and the credit and bet ones are off-center and to your left.

Specs & Gameplay

Sweet Bonanza plays out on a six-reel, five-row grid. It utilizes a cluster pays engine, where winning combos happen when you hit eight or more identical symbols, which do not have to connect. The game also incorporates the cascading reels mechanic, which it calls tumble reels. Once a winning combination lands, the winning symbols explode, all the others fall down a spot, and new ones tumble onto the grid to fill in the available positions.

The game has an industry-standard RTP of 96.48%. However, you can find this title in RTP variants that are slightly higher, up to 96.51%. The variance here is medium to high, and the max exposure is a terrific x21,175. When you factor in that bets sizes on Sweet Bonanza range from $0.2 to $100, it becomes clear that a staggering max win awaits lucky spinners here.

Ironically, the low-paying symbols in the game are healthy fruits such as bananas, apples, plums, melons, and grapes. These award wins from x2 to x10 your bet when you hit twelve identical fruits on the reels. The high-paying symbols are different-shaped snacks, which are blue, green, pink, and red. They pay between x12 and x50 for twelve of a kind. The swirly lollipop is the game’s Scatter, and the candy bomb is a multiplier symbol that only appears in the Free Spins round. It can carry a random multiplier of x2 to x100.

Bonus Features

Sweet Bonanza has an Ante Bet option, which lets you customize your bet and variance level for the Free Spins round. You can select a bet multiplier, and depending on your selection, the game will behave differently. The x20 multiplier gives you the option to gain entry in the Free Spins round by making an x100 bet. The x25 multiplier doubles your chance to win entry in the Free Spins round. With this option, more Scatters will fall on the reels, and the buy-in feature becomes disabled.

Speaking of Scatters, when you land four or more, you access the Free Spins round. You start with ten complimentary reel rotations, and whenever you land three or more Scatters, during this round, you get five more. When inside this round, candy bombs can fall on the reels, which can have an x2 to x100 multiplier attached, and they will stay on the reels until the end of the tumbling sequence. Once the tumble chain ends, all the values get added together.