Honey Honey Honey (Pragmatic Play): Overview

Ever watched DreamWork's 2007 animated film Bee Movie and wished there was a video slot version to play? If your answer is yes, you probably need to take a break from slots. If you still insist, Pragmatic Play's bee-themed offering, poetically titled Honey Honey Honey, is as close as you'll get. Not just visually, mind you. The excessively childish graphics are coupled with an equally immature mathematical model which makes for lenient gameplay to go with the cheerful presentation.

Medium variance, Honey Honey Honey is a 20-payline video slot played on a classic 5-reel, 3-row reel set. Playable across all devices from 0.20 to €/$100 per spin, it comes with an array of randomly triggered base game modifiers as well as a bonus game with two different options for you to choose from - an extended version and one that is more straight to the point. By default, the theoretical return to player is set to a solid 96.5%, but as is often the case, casinos can choose lower settings to adjust for certain markets. That's why we urge players to always have a look at the paytable, just to make sure you get what you expect.

Speaking of paytables, Pragmatic Play has done things convenient for us by displaying symbol values relative to your current bet size. In other words, you don't have to bring out the calculator just to figure out the potential. At the bottom of the returns are the usual 10 to Aces royal values which are differentiated by colour and covered in honey. More rewarding are the picture symbols - in order of value, these are petunia flowers, rockrose flowers, honey jars, and the game's logo. The latter is the most lucrative, giving you 20 times your stake for a five of a kind combination. The bee worker is the wild - it appears on all reels and substitutes for all symbols bar the bonus symbol. It will also give you 25 times your stake for a five of a kind combination.

In our opinion, Honey Honey Honey is one of the better-looking slots to ever come from Pragmatic Play. Sure, if you begin to inspect some of the moving parts in the background more closely, you'll notice some botched work, such as the poorly cutout leaves and bushes, but overall, it's striking. In particular when it comes to animated bees which are spectacular. Visually, the reels are set inside a wooden frame dripping in sweet honey while a forest path forms the backdrop. It's colourful, joyful, and has a great feelgood vibe to it.

Honey Honey Honey (Pragmatic Play): Features

As mentioned previously, Honey Honey Honey has a set of base game modifiers included within the game. Known as the Random Spin feature, 3 bees can randomly appear at any spin - select one of the bees to trigger one of the following random modifiers:

• Honey Wilds - 5 to 10 wild symbols are randomly placed on the reels.
• Sticky Streak - A random three of a kind win combination appears on the reels which will then remain in place while a respin is played. Whenever a new matching symbol hits, it's also held, and a new respin is awarded. The feature ends when no new matching symbols appear.
• Win Spin - A win of at least 30 times your stake is guaranteed.
• 5 of a Kind - Guarantees that a random five of a kind combination hits.
• Free Spins - Guarantees that the bonus feature is triggered.

Aside from triggering the Free Spins through the Random Spin feature, you can also activate it by landing 3 bonus symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5. Once in, you're presented with two options:

• Play 8 Sticky Streak Free Spins - This feature is played like the Sticky Streak base game feature, but has one significant benefit. Here, a fully expanded wild symbol is always present on the central reel to help you form winning combinations.
• Play 5 Honey Queen Colossal Spins - During this feature, colossal symbols of 2x2 or 3x3 can hit, including the wild. Furthermore, wins may also be subject to a random 2x multiplier.

As a side note, the free spins feature is played along to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" that was originally written in 1863 during the American Civil War.

Honey Honey Honey (Pragmatic Play): Verdict

Mathematically, the Honey Honey Honey slot is a bit confusing. Theoretically, landing a full screen of wilds in the Honey Queen free spins game along with a 2x multiplier should pay 1000 times your stake. Yet, the game as an advertised max win of just 400x. While none of those numbers are particularly impressive, 400x is something we'd expect to see from one of Microgaming's many partnering studios and not Pragmatic Play. No veteran player in their right mind will ever find a mathematical model like this attractive.

Does that mean the game is a total failure? No, absolutely not. There is likely a market for a game like this, it's just that you're unlikely to find it in the casino community. Sure, some will be intrigued by the superb visuals and willing to give it a shot, and they might even enjoy it, but mostly it will be played by newbies and those that could care less about volatility, RTP and all those other technical aspects. If you're just looking to be entertained, Pragmatic Play have created an outstanding slot. If you want to get a kick out of your slot session, look elsewhere.