Hopefully, you've got your running shoes on for this one; Pragmatic Play is back for some more rushing-about action in an online slot titled Jewel Rush. One of the most closely related times the studio has done so in the past was in the candy game Sugar Rush (and to an extent Fruit Party). As well as having the word 'Rush' in the title, the two games have a number of things in common, which should be music to the ears of players who appreciated the simple yet entertaining game that was Sugar Rush. If anything, Jewel Rush is even simpler, streamlining the features but making sure there is plenty of clustering, tumbling, and multiplier action to be sampled. Just this time, it uses jewels instead of teeth-busting treats.
Where Sugar Rush supplied a dreamy wonderland for users to inhabit built from candy, Jewel Rush does the same thing but using sparkling, err, jewels, presumably. It's a little hard to tell what's going on in the background on account of it all being a bit blurry, though not to worry, the focus in Jewel Rush is its gameplay, and it can be fun once Jewel Rush starts letting its features loose.
In many ways, it all starts with clustering, and winning combinations in Jewel Rush are formed when at least 5 matching symbols land in clusters adjacent to each other. Hitting the spin button drops 49 bejewelled symbols into a 7x7 size gaming grid. Winning clusters are removed from the board, and the gaps are filled by other symbols falling down from above. If a new win is created after the drop, the tumbling feature triggers again. This Jewel Rush does with a highly volatile math model (rated 5 out of 5), which generates a maximum RTP of 96.47% - whether playing through the base game or by buying the free spins feature.
As already alluded to, the symbols in Jewel Rush are all of the hard, shiny jewel variety. From the bottom to the top in value are blue, yellow/orange, purple, green, turquoise, red, and pink gems. Landing a 5-symbol cluster win pays 0.2 to 1 times the bet, while the biggest 15+ symbol clusters award 20 to 150 times the bet. There isn't a wild, yet scatter symbols are present on all reels.
As well as the Tumble feature, Jewel Rush has a Random Multiplier feature, free spins, and buy free spins extra.
In the base game, each symbol involved in a win may randomly carry an x2 multiplier. The total win of the cluster is multiplied by the product of all multipliers part of the win. In other words, multipliers multiply each other when part of the same win. The total maximum a multiplier can be is x256.
Hitting 3 or more scatter symbols in any position triggers 10 free spins. In free spins, each symbol in a winning cluster has a chance of carrying a multiplier of x2 or x4. As in the base game, the cluster win is multiplied by the product of all multipliers that are part of the combination. Still, the maximum remains at x256. The chance of hitting multipliers is higher during the free spins round. Also, landing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatter symbols awards an additional 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 free spins, respectively.
Can't wait to get to the free spins bit? If so, then shelling out a payment of 100x the bet gets you an instant trigger from the base game, and 10 free spins.
Jewel Rush is one of those games which might not look like much, but it feels like it's got the sort of easy-going playability that will resonate with a number of players. On the thematic side, there really isn't much to say. Jewel Rush doesn't drape itself in the subject matter like its distant forebear, Sugar Rush, a slot that actually went on to become one of Pragmatic's most popular releases. Apart from a bit of blur going on the back and some jewels on the board, that's about it. When you think about it, Pragmatic Play could have practically used anything to get more or less the same effect - doughnuts, mechanical tools, musical notes? The list is long and random.
But it's unlikely players are going to be ploughing through Jewel Rush to gain a deeper understanding of valuable rocks. It's the easy-going, easy-to-understand, playable gaming which is likely to pull punters in. The multiplier system, for one, has been toned down, so it's about as straightforward as it gets. As a comparison, multipliers in Sugar Rush appeared from a system which added multipliers when winning symbols were removed from highlighted positions and could increase further when future winning symbols were removed from the same spot. Here, symbols just randomly get multipliers; that's it, job done. Or they don't, and hopefully, you've got better luck next time. At maximum luck, players are able to collect wins as high as 5,000 times the bet, matching Sugar Rush.
Sugar Rush, Fruit Party, Fruit Party 2 ;Pragmatic Play excel at making games like this and have a strong track record. These sorts of slots go to show that the front end doesn't have to be elaborately designed, contain much (if anything) in the way of original subject matter, or deliver fiendishly complex features to find a measure of success in the gambling community. Jewel Rush did, in some ways, feel better suited to bonus buyers, perhaps, and didn't come across as developed as Sugar Rush, but there is a good chance it'll find an appreciative audience all the same.
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