Isn't it funny in the gambling biz when it seems like one studio does something, then another sees what they're doing and wants to get in on the action? This may (or may not) have been the case after Play'n GO started converting some of its slots to '100' versions, upping many of the stats while tinkering with the features. Examples include Moon Princess 100, Honey Rush 100, and Sweet Alchemy 100. Proving it can do the same thing, Pragmatic Play dropped a couple of '1000' slots, such as Gates of Olympus 1000 (naturally) and Starlight Princess 1000. Another game which has received the thousand treatment is the calorific slot, Sugar Rush. Here, then, we've got Sugar Rush 1000, a much, much bigger game in many regards.
Usually, the visuals in these upgrade slots don't change a lot, and so it is in Sugar Rush 1000. Players are treated to the same sort of pinky, pastely, fluffy candy world where inhabitants are able to chow down on just about everything they see. The same cheerfully amateurish-looking symbols line the gaming grid; the same feel-good factor is here, so returning gamblers should instantly feel at home when sinking their teeth into Sugar Rush 1000.
The game panel is a 7-reel, 7-row matrix using a cluster pays method for creating wins. You need 5 or more identical pay symbols to be connected in horizontal and/or vertical directions to have a winning cluster on your hands. The minimum bet is 20 c while the maximum is $/€240, and there are two bonus buy options on hand. Highly volatile, the default RTP value when playing in the normal mode is 96.53%.
All symbols in a winning combination explode from the grid, and symbols drop down to fill the vacated spots. If a new win appears following a tumble, then the feature will act again. Candied items make up the regular pay symbols. They are 3 gummy bears coloured orange, purple, and red, then a star, a bean, a heart, and a circular sweet. Hitting clusters made up of 5 matching symbols pays 0.2 to 1 times the bet, rising to 20 to 150x the bet for a 15+ sized cluster. Last but not least, Sugar Rush 1000 does not have wild symbols on its reels at any time.
The same features have been brought back for Sugar Rush 1000; it's just that they've been juiced up. Well, the multiplier spots feature has, the free spins and tumbles have stayed relatively steady.
Whenever a winning symbol explodes, it highlights its position on the grid. After the second time, a symbol explodes on the same spot, a multiplier is added to the position, starting at x2 and doubling each time another symbol explodes on top of it up to a maximum of x1,024. The multiplier applies to all winning combinations on top of it. If more than one multiplier is involved in the same win, they add to each other. In the base game, all marked spots are cleared when tumbles end.
Hitting 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatter symbols in the base game awards 10, 12, 15, 20, or 30 free spins, respectively. During the free spins round, highlighted spots and their multipliers persist in place until the round ends and can increase with subsequent tumbles. The feature can be retriggered, and players get an extra 10, 12, 15, 20, or 30 free spins when 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatter symbols respectively land.
The bonus round can be bought, and there are two choices. One is to pay 100x the bet to trigger free spins (RTP 96.52%), the other is 500x the bet (RTP 96.55%) to trigger super free spins where starting x2 multipliers are already added to the grid. When buying free spins 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, scatter hit on the triggering spin.
Another point of amusement at the time of reviewing Sugar Rush 1000 was that it loaded up the splash screen of the old version with the message - 'Win up to 5,000 x bet', which was exceedingly disappointing given this is the same payout potential found in the original Sugar Rush. Obviously, this was a glitch because if you check the paytable, Sugar Rush 1000 has a whopping great win cap of 25,000 times the bet. This is much higher than before, five times higher, to be precise. In other words, the jets were well and truly cooled after the first stab of disappointment.
And really, there's nothing to be disappointed about with Sugar Rush 1000 at all. Fans of the first will likely be all over this new rendition. It's just a bigger game all around while retaining the candied playfulness. Marking winning positions and then stacking multipliers on them, in fact, doubling each spot, is as exhilarating as ever. More really, since where before the spot multipliers topped out at x128, Sugar Rush 1000 blows right past them with its x1,024 spot multiplier maximums. Yeah, it's a dizzying thought, and you can instantly grasp why the winning potential is so much greater this time around. The bonus buy is eye-opening as well, and following this and Strawberry Cocktail, it seems Pragmatic Play is starting to dabble in bonus buys at the upper end of the price spectrum. Super free spins offer a shed load of starting multipliers and did some major damage during the review. Not always, of course, such is luck.
Not only does Sugar Rush 1000 easily outweigh the original, but it's also the heftiest 1000 slot so far in terms of winning potential. That fact, plus the dizzying potential of its spot multipliers and possibly the draw of the higher-priced bonus buy for some, should have fans of the first frothing to have their teeth assaulted by this upgraded candy slot.
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