Sugar Bonanza Deluxe

Sugar Bonanza Deluxe: Slot Overview

When playing or reviewing online slots, you bump into a lot of imitation, of varying degrees. From feeling the faint whisper of a feature to being slammed in the eyes by a blatant copy. Here's one of the latter. Sugar Bonanza Deluxe comes courtesy of software provider Skywind Group, and if you've been around a bit, the words 'Sugar Bonanza' are likely to trigger a memory or two. And yes, Sugar Bonanza Deluxe is basically a copy cat of the iconic Pragmatic Play slot Sweet Bonanza, with practically everything that entails.

It means a candy-themed, scatter-paying online slot with multiplier symbols juicing its free spins round. Even the gaming grid looks very similar, with a red and white striped border and reels which land both hard candies and pieces of fruit. At least the background looks a little bit different, though the vista is still stuffed with sugary delights. So far, so huh?

On the nuts and bolts side, Sugar Bonanza Deluxe is a scatter paying slot, meaning as long as at least eight matching symbols land in view in any position on the 6x5 game board, a win is created. The winning symbols disappear from the reels, and other symbols drop down to replace them. This collapsing reels system continues to award consecutive wins on the same spin or free spin until no new scatter win appears. On the back end, the engine driving Sugar Bonanza Deluxe is a medium volatile one (3 out of 5) and comes in three RTP settings - 96.5% being the highest of the bunch. Stakes of 25 p/c to $/€250 may be selected, and once set, away you go.

For pay symbols, Sugar Bonanza Deluxe has 10 of them on its paytable. Starting with the low pays, there is a pear, plum, berries, apple, and strawberry, while the high pays are a star, blue candy, green candy, and a heart candy. Scatter wins with 8 to 9 symbols in them pay 0.2 to 8 times the bet, while the biggest 12+ sized scatter wins are worth 1.6 to 40 times the bet. Wild symbols are not used during Sugar Bonanza Deluxe's base game or bonus round.

Sugar Bonanza Deluxe: Slot Features

Lightning bolt symbols play the important role of scatter. Landing 4, 5, or 6 scatters in the main game awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins plus a cash payout of 2.4x, 4, or 80 times the bet, respectively. While the bonus round is active, landing 3 or more scatters retrigger +5 additional free spins. In free spins, multiplier symbols with values of x2 to x1,000 may land. When wins occur, and multiplier symbols are present, all multiplier values in view are added together at the end of a collapsing reels sequence and applied to the total win of the spin before being awarded.

Buy in Feature

The buy-in feature provides two buy options. One is a regular free spins trigger for 100x the bet; the second is free spins where the minimum multiplier value is x10 for 250x the bet.

Sugar Bonanza Deluxe: Slot Verdict

If a title like Sugar Bonanza Deluxe sounds a teensy bit familiar, once the game loads, its resemblance to the Pragmatic Play classic Sweet Bonanza becomes blazingly clear. For sure, this isn't the first time one casino game maker has copied another, but there are levels and levels. The thoroughness of Sugar Bonanza Deluxe's imitation displays a disappointing level of creative bankruptcy. From the name Sugar Bonanza/Sweet Bonanza to just about every single feature and gaming mechanic, this is Talented Mr Ripley levels of identity theft. In a further twist, Sugar Bonanza Deluxe has the 'deluxe' word separating it from another slot called Sugar Bonanza from Spadegaming, which, you guessed it, is a scatter-paying candy slot with multiplier symbols in its free spins bonus round. Yeah, it's getting a bit confusing.

Laying all that aside for a moment, what have we got? A playable sweet game which achieves what it sets out to be – a copy of an iconic online slot. Hey, a lot of us have been there, wearing baggy trousers because our favourite artist wore them, or desiring a certain car because the lead actor in a favourite film does. Maybe Skywind Group just really digs Sweet Bonanza and wanted to make their own version? That or tap into the legions of new gamblers entering the market each day who aren't aware of or don't care about some slot a bunch of old timers played back in the day. Technically speaking, Sugar Bonanza Deluxe isn't a bad game. It performs just fine, serves up plenty of sugar, and has a max win of 10,000x the bet in tow. In a vacuum, it's hard to fault.

However, this ain't no vacuum. We live in an era where people are more connected than ever. As such, it's hard not to feel like Sugar Bonanza Deluxe is a tad redundant (though, so might argue they did it better) since it doesn't do much that wasn't already available while achieving little more than make Skywind Group look like a studio that would prefer to follow the herd (or copy it) rather than boldly attempt to lead.