Sugar Surge slot review
Sugar Surge is a mobile-first video slot from Incredible Technologies, an IL-based provider with 15+ years of casino gaming experience. Released in Q3 2021, the one-armed bandit-inspired game starts on a 5×3 grid with 25,000 paylines, though Mystery Slide can stretch that out to 7 reels and 5 rows.
Besides expandable reels, Sugar Surge also features free spins and a 4-tier jackpot system led by the $50,000 Grand prize at the maximum $25 stake. The medium-volatility game has an RTP of 94.27%, and this Sugar Surge slot review covers everything else you need to know about it, as well as how and where to play it.
Highlights
RTP 94.27%
Volatility Medium
Stakes range 25
Max win 2000x
Number of reels 5
Number of rows 3-
Number of paylines 25000 -
Jackpots No -
Slot type Slot -
Slot theme Candy -
Software provider Incredible Technologies -
Launch date 24/08/2021
63/ 100
72% Playscore based on 3 critics
Sugar Surge slot review summary
Sugar Surge is another brightly colored slot from Incredible Technologies, the same game studio behind Big Prize Bubblegum. This time around, IT has taken the classic fruit machine and added a fresh sweets-themed coat of paint and a mobile-first layout.
Candy visuals aside, Sugar Surge relies on a somewhat unique all-scatter setup. That’s probably the biggest departure from one-armed bandits, and it makes all of the game’s symbols pay regardless of where they land.
What makes Sugar Surge stand out even more is the Mystery Slide mechanic. Triggered by mint symbols locking in place, the feature can expand the 5-reel, 3-row grid up to 7×5. This gives you a total of 35 positions, which makes it a bit easier to land high-value, 13-, 14-, or 15-symbol epic pays combinations.
Sugar Surge free spins add the final layer of excitement, and they’re directly tied to the 4 jackpots displayed in the upper third of the game’s screen. While they’re not retriggerable during the bonus round, they do put the $50,000 Grand prize on the table.
Pros
Symbols that pay regardless of position
Mystery Slide expanding reels
$50,000 Grand jackpot
Cons
No bonus buy
Non-retriggerable free spins
Jackpot prizes tied to the bonus round
Sugar Surge comprehensive review
If the general overview above has sparked your imagination, my comprehensive Sugar Surge slot review will walk you through the game’s RTP and volatility, break down its bonus features, and dive deeper into its symbols and paytable.
RTP and volatility
Sugar Surge slot’s RTP is 94.27%, which is below the industry average of about 96%.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| RTP | 94.27% |
| Maximum win | 2,000x |
| Number of paylines | 25,000 |
| Volatility | Medium |
As for volatility, Sugar Surge is labeled as a medium-variance game. In theory, this means both small and large wins should land equally and at a fair pace.
While Sugar Surge slot’s RTP sits only about 2% below the industry average, that’s a gap I felt almost immediately. Even though I was mostly spinning at $2.50, my bankroll dipped a lot faster than I expected, and I only had a few decent base-game wins to show for it.
The game’s medium-volatility label didn’t help, either. You’d expect a steady drip of both small and large hits with this one, but the whole thing actually felt much closer to high-variance slots. I endured multiple long stretches of dead spins, only broken by a somewhat high occasional base-game win or the Mystery Slide reel expansion.
Alexandra Manea
Bonus features
Sugar Surge has 3 main features, including the reel-expanding Mystery slide, a standard free spins bonus round, and a 4-tier jackpot system that scales with your stake.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Bonus features | All-scatter pays, expanding reels, free spins, jackpot prizes |
| Top features | Mystery Slide |
| Jackpot | Mini, Minor, Major, Grand |
Mystery Slide
The main feature in Sugar Surge is the Mystery Slide mechanic, which is triggered by swirly red-and-white peppermint reveal scatters. When these symbols appear on the reels, they can expand the standard 5×3 grid all the way up to 7×5, giving you a lot more opportunities to land larger 200-400x epic pays combos.
Once the reel expansion concludes, the red-and-white peppermints activate the Mystery Slide, which can land on any symbol except multi-colored jackpot-related mints or free spins scatters. The chosen symbol then replaces all red-and-white peppermints on the reels, and you get a payout.
Free spins
Ten Sugar Surge free spins trigger when you land at least 3 scatters anywhere on the reels. Additional scatters are worth 5 extra spins each, though the game doesn’t go beyond 20 even if you land 6 or more symbols. Free spins can’t be retriggered during the bonus, either.
Jackpot prizes
The game’s 4 jackpots (Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand) rely on special multi-colored peppermint scatters, which only appear during Sugar Surge’s free spins. Each one you land gets you a gold ball, and a dedicated scatter counter tracks your progress.
The Mini jackpot requires 7 gold balls, while the Grand prize requires 10. Once the bonus round concludes, you’ll be awarded the jackpot tier tied to the number of gold balls you’ve collected.
Jackpots also scale with your bet, and they pay out:
- Mini: 8x your stake
- Minor: 24x your stake
- Major: 200x your stake
- Grand: 2,000x your stake
I like how Sugar Surge keeps it short and sweet with 3 main features, though I’m genuinely not impressed by the Mystery Slide mechanic. Not only did it look incredibly confusing at first glance, but the few times it expanded my reels, it resulted in very mediocre wins.
Sugar Surge free spins may not look like the main attraction here, but they offer a much higher payout potential, and not just because they’re directly tied to the jackpots. I only managed to trigger them once, but the 10 initial free spins I got led to decent payouts, which were more than enough to make up for all the dead spins I endured in the base game.
As far as jackpots go, I feel like they take up too much real estate for what they actually offer. At the maximum stake of $25, you’re looking at the Grand prize of $50,000, which translates to a max win potential of 2,000x. That payout feels rather low, especially with so many slots pushing the win ceiling to 5,000x, just like 3 Porky Banks Extra does, or even higher.
Alexandra Manea
Symbols and paytable
Sugar Surge uses 9 standard symbols, with 5 fruits (cherries, plums, oranges, grapes, and watermelons) as the lower-paying ones. Bells, horseshoes, dollar signs, and bars are the game’s higher-paying symbols.
All 9 base game symbols pay out regardless of where they land on the reels, courtesy of the game’s scatter ways mechanic. Winning combinations require at least 5 matching symbols, though you can get combos of up to 15 max.
This creates a massive yet easy-to-understand paytable, with combinations of 5-12 symbols paying out as follows:
| Symbol | 5 matches | 6 matches | 7 matches | 8 matches | 9 matches | 10 matches | 11 matches | 12 matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry | 0.1x | 0.12x | 0.14x | 0.16x | 0.18x | 0.2x | 1.5x | 2x |
| Plum | 0.2x | 0.24x | 0.28x | 0.32x | 0.36x | 0.4x | 1.5x | 2x |
| Orange | 0.5x | 0.6x | 0.7x | 0.8x | 0.9x | 1x | 1.5x | 2x |
| Grape | 1x | 1.2x | 1.4x | 1.6x | 1.8x | 2x | 5x | 6x |
| Watermelon | 2x | 2.4x | 2.8x | 3.2x | 3.6x | 4x | 5x | 6x |
| Bell | 5x | 6x | 7x | 8x | 9x | 10x | 11x | 12x |
| Horseshoe | 10x | 12x | 14x | 16x | 18x | 20x | 22x | 24x |
| Dollar sign | 20x | 24x | 28x | 32x | 36x | 40x | 44x | 48x |
| Bar | 50x | 60x | 70x | 80x | 90x | 100x | 110x | 120x |
Combinations of 13, 14, or 15 symbols all pay out 200x, 300x, or 400x, respectively, regardless of whether you form them with lower- or higher-paying symbols.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Theme | Sweets |
| Reel layout | 5×3 (up to 7×5) |
| Highest paying symbol | Bar |
| Adjustable paylines | N/A |
| Visuals | Vibrant, cotton candy |
| Sound | Calming pop-inspired soundtrack |
| Mobile quality | Very good |
Besides these 9 standard symbols, you also get:
- White-and-red peppermint scatters, which trigger the Mystery Slide and then get replaced by the chosen symbol
- Pink free spins scatters, which appear only in the base game and award 10, 15, or 20 free spins for landing 3, 4, or 5+ of them, respectively
- Multi-colored peppermint scatters, which drop only during free spins and award gold balls required for the 4 jackpot prizes
Matching at least 5 symbols without the scatter pays mechanic would be quite challenging. But even with it in play, I almost always landed combos of 5-7 in the base game, which didn’t result in any wins worth my while.
The white-and-red peppermints triggering the Mystery Slide saved the situation a few times, and the same applies to pink free spins scatters, as the bonus round provided the much-needed boost that made the painfully dry base game more bearable.
That said, the multi-colored peppermints didn’t amount to much in the end, at least not for me. I barely collected 7 of them that one time I triggered the free spins, which resulted in a Mini jackpot of $20, since I was spinning at $2.5.
Alexandra Manea
How to play Sugar Surge
Before you spin those reels, you should set the denom value ($0.01, $0.05, or $0.10) and the bet size ($0.50, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, or $2.50) to adjust your total stake. This effectively creates a betting range from $0.50 to $25.
Right next to the spin button is the autoplay feature, which you just need to tap to set 5, 10, 15, 20, 50, or 100 automated spins.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Min bet | $0.50 |
| Max bet | $25 |
| Autoplay | Available |
| Turbo mode | Available |
| Game history | Available |
The far left holds the help button, where you can find information on the game’s symbols, paytable, and features, access history, activate the turbo mode, or mute the game.
Casinos where to play Sugar Surge
As an IL-based provider, Incredible Technologies makes many of its games widely available at US online casinos, and Sugar Surge is no exception. Here are the best-rated platforms where you can enjoy this candy-themed slot:
| Casino Logo | Rating | Bonus | Go-to-casino button | Show more | T&C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
89/100
Expert rating
by T2P contributor
91%
Playscore
based on
|
100% up to $1,000 + $25 On The House
|
Play now |
|
Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. MI, NJ, PA or WV only. Excludes Michigan Disassociated Persons. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable site credit, unless otherwise provided in the applicable Terms. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA & WV). |
2
|
81/100
Expert rating
by Sophie P.
86%
Playscore
based on
|
200% up to $100 + 25 free spins
|
Play now |
|
|
3
|
88/100
Expert rating
by T2P contributor
92%
Playscore
based on
|
Spin the Wheel up to 1,000 Bonus Spins
|
Play now |
|
Visit Borgata.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. NJ and PA only. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable site credit, unless otherwise provided in the applicable Terms. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? 1-800-GAMBLER. |
Expert verdict
Sugar Surge doesn’t reinvent the wheel with its candy-themed visuals layered on top of the classic one-armed bandit aesthetics. If you want to indulge your sweet tooth, Pragmatic Play’s iconic Sugar Rush and all its gummy bears and jelly beans are a much better choice.
Feature-wise, Sugar Surge doesn’t overwhelm. You get an all-scatter setup, Mystery Slide mechanics, and a 4-tier jackpot system directly tied to the standard free spins round. While it’s nothing special, it’s a semi-interesting combo you can return to from time to time and still enjoy.
That said, despite the official medium-volatility label, this release feels more like a high-variance slot, and that doesn’t exactly play nicely with the below-average RTP. The result is a very dry-feeling base game that a chance at the $50,000 Grand jackpot simply doesn’t make up for.
FAQs
What is the RTP of Sugar Surge?
The Sugar Surge slot RTP is 94.27%, which is roughly 2% lower than the industry average.
What is the maximum win potential in Sugar Surge?
The most you can get in the base game is 400x, while the free spins-only Grand jackpot offers a max win of 2,000x ($50,000 on a $25 max bet).
Does Sugar Surge have a progressive jackpot?
No, Sugar Surge doesn’t have a progressive jackpot. The game’s 4 jackpots scale with your stake, and the Grand prize maxes out at $50,000.
How do I trigger free spins?
Sugar Surge’s free spins require at least 3 pink free spin scatters to land. This starts you off with 10 free spins, with each additional scatter worth 5 extra spins, up to a max of 20. They can’t be retriggered during the bonus round.
How do I trigger the jackpot?
Sugar Surge’s Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand prizes require 7, 8, 9, and 10 gold balls, respectively. The only way to collect them is by landing multi-colored peppermint scatters during the free spins round.
