Sugar Duke

Sugar Duke Review

Just when you thought the market was already saturated with enough copycat releases in the wake of Pragmatic Play’s still-expanding Sweet Bonanza series, EGT Digital adds another one to the pile. Sugar Duke comes with similar candy world visuals, which admittedly is hard to avoid in this genre, but at least they’ve made the effort to add their own spin on the success recipe. In addition, they’ve included some interesting new features and play modes that could appeal to certain players.

Let’s cover the basics first, before we get to the heart of the matter. Sugar Duke plays out on a 6x5 grid with a Pay Anywhere (or scatter pays) win system. This means that you win as long as at least 8 matching symbols appear anywhere in view. The candy symbols pay between 0.25x and 10x your stake for 8 in view, while the highest payout per symbol is achieved when you land 12+ in view. This awards between 2x and 50x your stake. There are no Wild symbols in this game, which is not unusual for a scatter pays game.

Sugar Duke Slot - Reels Screen

Winning symbols are removed and replaced via the Toppling Reels feature, which continues for as long as you keep winning in all game stages. Multiplier symbols of up to x500 can appear in all stages as well, and these are added together to boost your total toppling sequence wins. In the bonus round, this feature is upgraded. The multiplier symbols will then build a total multiplier that does not reset between free spins, but you still need a multiplier symbol present on winning spins to activate the total win multiplier.

A Jackpot feature can trigger randomly at any time, taking you into a pick Jackpot bonus game where you are guaranteed to win 1 of 4 progressive jackpots. All regular wins under a certain limit can be gambled in a double-or-nothing fashion. You can choose to play up to 100 autospins in Blitz Mode, which is a rapid-fire display of outcomes with no reels involved. Sugar Duke is a medium volatility slot game featuring an above-average RTP of 96.51%, a hit rate of 41%, and a max win of 5,000x your stake.

Sugar Duke Features

We are now going to lay out all the features of this game in more detail, giving you a complete overview. However, if you want to see the features in action, you can check the Sugar Duke free play demo at the top of this review page. Let’s get to it!

Toppling Reels

Winning symbols are removed via the Toppling Reels mechanic, which sometimes is called cascading reels or cascading wins, and this means the remaining symbols drop to their lowest possible positions. A new batch of symbols then drops down to fill the remaining gaps, and the process repeats indefinitely as long as new winning combinations are formed. Scatter symbols and multiplier symbols are not removed by the Toppling Reels feature.

Multiplier Symbols

Multiplier symbols land in both the base game and the bonus round, displaying values ranging from x2 to x500. In the base game, multiplier symbols that appear in the same toppling win sequence are added together to boost the total win as the sequence ends. However, in the base game, the multiplier resets to x1 for each new round. In the bonus round, things are taken up a notch, as we’ll explain in more detail below.

Free Spins Bonus Round

Landing 4, 5, or 6 free spins symbols in view first awards 3x, 5x, or 100x your stake, respectively, then triggers the Bonus Round. You get 15 free spins regardless of the number of triggering scatters, and you win +5 additional free spins when you land 3+ scatters in the same free spin round. The big difference from the base game is that the values of the multiplier symbols are added to a total multiplier, and this total multiplier does not reset between free spins. However, you must land at least one multiplier symbol together with a win for the total multiplier to be applied to the win after the current multiplier symbol value (or values) have been added to it. If you win with no multiplier symbol present, the total multiplier does not boost the win.

Sugar Duke Slot - Free Spins

Jackpot Feature

The Jackpot Feature triggers randomly at the end of a base game spin or a free spin, and you are then presented with a screen filled with 15 treasure chests. You’ll open chests until you have revealed 3 jackpot symbols of the same color, either red, green, blue, or purple. These correspond to the 4 progressive jackpots on display above the reels with increasing values, called the Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand jackpots. Chests can also reveal green, blue, or purple 4-leaf clover symbols, and these upgrade jackpots to the next tier when you have 3 matching jackpot symbols plus a 4-leaf clover symbol of the same color.

Gamble Feature (not UK)

If you land a win of 35x your stake or less, you have the option to enter the Gamble Feature. This is a simple double-or-nothing card color guessing game, where the correct guess doubles your winnings while the wrong guess means your winnings are lost. Your chances are 50% for each guess, and you can gamble each eligible win up to 5 times per session.

Blitz Play Mode

Blitz Play is a high-speed mode that ditches the reels altogether, allowing you to autoplay up to 100 spins. The results are displayed as a list of wins or losses next to your current bankroll after each simulated spin. It’s an alternative if you are in a hurry or simply want to get down to the bare-bones experience of a gambling machine.

x2 Chance & Bonus Buy (not UK)

Sugar Duke slot offers x2 Chance and Bonus Buy features for eligible players. The x2 Chance ante bet increases your bet size to 1.25x your regular stake, which doubles your bonus round chances. The bonus round is priced at 100x your stake, and the purchase guarantees at least 4 triggering scatters. You also get all winnings from the triggering spin, including the minimum of 2x your stake from the triggering scatters.

Theme & Graphics

Sugar Duke plays out in a candy world theme park, with a candy-cane roller coaster looping through the pastel-hued skyline in the background. The whole backdrop is filled to the brim with an overload of sugary items of all sorts, and pink dominates the color scheme in this game. The golden, melting syrup border frames the reels, which are filled with a varied assortment of hard candies of different shapes and colors. A lighthearted soundtrack keeps you company, and the candy symbols disappear with a satisfying pop when you win.

Sugar Duke Free Play

We have already presented the game and its features in great detail, and you may feel the urge to test this thing out for yourself. Head up to the top of this review page, where you can play the free Sugar Duke demo as much as your heart desires. This is your chance to experiment with the ante bet, gauge the bonus round hit rate, and even test the unusual Blitz Play mode. You can also purchase the bonus round as many times as you want and see if those multiplier symbols stack up in a satisfying way. When finished with your Sugar Duke free play session, check casinos confirmed to carry this title below the demo.

Pros and Cons of Sugar Duke

Our Verdict

EGT Digital is hardly the first provider to release a copycat version of Pragmatic Play’s smash hit, but at least Sugar Duke comes with some additional bells and whistles that can potentially make it a viable alternative to the Sweet Bonanza range. When you have seen one candy world theme, you have pretty much seen them all, or at least that’s my experience. However, the candy-cane roller coaster is admittedly an original addition. However, it would’ve been more fun if the backdrop had been animated instead of static.

The core gameplay relies heavily on the recipe we’ve seen plenty of times already, with the scatter pays engine running strong in tandem with the toppling reels mechanic. Unlike the Sweet Bonanza series, Sugar Duke includes multiplier symbols also in the base game. This alone is a strong selling point that should appeal to players looking for a more balanced experience. Topping out at x500, these additive multipliers can deliver solid payouts when you least expect it.

Without multiplier action, even longer toppling sequences seldom pay anything more than a decent top-up win, but that is to be expected in a game like this. The random jackpot feature adds a bit of tension too, as you never know when you get a chance to pick your way to riches. The jackpots can reach decent levels, and it’s hard to complain about 4 progressive jackpots in a game with an RTP well above 96%. The jackpots are not really something you think too much about when you spin the reels, though, but certainly a pleasant surprise when you suddenly trigger the feature.

The bonus round is where everything comes to a head, as the total multiplier you build from the multiplier symbols never resets. This is another strong selling point that makes Sugar Duke different from its main competitor, as you can build a substantial total multiplier on a lucky day. However, you still need a multiplier symbol on the winning free spins to benefit from it, and the max win is capped at a somewhat moderate 5,000x your stake. Pragmatic Play offers far better win caps, not least in their latest installment: Sweet Bonanza 2500.