Sugar Mania 8000

Sugar Mania 8000 Review

None other than Microgaming is inviting you to indulge in their new candy world adventure called Sugar Mania 8000, which is a blast from the past in more than one way. While my immediate reaction went something like ‘oh no, not another Sugar Rush 1000 copycat’, I have to say that this release has several pleasant surprises up its sleeve. Sure, it’s based around the core concept of Pragmatic Play’s smash hit, but Microgaming has added plenty of unique features to the mix, including a brand new innovation called Top 3 Wins.

Before we get to all the fun stuff, let’s cover the basics first. You can play with bet levels ranging from €0.20 to €40 per spin, catering to both penny punters and high rollers. You win by landing 8 to 12+ matching symbols anywhere in view, thanks to the Pay Anywhere system. The premium symbols are gummy bears of different colors, awarding 2.5x to 5x your stake for 12+ in view. The low-value candy symbols pay 1x to 2x for the same, while all of them pay between 0.1x and 0.3x the stake for the minimum of 8-9 in view.

Sugar Mania 8000 Slot - Reels Screen

The cake Wild symbol substitutes for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins, a feature not typically seen in most Scatter Pay slots. The cascading reels mechanic allows your winning streaks to go on indefinitely as long as you keep winning, and the winning position multipliers double per win they are part of, topping out at x8,192. Bomb symbols remove adjacent symbols, while Mystery and Super Mystery symbols reveal random symbols while boosting the involved multiplier positions by up to x8.

Sugar Mania 8000 stands out with its Top 3 Win feature buy option, where only your 3 best wins from up to 500 spins are played out and paid. These wins can also include the total win from up to multiple bonus rounds, and regardless of how it's triggered, the multiplier positions never reset for the duration of the feature. In addition, up to all 3 special symbols may be enhanced before the bonus round starts. Not too many stats are available for Sugar Mania 8000 slot, but we know that this is a high volatility game with a max win of 12,000x your stake.

Sugar Mania 8000 Features

There is no lack of features to cover in Sugar Mania 8000 Microgaming, and we’ll take a closer look at how everything works below. Dive right in to learn what this game has to offer, and, not least, how the exciting Top 3 Wins feature plays out.

Doubling Cascading Win Multiplier Positions

Winning symbols are removed and replaced via the Cascading mechanic, with each winning position being assigned a multiplier of x2 after the initial win. After the new cascade has dropped, this repeats for any new winning positions while existing winning position multipliers are doubled. Each position multiplier can double its way up to x8,192, at most, and the position multipliers are added together to boost any cascading win they are part of.

Mystery & Super Mystery Symbols

The blue swirling Mystery Symbol reveals a random pay symbol after it lands, while also boosting the position multiplier by x2, x4, or x8. The red swirling Mystery Symbol does the same as the blue Mystery Symbol, but it affects all symbols of the same type as the symbol it landed on. If you land more than one Mystery or Super Mystery symbol on the same spin, all of them transform into the same symbol.

Bomb Symbol

The TNT Bomb Symbol explodes to remove all adjacent symbols in a 3x3 pattern around the bomb, doubling all affected multiplier positions. All present bomb symbols explode before the next cascade plays out, but bombs do not explode wild or scatter symbols.

Sugar Mania 8000 Free Spins

You need at least 3 swirling lollipop scatter symbols in view on the same base game spin, or within the same cascading sequence, to trigger the Bonus Round in Sugar Mania 8000. Unlike in the base game, the doubling multiplier positions do not reset between free spins, and +1 free spin symbols award +1 extra free spin per symbol.

Before the bonus round starts, a wheel of fortune spins to randomly upgrade 1 to 3 bonus symbols. The number of upgrades you get is determined by the number of scatters that triggered the bonus round. With 7 triggering scatters, you get 1 upgrade, while 8 or 10 triggering scatters award 2 or 3 upgrades, respectively. Here’s an overview of the upgrades:

• Blue Mystery symbols are upgraded to the red Mystery symbol.
• Bomb symbols are upgraded to explode adjacent symbols in a 5x5 pattern.
• The +1 extra free spin symbol is upgraded to a +2 extra free spin symbol.

Sugar Mania 8000 Slot - Free Spins

Top 3 Wins Buy Feature (not UK)

The Top 3 Wins Buy Feature is a unique innovation that allows eligible players to pocket the 3 best wins from 100, 300, or 500 spins for a price (see bonus buy menu below). Instead of watching all these spins play out, you get to see only the 3 top wins play out, which may include up to multiple bonus round triggers.

Sugar Mania 8000 Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players will find the Bonus Buy menu on the left-hand side by clicking the gold coin-shaped ‘Buy’ button. There are also a few shortcut buttons up to the left, showcasing the best of what this menu has to offer. Here is an overview of the bonus buy feature in the Sugar Mania 8000 slot:

• 7 Free Spins Bonus - is priced at 70x your stake.
• 8 Free Spins Bonus - costs 200x your stake.
• 10 Free Spins Bonus - is yours for 600x your stake.
• Super Free Spins Bonus with x2 multiplier on all positions - costs 800x your stake.
• Super Free Spins Bonus with x4 multiplier on all positions - costs 1,200x your stake.
• Top 3 Wins of 100 Spins - costs 70x your stake.
• Top 3 Wins of 300 Spins - costs 172x your stake.
• Top 3 Wins of 500 Spins - costs 257x your stake.

Theme & Graphics

The Sugar Mania 8000 game plays out in a candy world ruled by a pink gummy bear in royal garments, standing on his rotating hoverboard to the left of the reels. He looks happy and content, introducing us to his sugary kingdom with a lollipop as his scepter. The semi-transparent grid is placed against a backdrop of rolling hills and puffy white clouds drifting across the blue sky, and the reels are filled with candy items of different shapes and colors. An easygoing soundtrack keeps the atmosphere lighthearted as you spin away in this whimsical fantasyland.

Pros and Cons of Sugar Mania 8000

Our Verdict

It's not often you see a new release from Microgaming these days, which, regardless of the game's quality, is bound to evoke some nostalgia in veteran players like myself. Games Global, which took over most of their portfolio, also rarely releases anything, instead allowing its numerous partner studios to do the heavy lifting. For this reason alone, I was pumped and ready to go when I fired up Sugar Mania 8000 to prepare for this review, although I had more than an inkling about what I was getting myself into.

It cannot be denied that good old Microgaming has allowed itself to borrow heavily from Pragmatic Play’s mega hit Sugar Rush 1000, even down to the numerical title. The good news is this seasoned veteran understands that improving a great game is the way to go instead of churning out yet another copycat release. And improving and building on the core concept they certainly have, in more than one way. While we don’t see Sugar Mania 8000 dethroning its rival anytime soon, it’s certainly a worthy competitor.

The titular 8000 refers to the fact that Sugar Mania 8000 boasts doubling multiplier positions of up to x8,192, whereas the multiplier positions in Sugar Rush 1000 top out at “only” x1,024. Instead of cluster pay wins, you get a scatter pay win system, and, not least, you’ll also benefit from mystery, super mystery, and bomb symbols in this game, which adds plenty of spice to the experience. While no stats are available, I got plenty of mid- to larger-sized wins in the base game during testing, and the bonus round triggered with a surprisingly high frequency as well.

I also very much enjoyed the innovative Top 3 Wins buy feature, where you get to see only the best wins from up to 500 spins. This strips away the whole slot game grind that can be tedious at times, allowing you to watch only the highlights. While the 12,000x max win of Sugar Mania 8000 is less than half of what’s on offer in Sugar Rush 1000, it’s still more than solid enough to make this Microgaming release a viable alternative. I only wish the RTP was disclosed to compare, since Sugar Rush 1000 boasts a top-tier RTP of 97.5 %. Either way, Sugar Mania 8000 is definitely a game I will return to for more sessions.