Sweet Alchemy

Anyone with a sweet tooth will be only too well aware of the downside, which includes weight gain and dental cavities.

Luckily, your waistline and your teeth will be perfectly safe when you spin up the sugary treats that feature on the reels of Play'n GO's Sweet Alchemy. But could this be a slot you’d want to keep returning to? We set ourselves the task of finding out!

Design

There’s an abundance of pink and purple on display in Sweet Alchemy, which might deter a few slot players from the outset. And the giggling female alchemist who stands guard over her magic potions won’t be to every player’s taste either.

But don’t be too quick to dismiss the game for its female protagonist and choice of the colour palette. There are some high-volatility game mechanics at play here, including a bonus round that can deliver generous returns.

Gameplay

Sweet Alchemy is a little complex when you first settle down to play, which is possibly why the developers have included a tutorial. Tap or click on the book icon below the game to access the tutorial at any time during gameplay.

Your aim is to spin up matching clusters of sweets, so that they can be collected in the Sugar Rush Meter. Winning symbols disappear from the reels, triggering the Cascading Reels mechanic that drops new symbols to take their place. Once you’ve collected a specific number of sweets ,you’ll trigger bonus features:

• 6 candies: two symbols are transformed into regular Wilds.
• 13 candies: two symbols turn into Striped Wilds, which remove all sweets in that column or row if they feature in a win.
• 25 candies; two symbols turn into Sprinkled Wilds, which remove one type of candy from the reels.
• 38 candies: the Mix the Elixir Bonus is activated.

Mix the Elixir Bonus

Once the bonus round has been triggered, the grid expands to 9 x 9 and two types of candy are selected for the bonus collection feature. Your free spins continue as long as you keep landing winning combinations, but if gameplay comes to a halt the alchemist comes to your aid. She has three spells that she can use to improve your winning chances:

• Sugar bombs: remove 7 – 15 symbols from the grid.
• Sweet Surprise: turns 7 – 12 symbols Wild.
• Mixed Candy: rearranges the symbol positions on the grid.

Elixir of Power Bonus

Collect the chosen symbols during the Mix the Elixir feature to trigger the Elixir of Power Bonus. You’ll be presented with a slab of chocolate and invited to pick squares to uncover potions. Match three potions to win the multiplier. There are 3 levels to the bonus, so you’ll need to keep spinning if you want to experience them all.

Win potential

Candies in shades of blue and green can reward you with up to 6x your bet for clusters of 8 or more. But it’s the red, pink and yellow sweets that offer the highest returns, worth up to 30x the wager in the case of the yellow star-shaped candy.

The Mix the Elixir Bonus can generate some big prizes when the alchemist steps in to help with her spells. And if you keep triggering the Elixir of Power Bonus, the multipliers could climb as high as 10x. Just keep in mind that this is a highly volatile game, so divide up your bankroll to give you as many spins as possible for the best chance of experiencing winning outcomes.

Our Verdict

Candy-themed games in shades of pink and blue won’t be to every player’s taste, but don’t dismiss this slot without giving it at least a few trial spins. There are some complex mechanics at play, as demonstrated by the need for a player tutorial, with scope for some decent cash prizes.

Admittedly, a top payout of 3,000x isn’t a life-changing sum of money. But we can’t think of any slots players who’d want to turn it down. Try it out for yourself and see whether you can resist the temptation of this sugary-sweet slot.