Theme & Design

Creating the Wonka-esque candy world of slots like this one must be an easy day at work for slots designers. These games all look very similar. Just like in Sweet Bonanza from Pragmatic, Delicious Candy’s reels sit against a happy backdrop of candy canes, candy floss, ice lollies, fruit gums and all manner of other sweet-shapes. And of course, all in bright pinks, greens, yellows and blues.

It’s the sort of game that gives you tooth ache just looking at it. But it will hit the mark for anyone who likes the candy theme. It’s backed up by a catchy synth track, the perfect soundtrack as you scan the reels hoping to match symbols and trigger some wins.

RTP and Variance

Delicious Candy PopWins has three potential RTP settings: 96.5%, 95.8%, 93.8%. Which you play at is at the discretion of your casino. We checked three popular UK slot sites to sit what RTP setting they had chosen. This is what we found:

• Casumo (independent) – 95.8%
• MrPlay (independent) – 93.8%
• BacanaPlay (Skill on Net) – 93.8%

None had chosen the optimum RTP setting of 96.5%. Casumo offers the highest of the three at the 94.8% setting. We would recommend playing there if RTP is an important metric for you.

If you want a higher RTP from a Stake Logic slot you could try Twin Joker (97.79%. RTP) or Monkeys of the Universe (97.16% RTP).

The variance here is very high so the payout distribution will be very uneven. However, when this game is in the mood it can pay out big wins – remember, the reels extend to 9 high (creating 118,098 paylines) and the free spins round comes with multipliers of up to 25x.

Maximum Win

The maximum win in Delicious Candy PopWins is 10,000x. This is OK for a high variance slot. But there are games by other providers with much higher potential – try Nolimit City or Relax Gaming if that is what you are after.

Symbols and Paytable

There are two things that make it easier to trigger wins in Delicious Candy PopWins.

First, you only need to land identical symbols on ADJACENT reels – the position on the reel doesn’t matter. Second, wins are formed both left to right starting at the far left, AND right to left starting at the far right.

This is why you start with 486 paylines from just five reels and three rows and quickly expand to 15,552 lines at six rows high, then 118,098 lines at nine rows high in the free spins round.

All you have to do is just keep scanning the reels for matching symbols on adjacent reels throughout the game. There are 13 symbols to match, made up of candies of various colors.

The yellow candy is the lowest-paying symbol valued at 1.5x for five on a line. Green, purple, blue, orange and red candies pay up to 12.5x for five on a line. There are also premium symbols, represented by sevens, stars, bars and crown candies. These can pay between 2x and 25x for five on a line.

And finally, what sets this game apart from others is that there are NO wilds OR scatters. Instead, the free spins round is unlocked by expanding EVERY reel to six rows high by scoring consecutive wins. We’ll explain how in the next section.

Features and Gameplay

PopWins games are really simple but they have a fun sense of progression which will appeal to those who like trying to achieve a goal – namely, increasing the paylines in play, opening up the free spins round and building bigger multipliers, ALL to increase the size of your wins.

To do this you must build sequences of consecutive wins which add more rows each time. This is achieved as after every winning line is formed, the winning symbols POP and each one is replaced by two more, increasing the row height of the respective reel by one as well as increasing the number of paylines on the board. If more wins are created, then the process repeats.

This goes on until no more winlines are formed. At which point the grid re-sets to five reels, three rows and you must place your bet again to start a new game round.

There are two phases to the game.

In the first, you begin with five reels and three rows. Your aim is to score wins and grow the reels to six high, at which point the free spins feature is unlocked.

The sense of progression towards that magic six rows is very real by the way – this is where the game gets you. Each time you get closer but without quite hitting the mark, you’ll feel more frustrated and want to go again! Beware!

In the second phase – the free spins round – for each spin the board starts at six rows high and can increase to as high as nine rows high. To start you are awarded between 5 and 15 free spins at random, PLUS a multiplier of between 2x and 25x. The number of spins and the multiplier value is chosen by the spin of one of three wheels. Again, which wheel you get is chosen at random:

• Wheel 1: displays free spins 5 to 15 and multipliers of 2x, 3x, 5x, 8x or 10x
• Wheel 2: displays free spins 5 to 15 and multipliers of 5x, 8x, 10x, 12x or 15x
• Wheel 3: displays free spins 5 to 15 and multipliers of 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, 25x

Once you have your multiplier, the free spins begin with the same format as before. After each win, winning symbols pop and are replaced by two more.

And for added thrills, with every winning spin, your multiplier increases by 1x, or 2x if you manage to expand every reel to 9 rows high. This is a classic feature of high variance slots play – the further into the game you get, the more cumulative events push your multipliers up to unleash much bigger wins.

The Final Verdict

Delicious Candy PopWins is a fun, candy-based slot in which the gameplay is distilled down to three simple features – Cascading Wins, Expanding Reels and Progressive Multipliers. With its high variance game engine it teases and frustrates more often than it pays out, but the thrill of watching those reels build and your opportunities to score wins increase with more paylines can’t be denied. For those looking to get serious wins you’ll need to unlock that free spins round to get over the 1,000x mark, but with significant multipliers on offer when you get there, Delicious Candy PopWins has the potential to provide some extraordinary moments too.