Tasty Treats
By Hacksaw Gaming
Hacksaw Gaming add to their Pocketz series with this mobile-optimised grid slot that follows in the tradition of other candy-based titles like Pragmatic Play’s Sweet Bonanza or BetSoft’s Sugar Pop. And with its Cascading Wins format this one doesn’t feel a million miles from the Candy Crush Saga social game that blitzed the nation some years back. In this case though we’re playing for real money and the stakes are higher – 10,000x at the top of the paytable. And it's already dropped in most new online slot sites so you can pick up a bonus and get spinning today.
Like all Hacksaw’s output to date, Tasty Treats boasts good production values – the artwork is simple but colourful and attractively designed. This sugar-laden adventure uses the classic Tumbling Reels or Cascading Wins format with a Cluster Pays mechanic so one spin can deliver multiple wins in a pleasing animated sequence. At the start the 6 reels fill with sweets and winning clusters are formed from six or more identical icons landing adjacent to one another horizontally or vertically. All symbols in a cluster then disappear to be replaced by new symbols with the chance to land more wins. It’s classic grid slot action but with some intriguing features added in for good measure as we will find out.
| Game Name | Tasty Treats |
|---|---|
| Developer | Hacksaw Gaming |
| Release Date | November 2021 |
| Rows | 5 |
| Reels | 6 |
| Paylines | Cluster Pays |
| RTP Rate | 96.21%, 94.23%, 92.40%, 88.10% |
| Max Win | 10,000x |
| Min Bet | £0.20 |
Play Tasty Treats For Real At These Slot Sites
Review Scorecard
What We Like
- Re-triggerable Free Spins
- Colourful cakes and sweets theme
- Unique Monster Hands Feature
- Bubble Booster Multipliers up to 100x
- Super high variance
What We Didn't Like
- Less features than other grid games
RTP and Variance
This is a high variance game like much of the Hacksaw back catalogue and those who love their risky slots play will enjoy the chance to indulge their sweet tooth on it. The RTP is set at 96.21%, which is around average for a modern video slot, while the minimum bet is 20p. We recommend starting at the lower stake level to get a feel for the game before diving in with high wagers – this one may look sweet on the surface but it will be tough and could dent your balance severely in a short period as the win distribution will be pretty uneven.
The maximum payout is 10,000x stake – a reasonable target - which is most likely to hit in the free spins round if you get lucky with the Bubble Booster Multipliers which can be as high as 100x.
Symbols and Paytable
The symbols in Tasty Treats include brightly coloured sweets and cakes. There are ten in all. We have chocolate brownie slices, orange segments, doughnuts and strawberry cakes, along with other tasty goodies. The lower paying symbols are the hard-boiled sweets, while the baked goods pay the higher rewards. The best payouts come from 15 matching symbols in a cluster and the highest payout is 50x to 60x stake.
There is also a Wild represented by a dripping cone that will sub for all other symbols to form a winning cluster when it drops anywhere on the grid.
Features and Gameplay
Tasty Treats is not a totally featured-packed game but it does come with some very big multipliers and the frequency of these and the wilds is enhanced in the bonus round where the chance of hitting big wins increases as a result.
Cluster Pays and Tumbling Reels
We’ve already outlined this classic grid slot mechanic, now a mainstay of 1,000s of slots including the classic Gonzo’s Quest from NetEnt and most Megaways™ slots, including Big Time Gaming’s epic Bonanza. Remember, clusters must be at least six symbols in size and the tumbles continue until no more new clusters are formed. There are no progressive multipliers in this instance.
Bubble Boosters
Bubble Boosters are the main feature of Tasty Treats.
During regular gameplay they can appear to trigger Multipliers or Wilds. During Free Spins Bubble Boosters appear more frequently. They can be triggered during the gameplay at random or you can activate them by using the Bonus Buy feature which is only available outside the UK.
Bubble Boosters take the form of a big bubble that lands over a position on the grid, bursting to overlay a multiplier or a wild. Multipliers are applied to the win value if the land on symbol in a big enough cluster. The bubbles can be between 1x1 and 3x3 in size and up to 5 can appear on one spin or win cascade. They may also appear partially on the reels or entirely visible.
The multipliers can be from 2x up to a massive 100x and if more than one appears over a winning cluster at once, then they are added together. So you can see how things can get pretty tasty right there!
Free Spins
Landing 3 or more Scatters will trigger the Free Spins round. Each of the Scatters that triggered the round transforms into a number which will determine the number of Free Spins you receive, which can be from 6 up to 15.
During the Free Spins round, the Bubble Boosters will appear more frequently than in the base game. And …. if you land one more Scatter, you’ll re-trigger the Free Spins.
Monster Hand
The Monster Hand is a fun animation of a large furry hand. This is activated at random and appears on the screen to remove some symbols with new symbols dropping in to replace them. Monster Hands can remove symbols from the first 3 reels, the last 3 reels or all reels. It’s like a re-set.
Feature Buy
It is possible to buy your way into the special features for a cost, but only outside the UK.
If you pay 129x stake, you can guarantee 3 Scatters on the screen on the next spin, resulting in a guaranteed Free Spins round on the following spin.
Final Verdict
Let’s start with visuals and it is fair to say that Tasty Treats is a fun, bright and cheerful slot with a distinctly sweet and sugary flavour. If you like your Starbursts (the sweets, not the slots), gummy bears and anything from the Haribo range, you’ll get the slots equivalent right here! And that sense of fun is carried through into the gameplay with a large grid with bold symbols and a fun background, while Cluster Pays mechanic and Tumbling Reels make the action fast and furious.
As far as maths go, the 10,000x top payout though extremely tough to crack, is a good one to aim for, whilst the 96.21% RTP is fair. As far as variance goes, we are calling this one out as very high and we do only recommend it to those who like risky play. So leave well alone if you want a few casual spins and some regular small wins instead.
In terms of features, we really enjoyed the quirky Monster Hand which is a fun and totally original addition to the slot. But the best of course comes from the Bubble Boosters, something else which we can’t remember seeing elsewhere. It offers some really rewarding moments thanks to that sky-high 100x top multiplier though it should be noted that landing one of those will be a rarity. What is cool though is that the multipliers can stack up if appear in the same cluster, and with up to 5 on one spin, that is surely where the biggest payouts will come. And remember, if you are in the free spins round, it only takes one extra scatter to re-trigger.
So, in conclusion, Tasty Treasts is a top fun slot if you’re comfortable with the extreme volatility, but it just may be too syrupy for some!
Testing Notes
Who Made Tasty Treats?
- Name: Hacksaw Gaming
- UK License: 54059
- Total Games: 50 +
- Known For: Dark, high variance output and bonus rounds driven by combining multipliers
- Popular Slots: Hand of Anubis, Itero, Gladiator Legends, Break Bones
