One of the more endearing aspects of the Games Global family is how readily its connected studios share mechanics with each other. Whether that’s down to generosity or a business arrangement is anyone’s guess. What we do know is that Alchemy Gaming has handed its X UP mechanic over to fellow team Infinity Dragon Studios for Chili Bonanza X UP. It’s a notable decision, as up to now X UP has been closely tied to Alchemy Gaming and is arguably its most significant contribution to the development of online slots so far. So the real question becomes: do new hands elevate it, dilute it, or does it end up feeling much the same?

The standout change in Chili Bonanza X UP is the theme. Spicy chilli pepper settings are a slot staple, but this is the first time they’ve appeared in an X UP release. Bubbling away in the mix is a chilli-fuelled scene with a Day of the Dead flair, a guitar-strumming mouse that brings to mind Jerry or Speedy Gonzalez, a sombrero, and some smooth, sultry rhythms. Overall, it comes across as more relaxed and more up-for-a-laugh than earlier X UP titles. That doesn’t automatically make it better, but if games like Africa X UP or Chronicles of Olympus X UP felt a touch too stiff, Chili Bonanza X UP could be a more playful alternative.

The visuals may differ, but X UP slots typically stick to the same grid format: 5-reels, 3-rows, and 243 ways to win. This entry is labelled by its creators as very highly volatile and is available in three RTP versions, with the highest reaching 96.33%. At that setting, wins are expected to land at a theoretical frequency of 24.14%, triggered when three or more matching symbols connect left to right across consecutive reels starting from the far-left reel. It plays smoothly across device types, and stakes can be set from 30 p/c to $/€12.

As for symbols, Chili Bonanza X UP features 10 standard pay symbols, made up of 5 low pays and 5 high pays. The low symbols are 10-A royals, paying 1 to 1.67 times the bet for a five-of-a-kind win, while the higher-paying food symbols return 2.33 to 4 times the bet. Supporting winning combinations, the wild symbol substitutes for any paying symbol. Wilds can appear on all five reels and award 4.17 times the bet for a five-wild winning way. On top of that, whenever wilds land, they expand to cover all positions on their reel.

Chili Bonanza X UP: Slot Features

Infinity Dragon Studios has kept things conservative on the feature front, as there’s little here that hasn’t been seen before. To begin with, landing exactly 2 scatter symbols awards 1 X UP token, which is collected by the multiplier trail. The trail’s values range from x2 all the way up to x50, depending on how many X UP tokens have been gathered.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols can appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game, or on reels 2 and 4 during free spins. When 3 scatter symbols land, they pay 2x the bet and award 8 free spins with the current win multiplier active. If x50 is reached in the base game, then free spins are automatically awarded. Scatter symbols stay on the reels throughout free spins. Hitting 2 scatters grants an extra +2 free spins, and any X UP tokens collected during the feature can increase the free spins multiplier.

Upsizer Feature

Once free spins have been triggered, players may be offered the option of paying more money to activate a higher free spins multiplier. Any X UP Tokens already collected lower the price of the available free spins multipliers.

Buy Bonus

After free spins have been triggered organically once, eligible players are then given the option to purchase the free spins bonus if they wish. The cost will be shown on the screen.

Chili Bonanza X UP: Slot Verdict

If you’ve spent time with earlier X UP slots, you’ll likely know exactly what kind of ride Chili Bonanza X UP delivers. Infinity Dragon Studios has chosen not to tinker much with the features or overall flow. That’s not necessarily a negative if you’ve enjoyed the previous entries—collecting X UP tokens, pushing the win multiplier higher, chaining wins via expanded wilds, and the rest. It’s a proven setup that can really come alive when the game hits a strong run, so it’s easy to see why Infinity Dragon Studio opted to keep the formula intact rather than reinvent it.

Even so, it wouldn’t have hurt to see the studio introduce a bold new twist of its own. Maybe the licensing fine print didn’t allow it—who knows? Either way, on a technical level Chili Bonanza X UP holds up just as well as the earlier games in the series, including its payout potential, which theoretically climbs to 50,000 times the bet. Building up X UP’s can be entertaining, the multipliers can look huge when paired with 243 ways and expanding wilds, and players may also have access to the Upsizer if they’re willing and able to boost the free spins multiplier.

With this style of gameplay now available from multiple sources, what most clearly separates Chili Bonanza X UP from the pack is its theme. Here, Infinity Dragon Studio has put together a setting that feels distinct from what came before. The chilli and Day of the Dead vibe isn’t entirely original either, but it’s been neatly delivered, making Chili Bonanza X UP a fiery pick for X UP fans.