Sweet Alchemy Introduction

Sweet Alchemy is a video slot from Play’n GO, played on a cascading 5×5 grid. It comes with 1 fixed payline, and the betting range runs from 0.10 to 100 EUR. Play’n GO has scored big with its colorful, cartoon-style cascading slots like Moon Princess, Gemix and Reactoonz, and Sweet Alchemy follows in that same lane as the next title to land in casinos. Some players feel these games are overly complex and would rather stick to classic slots, but their popularity is hard to argue with—especially among casino streamers.

If you’ve played Play’n GO’s cascading-style slots before, the layout and progress meter will feel familiar right away—here it’s called the Sugar Rush Meter. It functions very similarly to the meter in Moon Princess, to use one example. Each winning symbol adds to the Sugar Rush Meter, which resets after each game round. As the meter builds, special Wilds are generated on the grid.

A notable twist in this slot is that it includes 3 types of Wild symbols.

• Regular Wild substitutes for any symbol like a standard wild.
• Striped Wilds clear the full row or column when they take part in a win.
• Dotted Wilds wipe out every instance of a random symbol when included in a win.

There are 4 high paying symbols shown as a star (only available in the free round), heart, nut (?) and a pastille. The lower-paying symbols are a cube, bean, cone and a doughnut.

There’s no bonus or scatter symbol; instead, the free play starts by filling the Sugar Rush Meter with 38 symbols. Sweet Alchemy is medium variance slot with an RTP of 96.5%, although some casinos may offer a much lower version, so it’s always worth checking the helpfile to confirm which RTP you’re on.

Sweet Alchemy Features

Clusters of 4 or more matching symbols pay and also add to the Sugar Rush Meter. When the Sugar Rush Meter reaches 6 symbols in a game round, 2 Regular Wilds replace 2 symbols on the grid – these behave like normal symbols for forming wins and also contribute to the Sugar Rush Meter.

When the Sugar Rush Meter reaches 13 symbols in a game round, 2 Striped Wilds replace 2 symbols on the grid – these function like regular symbols for wins and, when they do win, they also clear all symbols in the same row or column. Every removed symbol, including the Striped Wilds, is added to the Sugar Rush Meter.

When the Sugar Rush Meter reaches 25 symbols in a game round, 2 Dotted Wilds replace 2 random symbols on the grid – these act like normal symbols for creating wins and, when they win, they also remove all instances of a randomly selected symbol from the grid.

Fill the Sugar Rush Meter with 38 symbols in a game round to trigger the Mix the Elixir Free Round featuring 3 Candy Spells. For every 3 extra symbols collected after that within the same game round, you gain an additional Candy Spell for the free round, up to a maximum of 7 Candy Spells.

The Mix the Elixir free round takes place on a 9×9 grid. The objective is to complete the collection to activate the Elixir of Power bonus, while picking up wins along the way. The Alchemist summons Candy Spells to assist with this. Symbols drop in and cascades/wins happen as usual. Once no further wins are available, the first Candy Spell triggers. Then the cascade sequence runs again before the second Candy Spell activates. The free round ends after all Candy Spells have been used. The Candy Spells are:

• Mixed Candy – The grid’s symbols are reshuffled to potentially form fresh wins.
• Sweet Surprise – 7-12 wild symbols (of any kind) land in random spots. Even when the wild symbols don’t form winning combinations, their removal effect still activates.
• Sugar Bombs – 7-15 regular symbols are chosen at random and destroyed.

In the Free Round, players must collect a required amount of 2 different symbols. The collection has 3 levels. Completing Level 1 ensures the Elixir of Power Bonus will trigger when the free round finishes. Completing Level 2 upgrades the prizes available in the Elixir of Power bonus. Completing Level 3 upgrades the prizes once more. In the Elixir of Power bonus, players reveal chocolate squares to uncover magic elixirs until 3 matching elixirs are found. The prizes available depend on the Collection Level reached in the Mix the Elixir Free Round and include:

If players complete the Free Round collection they will move forward on the Map once the bonus ends. A treasure chest is awarded every 3 levels on the Map, and it contains a cash prize. The Treasure Chest cash prize equals 15% of the player’s base game winnings since the last Chest was opened.

Sweet Alchemy Conclusion

On the visual side, Sweet Alchemy is very polished and feels closer to a video game than a traditional slot, which can be slightly misleading if you get too absorbed and forget you’re wagering real money. One thing we found a little irritating was the animated girl’s constant moaning and cheering, though that may simply come down to personal taste. The game offers a max exposure of 3000x, which is respectable, so there’s clearly some solid upside.

Play’n GO has strong momentum right now, and they’ve pushed their way to the top tier to compete with both Microgaming and NetEnt. We didn’t immediately click with Reactoonz when it first launched, but it grew on us over time. Sweet Alchemy can look a bit overwhelming at first, but it may start to make more sense after a few sessions. That said, there’s also the possibility that Play’n GO has taken things a step too far with this design.

If you like this slot, make sure you also check out the follow-up release Sweet Alchemy 2.