Pragmatic Play, a developer of casino games, has released a new slot machine under the PowerNudge series, titled Sweet PowerNudge. I have to admit that the unremarkable name didn’t do much to pique my interest at first, but it did give me a pretty good idea of what was to come. You guessed it! Sweet PowerNudge fits neatly into the online slot machine sweets genre and all the olfactory pleasures that involves. PowerNudge, Multiplier Reel, Free Spins, and optional Ante Bet and Feature Buy all contribute to the game’s mechanics.
The visual style of Sweet PowerNudge is attractive, but, like the name, lacks imagination. It’s full of sweet, chewy things, from candy emblems to actual candies in the backdrop. The soundtrack adds an extra layer of bounce, and its upbeat presence is noticeable even without turning up the bass on your equalizer. A pleasant enough scenario, albeit a bit cliche at this point. For all the probable well-considered strategy behind Sweet Powernudge’s easy, feel-good Candy Crush-style presentation, the game doesn’t show anything that gamers acquainted with candy slots won’t already know.
Let’s take a step back and see how Sweet PowerNudge differs from the original two PowerNudge games, Goblin Heist PowerNudge and Rise of Giza PowerNudge, which all used identical grid layouts. This time around, it has 6 standard reels with 5 symbols each and a 7th multiplier reel on the right. Wins are awarded when five or more identical symbols appear in a row, either vertically or horizontally. These numbers remain fixed during standard play, the Ante Bet, and the purchase of free spins throughout all three RTP models (96.08%, 95.01%, and 94.07%). Bets can range from 20 pence up to £/€100 every spin, with an additional 25% added if the Ante Bet is activated, thereby doubling the player’s chances of triggering the bonus round.
In Sweet PowerNudge, the icons that pay out the least are the J through A, while the purple, yellow, green, and red treat items are the most. A victory with five of a kind pays between 0.1 and 1x the wager, whereas a win with 15 or more of a kind pays 10 to 100x the stake. Since wild symbols never occur in Sweet PowerNudge, players must rely on other bonuses to increase their winnings.
Powerful Nudging Slot Bonuses
Let’s kick things off with PowerNudge, the main attraction. When a win occurs, the reels containing the winning symbols move down by one position and the top reel is filled with fresh symbols. The reels that do not win stop spinning. After the nudge down, any winning symbols that are still in view are paid out again. After a nudge, more winning combinations may occur, and the nudge function will stop if there are no more winning combinations. Then the next spin, whether for money or for nothing, may commence.
Intensifier Spool
The multiplier values on this reel range from 1x to 10x. It is deactivated by default but has a chance to become active at any time. When this occurs, any winning reel nudges for that spin are applied. After each nudge, the overall multiplier is increased by the value in the center slot, and then applied to the current nudge’s win. The multiplier returns to 1 and the reel stops at the conclusion of the spin.
No Risk Turns
When 4 or more scatter symbols appear anywhere in the main game, free spins are triggered. If the feature is activated by more than 4 scatters, those additional scatters will remain in play throughout the free spins and may help generate further free spins. You’ll start out with 7 free spins in the bonus round, and for every subsequent set of 4 scatters you find, you’ll get an extra 3. In free spins, the multiplier reel remains active the entire time. Last but not least, we have the feature purchase option, wherein players may pay 100 times their initial wager to receive ten more free spins.
Slot Machine PowerNudge Decision
It’s difficult to find enough words to describe Sweet PowerNudge. It’s hardly a game that would grab your attention right away, what with its unassuming title and all the usual sugary visuals that dominate the screen. The goblins in Goblin Heist PowerNudge and the cyborg pharaohs in Rise of Giza PowerNudge gave us false hopes, but we expected something more. This one is a lot more standard, with a focus on sweets, which has been done so often that Sweet PowerNudge seems tired.
But presentation is just half the battle; how is the actual gameplay? Again, it’s serviceable without being really remarkable. Pragmatic Play has used the concept of a multiplier reel previously, most notably in Hot Safari and Aztec Gems. Nudge sequences, which can happen at random during the main game or on each free spin, can be particularly fruitful when it’s firing off multiplier values and increasing the total multiplier. While it may take some perseverance to suffer through stretches of dead spins, Sweet PowerNudge’s features and pay system have the potential to snowball. There’s potential for some thrilling snowball effects, as the maximum payout is 5,000 times the wager.
It was a little disheartening to see Pragmatic Play revert to such a conventional theme presentation after the creative outbursts of the first two PowerNudge games. But considering the widespread appeal of candy-themed slots, especially those developed by Pragmatic Play, the decision to set the game in such a warm and inviting setting could prove to be a masterstroke—making this PowerNudge’s breakout slot. What happens next is up in the air.
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