Pragmatic Play · 30 November 2023 · 7×7 cluster pays
Sugar Rush Xmas slot review
The 2022 original in winter clothes: snow caps on every sweet, baubles in the gumball rocket.
Under the snow nothing changed: x2 to x128 spots, 10–30 free spins, 5,000x max win.
One of our 15 bought bonuses here hit the x128 cap on a cell and paid 550.4x.
The quick bite
Sugar Rush Xmas is a seasonal edition, and a very faithful one. Pragmatic Play released it on 30 November 2023, eighteen months after the original, and changed the art and nothing else.
We checked that claim the slow way. The seven pages of the Xmas rules screen match the original's word for word, the configuration the demo loads has the same RTP, the same max-win cap and the same coin values, and the paytable numbers are identical to the cent. If you know Sugar Rush, you know this game; if you don't, everything below applies to both.
So why play it? Because it looks great in December, because some lobbies feature it in winter instead of the original, and because the choice between the two is purely a matter of taste. In our own test one bought Xmas bonus pushed a cell to the x128 cap and paid 550.4x from a 100x buy.
What's new in this flavour
- Winter art: snow caps on every candy, a snowy candyland, holly on the win screens.
- The scatter is a gumball rocket full of Christmas baubles.
- The free spins play under a purple night sky with falling snow.
- Same seven candies, same paytable, same x2–x128 spots, same 10–30 free spins.
- Same 5,000x max win, same 100x bonus buy, same 96.50% RTP, same $0.20–$240 bets.
The only practical difference is availability: many casinos promote Xmas from mid-November to the new year and some lobbies only list it in season.
Play the free demo
Pragmatic Play's own demo, with play money. It loads when you press the button.
Opens Pragmatic Play's own demo with play money. 18+. Open in a new tab
Seen how it works? Sugar Rush Xmas is waiting at our partner casino. Real money, 18+. Set your limits first.
How a spin works
Because the rules are the original's, a spin goes exactly the same way:
49 candies land on the 7×7 board: lollipops, hearts, jelly beans, stars and red, purple and orange gummy bears, all wearing a little snow.
Five or more touching identical candies win. Up, down, left or right; never diagonally. They explode, the rest fall, new candies drop in and the board checks again. That is a tumble.
Exploded cells stay marked. A second explosion on a marked cell makes it x2; each explosion after that doubles it, up to x128. Multipliers under one cluster are added together. In this screenshot five red bears pay $0.60 × 4 = $2.40 because the cells under them carry a combined x4.
From our bought round: a cluster on multiplier cells. Base game: board wiped. Free spins: board kept. When the tumbles stop in the base game, all marks clear. In free spins they stay until the round ends, which is where the multipliers grow.
The long version, with diagrams, is our first Learn chapter.
What clusters pay
Identical to the original: multiples of your total bet for a cluster of each size.
| Symbol / cluster size | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pink lollipop | 1x | 1.5x | 1.75x | 2x | 2.5x | 5x | 7.5x | 15x | 35x | 70x | 150x |
| Orange heart | 0.75x | 1x | 1.25x | 1.5x | 2x | 4x | 6x | 12.5x | 30x | 60x | 100x |
 Purple jelly bean | 0.5x | 0.75x | 1x | 1.25x | 1.5x | 3x | 4.5x | 10x | 20x | 40x | 60x |
| Green star | 0.4x | 0.5x | 0.75x | 1x | 1.25x | 2x | 3x | 5x | 10x | 20x | 40x |
 Red gummy bear | 0.3x | 0.4x | 0.5x | 0.75x | 1x | 1.5x | 2.5x | 3.5x | 8x | 15x | 30x |
 Purple gummy bear | 0.25x | 0.3x | 0.4x | 0.5x | 0.75x | 1.25x | 2x | 3x | 6x | 12x | 25x |
 Orange gummy bear | 0.2x | 0.25x | 0.3x | 0.4x | 0.5x | 1x | 1.5x | 2.5x | 5x | 10x | 20x |
The steep part of the table starts at 12 symbols. Below that, the money comes from multipliers: a plain 6-heart cluster pays 1x, the same cluster over cells worth x8 and x4 pays 12x. Work out your own in the cluster calculator.
Spots and free spins
Multiplier spots work exactly as in the original. A cell needs a mark and then a second explosion to become x2, and it doubles from there to the cap of x128. Spots under one cluster add up. In our 500 base spins a multiplier formed in 10.6% of spins and never went past x8; in free spins our biggest cell reached the full x128.
Free spins start with 3 or more scatters, the bauble rockets:
| Scatters on the grid | To trigger | To retrigger, in the round |
|---|---|---|
| 3 scatters | 10 free spins | +10 more |
| 4 scatters | 12 free spins | +12 more |
| 5 scatters | 15 free spins | +15 more |
| 6 scatters | 20 free spins | +20 more |
| 7+ scatters | 30 free spins | +30 more |
During the round the marked cells and their multipliers stay put and keep growing, special reels are in play, and 3 or more scatters retrigger the round for the same numbers of extra spins.
One of our rounds, replayed
This round is here because it is typical, not because it is pretty. We bought it at $2, three scatters gave 10 free spins, no retrigger came, and the best cell only reached x4.
| Free spin | Spin win | Total | Best spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 of 10 | 1.5x | 1.5x | — |
| 2 of 10 | 0.3x | 1.8x | x2 |
| 3 of 10 | 1.65x | 3.45x | x2 |
| 4 of 10 | 0x | 3.45x | x2 |
| 5 of 10 | 2x | 5.45x | x4 |
| 6 of 10 | 0x | 5.45x | x4 |
| 7 of 10 | 0x | 5.45x | x4 |
| 8 of 10 | 1.2x | 6.65x | x4 |
| 9 of 10 | 0x | 6.65x | x4 |
| 10 of 10 | 8.4x | 15.05x | x4 |
It paid 15.05x on a 100x price. Our 15 Test Kitchen buys of Xmas returned a median of 39.4x; three paid back more than 100x, and one, with a x128 cell, paid 550.4x. Bought bonuses are lumpy: a few big rounds carry the average.
Where the multipliers ended up
Our 15 bought Xmas bonuses, stacked: the middle of the grid finished multiplied in around three rounds out of four, the corners rarely at all. The same shape appears in every Sugar Rush game we tested, which is the giveaway that it comes from the grid's geometry and not from anything special about this game. A middle cell is part of more possible clusters than an edge cell, so it explodes more often.
Fancy the real thing? Spin Sugar Rush Xmas with real money. Real money, 18+. Set your limits first.
Paying for features
One button: Buy Free Spins for 100x the bet. 3 to 7 scatters land at random, so you can get 10 to 30 spins. The RTP with the buy is 96.50%, the same as normal play. There is no Ante bet and no Super buy in Xmas.
If you are going to buy, decide the number of buys before you start and stick to it. Our bonus-buy calculator shows what a run of buys costs and how our results were spread.
Straight from the rules screen
| Mode | RTP |
|---|---|
| Base game | 96.50% |
| Buy Free Spins | 96.50% |
High volatility, max win 5,000x in base game and free spins with the round ending if it is reached, bets from $0.20 to $240 per spin. The configuration the demo loads is the original's: it even carries the same figure of about one in 2.34 million rounds for reaching the cap.
Ready for a real board of Sugar Rush Xmas? Real money, 18+. Set your limits first.
On a phone
The portrait screen is the nicest of the four games: the snowy candyland fills the bottom half with Christmas trees and presents, and the Buy Free Spins sign hangs on the left like a shop board.
Test Kitchen numbers
| Base spins played | 500 |
|---|---|
| Spins that paid something | 33.4% |
| Spins where a spot multiplier formed | 10.6% |
| Best single base spin | 18.5x |
| Free spins triggered naturally | 0 |
| Bought bonuses (100x each) | 15 |
| Median bought bonus | 39.4x |
| Mean bought bonus | 88.7x |
| Best bought bonus | 550.4x |
| Bought bonuses that paid back 100x | 3 of 15 |
| Highest spot multiplier in a bought bonus | x128 |
Small samples swing hard: these numbers describe our sessions, not the game's maths. Full data and method: Test Kitchen.
Two sessions of the same game, two moods: the base spins were cold (they returned 49.5% of what we bet and never triggered a bonus), while the bought bonuses were among the best in our test. Neither tells you anything about the next session.
Sweet for, sour for
Sweet for
- December players who like the original and want the seasonal look.
- Anyone learning the series: one buy button and nothing else.
- Casino lobbies that feature Xmas when the original isn't on the front page.
Sour for
- Players looking for something new: it is the original under snow.
- Big-win hunters: x128 and 5,000x, like the original, are the lowest caps in the series.
- Fans of options: no Ante, no Super buy.
Want the same feel with a higher ceiling? Sugar Rush 1000 keeps the recipe and lifts the cap to x1,024.
Play Sugar Rush Xmas for real Free demo first
Questions about Sugar Rush Xmas
Is Sugar Rush Xmas different from Sugar Rush?
Only in its art. The rules screen is the original's word for word, and the paytable, multiplier spots (x2 to x128), free spins, 5,000x max win, 100x buy and 96.50% RTP are all the same. Even the configuration the demo loads matches.
When was Sugar Rush Xmas released?
On 30 November 2023, about eighteen months after the original Sugar Rush.
What is the RTP of Sugar Rush Xmas?
96.50% for normal play and 96.50% with the bonus buy, according to the rules screen in the official demo.
What is the max win?
5,000 times your bet. A free spins round that reaches it ends immediately.
Can I buy the bonus in Sugar Rush Xmas?
Yes, for 100 times your bet. 3 to 7 scatters then land at random, giving 10 to 30 free spins. There is no Ante bet and no Super Free Spins option in this game.
Is Sugar Rush Xmas only available at Christmas?
The game itself is available all year, but casinos tend to feature it from mid-November to the new year. The demo on this page works any time.
Which is better, Sugar Rush or Sugar Rush Xmas?
Neither: they play identically, so pick the look you like. If you want a higher ceiling, look at Sugar Rush 1000 instead.
Rules read and demos played on . Page updated . What we re-check and when.
