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Candy Stars is a simple, classic online slot machine launched by Pragmatic Play in 2022. The game houses 5 reels, 3-4 rows, and 576 paylines with a 96.47% RTP. This non-progressive slot game also features sticky wilds, tumbling symbols, free spins, multipliers, and mobile. This game has a jackpot of 5,000x the bet and is available for playing on both desktop & mobile.
Few online casino game companies are quite as prolific as Pragmatic Play. This software provider churns out new slot games every week, and they’ve been doing so for what seems like years. Not all of them are worth your attention, though, and most are virtually indistinguishable from each other.
This brings us to Candy Stars, Pragmatic Play’s hit release from 2022. This little slot game immediately stands out with its creative use of free spins and interesting, high-paying multipliers. It’s set on a simple, classic-looking slot grid that’s colorful but doesn’t appeal much beyond the candy theme. However, the gameplay features are numerous and quite exciting, so let’s cut to the chase and see how Candy Stars works.
Candy Stars is played on a strange 5×3 grid in which the middle three reels actually have 4 rows each. This somewhat increases your chances of making winning combinations, which can be done in 576 different ways.
To clarify, the goal of Candy Stars is to arrange matching symbols from left to right, starting with the first reel. However, unlike many other online slot games, the arrangement itself does not matter. All it takes to win is to have identical symbols on at least 3 connected reels. That’s why the bonus rows at the top are so helpful.
The only thing you need to do as the player is set your stake using the plus and minus buttons at the bottom right and hit Spin.
The Candy Stars slot also comes with a Tumbling Symbols feature, which allows you to win more than once with a single spin. Essentially, every time you make a winning combination, the winning symbols are removed from the game. Any symbols above these tumble down to the bottom, and new symbols appear from the top to replace them. Tumbling continues until no more winning combinations are possible.
Candy Stars kicks off quite slowly and seems like a classic slot machine. However, things can get very interesting thanks to the fourth row and the free spins round. Let’s explain.
First of all, Wild symbols in Candy Stars are special. Not only do they replace any other symbol to make winning lines, but they also stick around for all subsequent tumbles. You can get a lot of mileage out of just one or two Wilds. However, they only appear on reels 2, 3, and 4.
Wilds also come with a base 1x multiplier to the winnings of any combination they’re a part of. Every time the symbols tumble (and the Wild stays in place), this multiplier is doubled. This can go all the way up to 128x!
Candy Stars free spins are triggered whenever you hit 3 Scatter symbols. These only appear on reels 1, 3, and 5, so getting free spins is not easy. The round always starts with 8 spins but is extended by an additional 5 if you hit 3 Scatters again.
Wilds are guaranteed during Free Spins in Candy Stars. One will appear on every spin in one of the three positions in the top-most row. Better yet, Wilds have a base multiplier of 2x during free spins.
Pragmatic Play Candy Stars is unusually volatile for what it is, relying on the Wilds and their multipliers to do most of the heavy lifting. Without them, you’ll be playing at a loss most of the time.
There are 8 regular symbols in the game. The four card symbols can be considered low-paying, while the candy pays more (though the blue candy is barely better than an Ace.)
Surprisingly enough, our recommendation is not to buy the free spins. Scatters are surprisingly common in this game, and purchasing free spins actually increases the house advantage in this case.
To be frank, this game is likely to be forgotten among the hundreds of slots Pragmatic Play releases. It’s not a bad game by any means, and it certainly has some fun ideas with the extended reels. However, the overall impression is that those ideas are not fully realized and don’t affect regular gameplay all that much.
It’s a solid enough release for what it is, but it’s nothing all that special considering how many creative, unique games have been released in recent months.
New customers. Opt-in required. 20 Bonus Spins on “Sahara Riches Cash Collect” at 10p per spin and 100% Deposit Bonus up to £25 on first deposit (payment method and play restrictions apply). Min. deposit £10. 30x wagering for Bonus Spins and Deposit Bonus (game weighting applies). Max. £5/spin or £0.50/line. 30 days expiry.
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| Reels: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | Cluster Pays |
| RTP: | 96.50% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 53% |
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| Reels: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | Cluster Pays |
| RTP: | 96.53% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 91% |
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| Reels: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | 10 |
| RTP: | 96.07% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 71% |
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| Reels: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | 50 |
| RTP: | 96.04% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 81% |
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| Minimum Bet: | 0.1 |
|---|---|
| Maximum Bet: | 5000 |
| RTP: | 96.54% |
| Max Payouts: | 15,450:1 |
| Sidebets: | No |
| Rating: | 65% |
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| Reels: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | 40 |
| RTP: | 96.09% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 81% |
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| Reels: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Paylines: | 84 |
| RTP: | 96.04% |
| Bonus game: | NO |
| Free spins: | YES |
| Multipliers: | NO |
| Progressive: | NO |
| Rating: | 83% |
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| Minimum Bet: | 0.1 |
|---|---|
| Maximum Bet: | 5000 |
| RTP: | 98.79% |
| Max Payouts: | 1,000x |
| Sidebets: | No |
| Rating: | 65% |
