Sugar Skulls from Booming Games: Slot Review - join in the fiesta fun!

Día de Muertos or the Day of the Dead as it is referred to in English is a famous Mexican holiday that’s all about honouring the dead. This holiday lasts for 3 days and kicks off at the end of October each year. During this holiday, people dress up in colourful costumes while donning intricate skull facepaint as they visit the graves of loved ones who have passed away. This holiday has become so popular in recent times that it has spread all across the world as a unique way of celebrating the dead. Leading software provider Booming Games have released this new online slot just in time to celebrate this year’s Day of the Dead. Let’s join in the festivities to see if this slot can not only be a fun celebration of this holiday but also a rewarding experience too?

Sugar Skulls is a 5 reel slot with 20 paylines that includes Major Free Spins, Stacked Symbols, and Random Fiesta Awards.

Special Features

The first feature to discuss is the Wild symbol. This symbol is highlighted by the word ‘Wild’ surrounded by a purple background filled with intricate colourful designs. The main function of this symbol is to replace all other symbols apart from the Scatter to help form winning combos on the reels. Keep a very close eye on this symbol as it is also the highest paying symbol in the game. Land 5 Wilds on an active payline and you'll be awarded a fine payout worth 50X your wager!

The Scatter symbol is represented by the words ‘Free Spins’ surrounded by a series of colourful metal cogs. Land 3 Scatters anywhere on the reels to trigger the Major Free Spins bonus feature. In this fun bonus game, you will receive 10 Free Spins with the reels only containing Major Symbols and Wild Symbols. Major Symbols consist of the 4 different coloured skulls and come stacked in sets of 2 or 3 in Free Spins. This feature can be highly lucrative and can boost your chances of landing a big cash prize by quite some margin.

The final feature to discuss is Random Fiesta Award. This feature is a randomly triggered event as the name suggests and activates when a colourful piñata symbol appears on the reels. Once triggered, you will be awarded a multiplier prize ranging from 10X all the way up to 100X. Unfortunately, this feature cannot be triggered during Major Free Spins.

Theme, Graphics and Sound

The game features a wonderfully designed reel structure with bright striking colours used throughout. The background of the slot is filled with an assortment of flowers and decorated skulls. It is a fitting tribute to one of Mexico’s favourite holidays. Symbols are nicely polished and consist of an assortment of multi-coloured Skulls as well as your typical A – J icons. The animations are a real visual treat as symbols fall seamlessly into place on the reels and enlarge when part of a winning payline. I also really like whenever you trigger the Major Free Spins feature how the entire background changes to a stylish purple design.

The music is melodic and mariachi based with lots of slow guitar strums. It ties in perfectly with the Mexican theme of the slot.

Win lines, Payouts and Jackpots

The game has 20 paylines, a decent RTP of 95.93%, and a very low maximum payout worth 400X your wager.

Below is a summary taken from the PayOut Table from the game. The amount won for each combination depends on the value of the bet when you spin the reels.

Bet Range: 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 1.00, 2.00, 4.00, 6.00, 10.00, 20.00, 40.00, 60.00, 100.00, 200.00, 400.00

Based on a bet of 0.20:

• Sugar Skulls Wild Symbol: 0.50 for 3X, 2.00 for 4X, 10.00 for 5X
• Purple Skull Symbol: 0.25 for 3X, 0.80 for 4X, 4.00 for 3X
• Red Skull Symbol: 0.20 for 3X, 0.60 for 4X, 3.00 for 5X
• Blue Skull Symbol: 0.15 for 3X, 0.50 for 4X, 2.00 for 5X
• Green Skull Symbol: 0.15 for 3X, 0.40 for 4X, 1.50 for 5X
• A Symbol: 0.07 for 3X, 0.25 for 4X, 0.80 for 5X
• K Symbol: 0.06 for 3X, 0.20 for 4X, 0.60 for 5X
• Q Symbol: 0.05 for 3X, 0.15 for 4X, 0.50 for 5X
• J Symbol: 0.04 for 3X, 0.12 for 4X, 0.40 for 5X

Our Verdict on Sugar Skulls

This game is produced by Booming Games and is a fine tribute to a world-famous Mexican holiday. The graphics are excellent, the gameplay is fast and exciting, and there are a couple of really nice bonus features to keep you spinning those reels again and again. The Random Fiesta Award feature triggered quite a few times when playing although I was not successful in landing a sweet 100X multiplier prize. The Major Free Spins feature is the star of the show here as it only features high paying stacked symbols and Wilds to really boost your odds of winning a big cash prize. The only downside to this feature is that unfortunately you cannot retrigger it. When it comes to variance, I found this slot to be Low so you will be pleased to know it won’t take you too long to land a cash prize although the payouts do err a bit on the small side. For a slot with a similar Day of the Dead theme, check out Beautiful Bones.

Celebrate Día de Muertos by landing Huge Fiesta wins when you play Sugar Skulls!