General overview
The game is played on a 5x4 grid with 50 paylines and medium-high volatility. The symbols roster is super simple: four low-paying maki symbols, four high-paying nigiri symbols, and one scatter and one wild, which reflects the proverbial Japanese minimalism in design. The scatter carries no value by itself and only serves to start the feature, while the wilds are worth 100x for a five-in-line, just as the top-paying shrimp nigiri symbol. This is all the game needs to entertain efficiently, as the features and mechanics need no other special symbols or design elements. The art style, especially when it comes to text letters in-game, is somewhat peculiar, but it gets the job done well. Sushi bits look delicious, legit and recognizable, the sake bottle has a simple inscription on the label as sake bottles do, and sake cups have a patterned design just like real ones, but with an addition of manga-esque eyes, cheeks and mouth, exactly how Japanese artists like to give life to inanimate objects. What's more, as these cups get refilled repeatedly in the game, they get increasingly drunker, and their facial features change according to their level of inebriation. This simple yet impactful touch makes the design of game elements spot-on and creates a typical Japanese kawaii effect. Clicking on the symbols opens a small window with payouts for that symbol's combination, which is always handy and helpful and obviously done with the player in mind.
Features and mechanics
Unlike the usual slots in which you need to land three special symbols or scatters to trigger the main feature, Super Sake remains in character and only requires a wild sake cup and a sake bottle scatter to start the free games phase with six initial free games. Six may sound modest, but it's fine: the feature mechanics allow you to win additional free games and often effectively double the initial free games count. The feature is simple but powerful: it generates all the main action and nicely reflects the game theme: put a sake bottle on the table and a cup or two - and the fun can begin!
What happens now is that the bottle counts as wild, too, because every time it lands in free games - and it does with every spin - a wild leaves its position, moves to the bottle's position, gets filled with sake and remains sticky in that position for the remainder of the feature. Every time sake is poured into the wild cup, its multiplier increases by one and boosts this way combos that include the said wild. If there are several wilds in play, the sake bottle scatter fills a wild cup at random. When the wild's multiplier reaches x4, x7 and x10 values, the wild splits into a new wild symbol that stays in its place with the initial x1 multiplier, while the old one moves to the scatter position and keeps its multiplier count. On top of that, reaching the previously mentioned thresholds awards two free games every time and extends the free games phase, allowing you this way to continue pouring the wild cups, boosting your existing wilds and creating new ones. Towards the end of the phase, you could see plenty of multiplier wilds on the grid, which is always a satisfying sight to behold, especially if they result in even more satisfying payouts.
To keep it exciting and engaging in the base game, and to recreate typical Japanese hospitality, while you're waiting for the scatter and wilds to land to start the free games, you could be randomly awarded up to five wilds. This only happens in spins where no other wild or scatter is about to land, and it also applies to the sake bottle scatter.
As these random wilds only land in spins with no scatters to trigger the free games feature, there is another way to rush the feature and ramp up the action. The side bet button on the right-hand side can be switched on for an additional 50% cost on your overall bet, and it significantly increases the chance of landing both a scatter and a wild. For those who are too impatient even for that, there's a buy bonus option that costs 85x your current bet but guarantees a random wild win that starts the free games feature. If you find yourself strapped for luck, these options might be a welcome push in the right direction. We find it very convenient to have these options available: we're sure players appreciate them, too, as they allow more gameplay flexibility and contribute additional potential for fun and nice wins to the game.
Our final verdict
There are many strengths to the game we already mentioned earlier, but what we like the most about it is that the creators didn't just pick a popular theme and stick random features in it without even trying to create a complete work of game art that feels consistent in its concept, execution, effect and impact. They took the theme seriously, thought about it thoroughly, and designed game features that match the setting perfectly and contribute to the game's overall feel. It's always a pleasure to play a thought-out game driven by an efficient and tight inner logic that emerges as a superior gameplay experience. Super Sake is one of those games where you can feel the advanced craftsmanship put into it and one you can enjoy even if you're not into sushi or sake or Japan or even slots, for that matter. Super Sake is far from a generic slot; it stands on its own and it stands out from other games in any operator portfolio. Here's to Super Sake: cheers, or, as the izakaya bargoers would say, kanpai!
Here's more information about the game.
