Comparison of Fruit-Themed Slots from Various Providers

Slot machines are indeed the most popular form of gambling. According to statistics, only in Germany, more than 60% of the adult population play slot machines at least once a year (land-based or online). Each slot has an unusual theme; it can be almost anything, from the ancient world to scenes from famous films, but many users like fruit-themed slot machines. They are usually very bright and colorful and use easily recognizable symbols.

Today, quite a few providers are involved in producing fruit slots, but we want to discuss only the most famous of them.

Fruit Shop Megaways from NetEnt

• Title: Fruit Shop Megaways;
• Developer: NetEnt;
• Reels: 6;
• Rows: 2–7;
• Paylines: 64–117,649;
• RTP: 96.06% | 95.06% | 93.01% | 91.01%;
• Hit Freq: 17.31%;
• Max Win: 20,000x;
• Max Win Probability: 1/427,757,687,535 spins;
• Volatility: High;
• Min/Max Bet: 0.20/100;
• Release Date: January 21, 2021.

The 6 reel Megaways powered grid is in a market stall, backgrounded by plenty of lush plant life and clear blue skies. It’s the very picture of simplicity, matching the gameplay to a tee.

After admiring the view, bets can be set from 20 p/c up to £/€100 per spin. As to the math model, Megaways has brought with it its tendency to ramp just about everything up, including volatility which moves to a slightly higher setting. RTP is one area that has not increased, dropping a few points to the still respectable value of 96.06%, which is more or less average. Max win has improved as you’d expect, while the already highly playable nature gets a healthy boost of Megaways magic.

Landing a win requires three or more matching symbols from the leftmost reel, sitting adjacently. It does not apply to the highest paying symbol, the cherries, as these snacks need only two or more to pay. NetEnt has split the 10 pay symbols into two groups. One is the low pay 10-A royals which have kept their puffy blue design; the other is the medium pay fruits. As mentioned earlier, watermelons, oranges, lemons, plums, and cherries are in this latter group. Rewards in the mid-pay fruit group are worth 1.5 to 12.5 times the stake for a six-of-a-kind win.

Fans of cascade features will be disappointed to see they are not part of Fruit Shop Megaways this time. The way free spins are triggered would have been mayhem, so they have been dropped. There is a wild landing on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5 in the main game or free spins — the wild substitutes for all symbols.

The original Fruit Shop was a lesson in compelling simplicity and captivating flow and rhythm — the Megaways redo is no different. If anything, it’s even harder to put down. What makes it so are free spins which often trigger, albeit in reduced numbers.

Every fruit symbol wins and triggers free spins. The amount awarded depends on the symbol and the length of the combination. Any medium win combo of 3, 4, 5, or 6 symbol length awards 2, 3, 4, or 5 free spins, respectively. One exception to the rule is the cherries which dole out one free spin for a two-of-a-kind win.

This mechanic is also available during free spins, the difference being that the low pay symbol now wins award free spins too. So, 3, 4, 5, or 6 length low pay wins add 1, 2, 3, or 4 more spins to the amount. The second addition to free spins is a win multiplier. As usual, it starts at x1, and increases by one following every winning spin. The maximum value the multiplier can reach is x10.

Extra Juicy Megaways from Pragmatic Play

• Title: Extra Juicy Megaways;
• Developer: Pragmatic Play;
• Reels: 6;
• Rows: 2–7;
• Paylines: 117649;
• RTP: 96.42%;
• Hit Frequency: N/A;
• Max Win: 5000x;
• Volatility: High;
• Min/Max Bet: €0.2/€100;
• Release Date: February 24, 2022.

Developer Pragmatic Play has reached into their bag of tricks and pulled out a previous slot called Extra Juicy and given it some Megaways augmentation. Not exactly breaking news since fruit-themed Megaways places are relatively common now, but sure to excite players who like to mix and match elements of classic slot gaming with something more contemporary.

A couple of new bits make their way to the screen, too. The biggest one is that the action now happens on a 6-reel game grid, where the number of symbols changes on each spin, creating up to 117,649 ways to win. The rest of the visuals are pretty essential. It looks like a new creative team might have been responsible for designing the game, as it doesn’t quite live up to the high standards of many other Pragmatic titles.

Another change in Extra Juicy Megaways is the addition of an Ante Bet. Regular bets range from 20 p/c to a maximum of £/€125 per spin, which raises costs by 25% when activating the Ante Bet, doubling the chance of triggering free spins. As expected, volatility is high, and while RTP has fallen slightly, it still comes in at the respectable level of 96.42% at the default setting, increasing to 96.43% when using the Ante Bet or 96.48% when buying free spins.

How you win in Extra Juicy Megaways is a bit different. At least three matching symbols in adjacent reels are needed to create a winning way, but the combo can start anywhere. So, a three-of-a-kind win can hit on reels 3, 4, and 5, for example. Extra Juicy Megaways uses a bunch of fruits, bells, and lucky sevens in the symbol department as regular pay. From the low side to the high are cherries, lemons, grapes, kiwifruit, oranges, plums, blackberries, and watermelons worth 0.6 to 2.5x the bet for six on a payline. Next are bells at 3.75x and Lucky 7s at 6 times the stake for landing six on a payline. Due to how wins are created, wilds are not used in the game at any point.

Players access the bonus by landing 4, 5, or 6 scatters to win 12, 16, or 20 free spins, with +4 additional free spins awarded for each spread beyond 6. If you win between 12 and 20 free spins, you are given a chance to gamble for extra spins on a fortune wheel. A successful fortune wheel spin awards additional free spins; a losing spin downgrades them. This option is unavailable if you win more than 24 free spins from the base game.

Once into the bonus round, keep an eye out for scatter symbols. Now, they are transformed into multiplier symbols carrying values of x3 to x15. Multiplier symbols stay on the reels until the end of the current tumble sequence. When the tumble ends, all multiplier symbol values in view are added together and applied to the total win from the tumble.

If possible, players can buy access to free spins for the cost of 100x their stake. You must switch the Ante Bet off if you wish to purchase free spins in this way.

Fruit Smash from Slot Mill

• Title: Fruit Smash;
• Developer: Slot Mill;
• Reels: 6;
• Rows: 6;
• Paylines: Cluster pays;
• RTP: 96,19%;
• Max Win: 6,000x;
• Volatility: High;
• Min/Max Bet: 0.10/50;
• Release Date: February 9, 2022.

As far as first impressions go, a name like Fruit Smash is unlikely to get too many players hot with anticipation — unless they are hardcore fruits. However, Slotmill’s Fruit Smash is far from a run-of-the-mill old-school slot machine. Instead, Fruit Smash serves up solid, if slightly copy-cat, scatter-paying action in an Avalanche-style slot with big potential multipliers that use Fruit for most of its imagery.

One reason for Fruit Smash’sSmash’s erratic mood swings is a highly volatile math model, which generates a theoretical return to the player value of 96.19%. The game is available on any device and lets players select stakes of 10 p/c to £/€50 per spin — that is if you choose to play Fruit Smash in regular mode (or don’t have a choice) because it may also come with Burst Mode and three Fast Track options, covered below.

Landing eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the grid creates a win, which then gets removed from the grid by the Avalanche mechanic. New or remaining symbols fall into the gaps, and another Avalanche is triggered if a recent win is created. Regular pay symbols are all Fruit (coconuts are technically Fruit despite their name) and include blueberries, plums, apples, watermelons, coconuts, spiky yellow Fruit, spiky purple Fruit, strawberries, pineapples, and dragon fruit. Eight symbols scatter wins are worth 0.3 to 0.8x the bet, rising to 15 to 60 times the stake for a 16+ sized scatter payout. There are no wilds used in this system at any time.

As well as the Avalanche feature, other extras of note are Giant Fruit symbols, win multipliers, free spins, Fruit Frenzy Free Spins, Fast Track, and Burst Mode.

A win multiplier is used in all phases of the game. Following each Avalanche, it increases by +1. The win multiplier reset between paid spins, yet not between free spins.

On each spin, a 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4 sized Giant Fruit Symbol can randomly appear on the reels. Giant Fruit Symbols aren’t just significant; they can also carry win multipliers of up to x100, which is applied to any win they are part of. If two Giant Fruit Symbols of the same type appear, their values are added together.

Landing 3 scatter symbols in the base game awards 10 free spins. If 3 scatter symbols hit the bonus game, +5 spins are awarded. As mentioned, the win multiplier does not reset in free spins, and the active win multiplier is added to Giant Fruit Multipliers before being applied to scatter symbol wins.

This feature can randomly be awarded instead of regular free spins when 3 scatter symbols land. Giant Fruit symbols are guaranteed to land on each new free spin during this bonus.

If the Fast Track menu is present, players can play Fruit Smash in the following three modes:

• Giant Fruit — costs 5x the bet for a spin with guaranteed Giant Fruit; RTP is 96.28%;
• Free Spins — buy a regular round of free spins for 100x the bet; RTP is 96.45%;
• Fruit Frenzy Free Spins — buy a round of Fruit Frenzy Free Spins for 500x the bet; RTP is 96.53%.

In Burst Mode, players select a stake level and several spins, which are then played out without the game grid. Any wins are displayed on the screen if and when they happen.

In the End

Usually, slots with fruit themes are straightforward. There is no very complex plot, but they are not needed for users who just want to enjoy the game. Usually, relatively simple symbols are used here — lemons, strawberries, cherries, melons, and many others.

In addition, slots from popular providers have a good chance of winning and attracting more customers.