Word “sakura” instantly makes us think of Japan, samurais, and of course cherry blossom tree – which is actually what this word stands for.
Quickspin’s “Sakura Fortune” indeed is Japanese themed, ambiental and pleasant slot game, featuring 9 different basic symbols divided in higher and lower paying ones and two special symbols – Scatter and Wild.
Been around since 2017, never in the spotlight, sometimes even forgotten, but always really pretty and feminine. We decided to discover why is it so, does it pay and is it maybe underestimated.
Don’t know what’s the story behind the combination of Japanese human characters and 4 different coins among game symbols, and even though Quickspin itself described it as a battlefield between brave and beautiful Princess and evil emperors, we free our imagination and enjoy the game.
But let’s see what else is there in 4 rows, 5 reels and 40 pay lines, cherry blossom trees framed Sakura game .
Wild Princess and her features
Beautiful Japanese Princess is really powerful – she plays both 4×1 Wild and Scatter symbols and substitutes for any of the symbols! Her appearance can take the whole reel, but only on the reel 2, 3 and 4 as she doesn’t show up on the rest first and last ones – both in the main game and free spins, bonus game.
Speaking of the bonus game, to trigger it you’ll need at least 3 Scatters – a golden hand fan, who can appear on all 5 reels. But let’s not forget the power of the Princess – remember she substitutes for all symbols, including Scatter, therefore even with only one Scatter and 2 Princesses you’ll get the Free Spins!
Besides the Free Spins feature we all kinda expect to get in a slot game, here’s a very interesting one called Sakura Fortune Respin, which is again coming from Wild Princess symbol – if two of them cover the whole reels they occur on, you’ll be granted 2 Respins. Additional wilds grant additional re-spins and Respin Feature is over when there’s no more Wilds appearing on the reels.
Sakura Respin doesn’t restrict any of the symbols, so Free Spin Bonus game can also be unlocked during the feature.
Some nice wins can be made in these 2 or more Re-spins and even before, the moment the feature is achieved, because Princess symbols that triggered it, stay fully on their reels, acting like Wilds. Basically, you have the whole 2 reels of guaranteed Wilds, times 3 at least or until no new Princesses appear.
Unlike the Free Spins game, this lovely feature can occur decently more often.
That’s not it, you’ll surely like Mystery Nudge – one more Princess’ skill feature – whenever you land at least two Wilds, they will nudge and might both expand into full stuck Wilds, but not necessarily will. And if they do, yes, it means that previously mentioned Sakura Respin feature will be triggered at the same time!
Sakura Free Spins Round
Despite the fact that Princess Wild substitutes for Scatter symbols as well, which significantly increases the chances of triggering the Free Spins Bonus Game, it’s not that easy and frequent as it seems matching the symbols.
Firstly, symbols need to be consecutive and starting leftmost – so if you get it on the reel 1 and on reel 2 not or if you get it on reel 2 and 3 but didn’t on the first reel – that’s all folks and second, there can be lots of lower paying coin symbols and dead spins, before you get lucky! Lots of times we had Scatter bringing some excitement and hopes in, by popping up on the first reel with this “warning” sound, but then nothing as soon as it didn’t appear on the 2nd reel too! Not even to tease.
When you (and if ever) finally make it, there will be at least 8 Free Spins in the bonus game awarded. In case you get more than 3 Scatters or Wilds, there will be more corresponding Free Spins, on top.
One is certain in the Free Spins game – any Princess symbol you get will expand and cover the whole reel, will bring you an additional Free Spin and will stay there until the end of the feature.
Bet Options and Game Settings
It’s very easy to set your preferred bet per spin in this game, just clicking the Total Bet button that opens the list of bet options: 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 0.80, 1.00, 1.20, 1.60, 2:00, 3:00, 5:00, 8:00, 10:00, 20.00, 30.00, 50.00 and 100.00 as the maximum bet option.
Game RTP actually varies: there’s a nice 96.58% game version, but also much weaker 90.02% one.
Volatility of the game is pretty high, with maximum win of 400x the total bet, as indicated in the paytable.
Among game settings, you can adjust the sound, speed, autoplay or even use Space instead of clicking the spin button. Number of Autoplay spins can be chosen from 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 500 or even 1000 – if you can afford some longer, just watching the game, sessions.
Autoplay button has another tab with Advanced settings, where you can set some loss or single win limits.
Conclusion
Get some nice wins on this game and then get out of there! The longer you keep playing, the chances of going minus with your balance increase. Don’t even expect to trigger Free Spins. Great and almost incredible if you do, but if not – don’t lose faith in your lack – in this game it is simply very very hard and annoying! Set your hopes to a few nice wins on Mystery Nudge and Sakura Respin features, instead.
Sakura Fortune is indeed pretty volatile slot game, but from our experience not worth waiting and playing for too long. Even though highly volatile games are known for being risky and dangerous money wise, but also we learned they can reward our patience really generously and pay off more than enough in return – we don’t think it is the case with this one. You might spend a lot of time, money and energy trying to understand the whole volatility concept, for nothing. Therefore, we don’t recommend playing this game with bets bigger than 1.00.
However, Sakura can be a pleasant choice for bonus wagering purposes – of course if it’s not on the “excluded from playing the bonus” list you can find in casino terms and conditions. A few wins in a row can easily bring you and your balance back in the game! Our warm advice is to leave the game as soon as you get next bigger (recovering) win after so many ups and downs, because it may once again take a while and losses too, to hit something bigger again.
Our few Sakura sessions brought us an average winnings of of 30-35 times the bet, which was usually 1.00, in the Respin feature for example. Had some dry periods, but also good ones, with bottom line of getting back to the starter balance amount – so we didn’t left the game as winners, but neither as losers.
Sakura Fortune can also lack some excitement and adrenaline. Although very pretty, calming and pleasant, it misses some hooky ingredient. That said, we think it’s the best to just close the game first moment you start being bored, since it’s also very possible to happen.
Not too bad, not the greatest either and certainly not a favourite game made by Quickspin, but definitely worth giving a spin or two!
