Hot Pepper Slot Review 2023

Things are heating up in Pragmatic Play’s latest Cluster Pays slot, Hot Pepper!

Pragmatic Play are ditching sugary treats and swapping them out for something with a little more spice, but will Hot Pepper be anywhere near as mouth-watering as Sugar Rush?

Prepare to have your mind blown during gameplay where exciting Chilli Wilds with Multipliers up to x128 await, along with a fiery 10,000x up for grabs!

Hot Pepper Base Game and Features

Hot Pepper is a 7×7 Video Slot with a Cluster Pays mechanic. Forming winning combinations requires 5 or more of the same symbols to connect either Horizontally or Vertically across the grid.

The minimum bet available here is £/€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £/€100 per spin, with plenty of other options inbetween the two. Hot Pepper has a theoretical RTP of 96.45% and a max win cap of 10,000x.

In terms of symbols, the highest paying regular symbol here is the Male Character, followed by the Pinata, Taco and Lime. Low-paying symbols fall to Spades, Hearts and Clubs.

Each time a winning cluster is formed, all winning symbols will be removed from the grid and new symbols will drop down from above, filling all empty positions.

Random Wild Multiplier Feature

Once a winning cluster is removed, a Wild Chilli symbol is left behind, substituting for all other symbols except Scatters.

Each time a winning cluster is formed, a Progressive Feature is triggered for the subsequent tumble sequence as follows.

• Level 1 – Clusters of 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 and 11 or more symbols will generate a Multiplier of x1, x2, x4 and x8 respectively.
• Level 2 – Clusters of 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 and 11 or more symbols will generate a Multiplier of x2, x4, x8 and x16 respectively.
• Level 3 – Clusters of 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 and 11 or more symbols will generate a Multiplier of x4, x8, x16 and x32 respectively.
• Level 4 – Clusters of 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 and 11 or more symbols will generate a Multiplier of x8, x16, x32 and x64 respectively.
• Level 5 – Clusters of 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 and 11 or more symbols will generate a Multiplier of x16, x32, x64 and x128 respectively.

If more than 1 Chilli Wild symbol is part of a winning cluster, their Multiplier values will be added together and applied. If the same Chilli Wild is part of more than one winning cluster, its Multiplier value will be applied to all winning clusters it is a part of.

Hot Pepper Free Spins

Landing 3 Scatters across the grid in any positon will trigger the Free Spins round, awarding 12 Free Spins. 

During this round, all Chilli WIlds will start at Level 5 for the duration of Free Spins. Landing 3 Scatters across the grid during this time will award an additional +5 Free Spins.

If the maximum win cap of 10,000x is reached, the Free Spins round will immediately end and all remaining Free Spins are forfeited.

Hot Pepper Bonus Buy

Those outside the UK will benefit from a Bonus Buy option.

Pragmatic Play has granted players access to the Free Spins round for a total cost of 100x your current bet. (RTP 96.79%).

Hot Pepper: Our Verdict

Although Hot Pepper has a very common theme, its definitely up there as one of the best by far and this is down to the epic Chilli Wilds and the Multiplier values they produce.

Pragmatic Play has delivered some pretty decent slots over the years, but nothing compares to their Cluster Pays titles like Sugar Rush and Wild Hop & Drop in our opinion, which they seem to pull off so well. As soon as we loaded Hot Pepper up, we knew we were in for a treat.

Hot Pepper may seem quite simple to some, but it works well and does the job. Sugar Rush may have a slightly more appealing theme, but the statistics here are a lot hotter, with a max win cap of 10,000x up for grabs.

All in all, Hot Pepper is agreat addition to not only Pragmatic Play’s portfolio, but to our favourite collection of Cluster Pay slots. If you’re looking to spice things up a bit, then Hot Pepper is the perfect choice!