Hanami translates to “flower viewing”, with reference to the world-famous Japanese cherry blossom season (which is called “Sakura” in Japanese). You’ll do plenty of that in Sakura Fortune 2, as the3-4-4-4-3 gridis set in a beautifully animated zen garden/temple. The pace of the game is as smooth as the idyllic soundtrack, and we caught ourselves getting so absorbed in the tranquil atmosphere that we lost track of time for a good while.
Quickspin has not exactly taken a sledgehammer to the original, but instead gently pruned it like the bonsai masterpiece it is. The Sakura Wild Respins will most of the time top you up during base game play, but larger payouts are possible due to the576 win ways. You also get more free spins than you may be used to, as well as up to 2 sticky Sakura Wilds up front. The volatility has been dialled up a notch, but the22,482x potentialis in a totally different league than the originalSakura Fortune.
The premiums pay between 0.8 to 6 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, and Yoshida, Tomoe and Sensei are the 3 top-tier pay symbols. The Sakura Wild can land onreels 2, 3 and 4(i.e. the 3 middle reels) only, and the wild steps in for all regular pay symbols to help complete winning combinations. The Sakura Wild (or wilds) may sometimes nudge to fill the whole reel, and this awards1 respin per nudged wild.
TheFortune Free Spins featuretriggers when you land3 sword scatterson the middle reels, and you’ll then seereel 1 and 5 respin. This gives you a chance to upgrade the bonus round with 1 or 2 more scatters, and here’s what you can get:
The sticky Sakura Wild fills the entire reel it’s assigned to, and all new Sakura Wilds that land will also nudge fully in place and become sticky for the duration of the feature. If all 3 middle reels are filled with sticky Sakura Wilds, all wins are boosted by anx3 multiplier.
In some jurisdictions theBonus Buy featuremay be available, but it’s not for UK players for sure. If available, you can pay55, 70 or 320 x your stakefor a guaranteed3, 4 or 5 scattersto land, respectively. The RTP value for each choice is96.24 %, 96.44 % or 96.72 %, respectively.
We landed a few smaller base game wins, before a larger payout came from a double Sakura Wild respin trigger. We skip to the bonus round trigger right after that, and it starts at 2:35 into the 4:26-minute highlights video. We got no extra scatters from the pre-feature respin, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
The original Sakura Fortune is a favorite game for many players, and Quickspin has wisely decided to thread somewhat lightly when it comes to tweaking or upgrading the features. The visual presentation was far from being bad in the original, but the idyllic zen atmosphere comes even more to its right now that the reel set doesn’t block the Japanese cherry blossom temple. The harmonic effect this game has on your mind is such that you hardly care about all the dead spins that land between Sakura Wild respins, which is a feat in and of itself.
The number of win ways has increased from 40 to 576 in this follow-up, and this can really make a dent combined with the x3 multiplier you now get from 3 locked Sakura Wilds. One Sakura Wild is enough to trigger the respins feature, and getting up to 11 free spins makes a huge difference compared to the 5 you get in the first game. Starting with 2 locked Sakura Wilds can really do damage on its own, not to speak of what 3 locked wilds can do. Overall, this is an excellent follow-up to the cult classic original, and the22,482x potentialis also a perfect upgrade that makes this far more attractive to both new and old players.
Pros
Cons
Sakura Fortune- has been going strong ever since its 2017 release, and the harmonious visual style and zen vibe is present also in this original release. You need 2 nudged in place Sakura Wilds to get a respin though, and you can win up to only 1,023x your stake in the sticky wild bonus round.
Star Gods- is a somewhat similarly asian-themed release from Golden Rock Studios, and it’s racked up somewhat of an unexpected cult following as well. You get sticky full-reel-wild respins that spin until you win, and the bonus round also comes with sticky wild reels for payouts up to 600x your stake.
Butterfly Staxx 2- is one to try if you enjoy an idyllic atmosphere combined with sticky symbol respins. This NetEnt follow-up release is all about the stacked symbol respins feature, and the 2 unique bonus rounds. This is a low risk/reward release, and you can thus win up to only 240x your stake.
