Pull off Some Sweet Moves in Break Away Candy Link&Merge

Break Away Candy Link&Merge combines two ideas you wouldn’t think go together: candy and hockey. We’re not sure who at Microgaming came up with this idea. Still, if Pragmatic Play can pull it off with their fishing-themed Big Bass series, then there’s no reason Break Away Candy Link&Merge can’t get away with it. The interesting combination of themes hides a variety of features and a chance to win up to 10,000x your stake.

Learn more about this slot in our in-depth review. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know, including max wins, how the features work, and more.

Break Away Candy Link&Merge Visuals

Most of the backdrop is taken up by a skating rink, complete with two goals on each side. While the players face off against each other, they’re cheered on by a crowd of gummy bears. The backdrop is static, except for the occasional candy piece flying into one of the nearby bowls. It’s a serviceable setup, but one that feels a little undercooked.

See, while the crowd is all gummy bears, the symbols on the field are candies and human hockey players. We understand Microgaming wanted to keep some visual similarity with previous Break Away slots, but this approach just looks a little weird. The game’s logo is the Wild symbol, which can appear as a 1×1 icon or a 1×3 Big Wild. Other bonus symbols include three Scatters and golden coins.

Break Away Candy Link&Merge Gameplay and Features

You play Break Away Candy Link&Merge on a 6×6 grid with cluster pays instead of standard paylines. Landing a win requires five or more matching symbols to land in adjacent horizontal and/or vertical positions. Notably, cluster pays do not have to start with the leftmost reel, which is a big plus.

Wild Meter

Each time you score a win, it fills the Wild Meter above the reels. Reaching a checkpoint adds three 1×1 Wilds in random positions on the screen, increasing your odds of winning. Filling the meter completely activates the Free Spins feature.

Once a new spin starts, the Wild Meter is reset.

Free Spins

You start with 10 free spins, during which 1×1 Wilds can land normally. The feature includes a Multiplier Trail, which increases your multiplier with each consecutive Cluster Pay. Only the last activated multiplier will be applied to your total win for that spin.

Link&Merge

If you enjoy Hold and Win slots, then you’ll find the Link&Merge feature instantly familiar. It triggers when five or more golden coins appear on the grid. Each coin has a random cash prize and is locked in place when it lands. You start with three re-spins, and the number resets whenever a new icon appears on the grid. The feature ends when no more spins remain, at which point the value of all coins is added together and awarded as your cash prize.

Hockey Pot Features

There are three types of Scatters present on the reels: green, red, and blue. Each one has a corresponding Hockey Pot feature that can trigger when the corresponding Scatter lands. These features play out during the Link&Merge bonus round.

• Jackpot checks the number of icons on the grid and uses it to award an additional fixed jackpot prize. Only the highest jackpot tier reached is granted. Jackpot rewards range from 10x to 5,000x.
• Multiply makes it so Wild Multipliers in a Coin Link multiply each coin before it merges. Wild Multipliers also remain on the reels afterward, though they can randomly move positions.
• Spread copies a merged symbol to 1-3 random empty positions.

Buy Feature

Microgaming gives you lots of options to skip straight to the bonus round. However, in an interesting twist, the Super versions of each feature are locked until you play the regular feature first. That said, you can work around this by buying the basic version first, which we think is the real intention of this change.

Since there are a lot of buy features, we won’t list them all here. However, you can buy free spins, any of the Hockey Pot features, and any combination of Hockey Pot bonuses.

Break Away Candy Link&Merge RTP and Payouts

The RTP for the Break Away Candy Link&Merge slot is 96.12%, which is above average. The 10,000x top prize is also attractive, though it’s gated behind a high-volatility game. If that’s something you enjoy, you’ll have a blast playing this Microgaming release.