Cosmic Clusters

Cosmic Clusters: Slot Overview

Software provider Pragmatic Play is three, two, one, blasting off to explore the outer reaches of the cosmic frontier in the space-themed slot, Cosmic Clusters. As the name alludes to, this is a cluster paying game with a clustering coins system as one of its key features, which is not wildly unlike the one found in competitor Slotmill's titles such as Coin Quest and Coin Quest 2. Like traversing outer space, Cosmic Clusters is a game which thrives on movement, keeping the ship floating through the void via a series of complementary parts and chain reactions. Explorative players are invited to suit up and hop on board as we fire up the boosters and see how many space cliches we can ram in along the way.

Space contains an enormous number of wonders, and Cosmic Clusters inhabits a particularly wondrous part of it. An astronaut floats in zero-G before a maelstrom of planetoids, stars, and gas. The scene gets a reddish hue during bonus rounds, though it essentially presents the same images on the screen as the base game. There is a smattering of alien life, but since Cosmic Clusters is more a cutely presented slot than one that crushes the human consciousness through the sheer magnitude of a near infinite universe, they seem to be extraterrestrials of the benevolent type. Hopefully, this is the case, should humanity ever meet them IRL, and we can all be cosmic buddies, instead of being eradicated like bugs by an immensely higher lifeform.

Cosmic Clusters' action is held on a 6x6 grid that forms winning combinations when blocks of 5 or more matching symbols are connected horizontally or vertically. A medium volatile math model drives the ship, sending out an RTP of 96.45% on the highest return model. When choosing the right stake, the minimum wager possible is $/€0.20 while the largest is $/€240 per spin.

On the hierarchy of pay symbols, we come across green, pink, blue, purple, and red gems as the low pays, then UFOs, satellites, green aliens, and crystals as the high pays. A cluster of 5 matching symbols is worth 0.15x to 1x the bet, while the largest 14+ OAK clusters award 6x to 50x the stake. When wilds are present, they substitute all symbols on the paytable.

Cosmic Clusters: Slot Features

A tumble feature keeps the ball rolling, and is joined by a random wild feature, Money symbols, free spins, ante bets, and feature buys.

Tumble Feature & Random Wild Feature

After winning combinations have paid, the symbols in the combination are removed along with all other instances of winning symbols on the screen except for scatters and Money symbols. Symbols disappearing that were not part of the winning combination can randomly transform into a Money symbol. The remaining symbols fall to the bottom of the grid, and new symbols come in from above. Tumbles continue until no more wins appear. After each tumble, if at least one winning combination happened on the tumble, a wild symbol is placed in an empty position before new symbols fall in.

Money Symbols

Money symbols are worth 0.5x-2x for bronze coins, 3x-8x for silver coins, and 10x-1,000x for gold coins. Whenever a cluster of 5 or more Money symbols forms, the values of the Money symbols in the cluster are paid. These symbols explode, and a new Money symbol with a value equal to the previously paid amount is added to an empty position.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols awards 12, 15, 18, or 21 free spins, respectively. During the round, all landed Money symbols that are not part of a winning cluster fall to the bottom of the grid at the end of each free spin. They stay there until used in a cluster or the round ends. Also, all instances of symbols that vanished during tumbles but are not part of a winning combination, which triggered the tumble, transform into Money symbols. Should 2+ scatters hit, players win +2 free spins.

Special Bets & Feature Buys

When activating ante bet 1 or ante bet 2, the stake becomes 1.5x or 2.5x, to have 2.5 times or 5 times the chance of triggering free spins, respectively. Players can also pay 100x for free spins or 300x for free spins where only silver or gold Money symbols appear, or 1,000x for free spins with just gold Money symbols.

Cosmic Clusters: Slot Verdict

Whilst paying out coins when they form a winning cluster isn't an innovative mechanic in the way, say, Megaways is, it is hard not to draw comparisons between Cosmic Clusters and Slotmill's work. That said, Pragmatic Play has put the idea to good use in Cosmic Clusters, which is arguably more mainstream than Coin Quest in some ways, which may help it appeal to a broad range of gamblers. What's neat is the way clusters of winning coins are the tip of the iceberg on a set of interlocking mechanics that flourish when momentum is running hot. Consecutive win runs are highly beneficial in cluster paying slots, which can live or die on their ability to chain together wins, trigger side effects, and hopefully bring it all together in a satisfying climax.

This Cosmic Clusters is technically able to do up to a cap of 5,000x the stake. Along the way, specific highlights include the way instances of winning symbols that were not in the actual winning combinations can create Money symbols, and adding a wild to the grid between tumbles is a nice touch. So is placing a coin on the grid with the previous winning coin cluster's value, which again, is something straight from the Coin Clusters playbook. Whatever the origin, Cosmic Clusters has the ability to coast along doing not much before being able to launch into orbit at any moment, when it gets on a productive roll.

The impression formed after playing Cosmic Clusters was of an entertaining cluster pays space slot with a compelling coin win element. The coin element is admittedly not entirely original; some may say Prag has just straight lifted it from elsewhere, and it is hard to argue with that. Be that as it may, it works well here to produce suspense alongside decent potential, in a slot which offers a coin clustering effect that contributes to a pacey, action-oriented game.