Cluster pays slots
Cluster pays means a slot pays for a group of matching symbols that touch each other, in any shape, instead of along fixed paylines. Each game sets a minimum group size, often 5 on a 7x7 or 8x8 grid. Pay anywhere slots like Sweet Bonanza drop the touching rule and only count how many of a symbol land.
Count one board three ways
Take the made-up 5x5 board below and look for the reds. There are six of them, and each one sits right next to another, above, below or to the side. Starting top left, they wander down and to the right in a crooked shape that doesn't sit on any one row.
| Reel 1 | Reel 2 | Reel 3 | Reel 4 | Reel 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | R | R | G | B | Y |
| Row 2 | G | R | R | B | Y |
| Row 3 | Y | G | R | B | G |
| Row 4 | B | Y | R | G | B |
| Row 5 | G | B | Y | Y | G |
Made up for this page. No real game uses this board or these rules together.
| Rule | What counts | Reds | Pays? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paylines, 3+ from reel 1 | Matching symbols on a fixed line, left to right | 2 on the top row, then a break | No |
| Cluster pays, 5+ | Symbols touching up, down or sideways | One group of 6 | Yes, as a cluster of 6 |
| Pay anywhere, 8+ | How many land, wherever they are | 6 on the board | No |
The blues in reel 4 make a group of 3, and the blue in row 4, reel 5 only touches them corner to corner. Whether corners count is written in each game's rules.
How a cluster is paid
The paytable lists a win for each cluster size, so a group of 6 pays more than a group of 5 and less than a group of 7. In Sugar Rush the list runs from 5 to 15+, and anything bigger is paid as 15+. In most of the games in the next table the cluster is then cleared and the board refills from above.
When you open a new cluster game, look for two numbers before anything else, the grid size and the smallest cluster that pays. A 5 on a 64-cell board is a very different game from a 9 on a 30-cell one. Sugar Rush and Reactoonz both sit at 5 on 49 cells.
| Game | Studio | Grid | Cells | Smallest win | Share of the board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jammin' Jars | Push Gaming | 8x8 | 64 | 5 | 7.8% |
| Gems Bonanza | Pragmatic Play | 8x8 | 64 | 5 | 7.8% |
| Sugar Rush | Pragmatic Play | 7x7 | 49 | 5 | 10.2% |
| Reactoonz | Play'n GO | 7x7 | 49 | 5 | 10.2% |
| Superstar Sevens | Hacksaw Gaming | 6x5 | 30 | 5 | 16.7% |
| Big Dog Bonanza | Black Coffee Studios | 6x5 | 30 | 8 | 26.7% |
| Aloha! Cluster Pays | NetEnt | 6x5 | 30 | 9 | 30.0% |
| Sweet Bonanza (pay anywhere) | Pragmatic Play | 6x5 | 30 | 8 anywhere | 26.7% |
| Gates of Olympus (pay anywhere) | Pragmatic Play | 6x5 | 30 | 8 anywhere | 26.7% |
Share of the board = smallest win ÷ cells, our arithmetic. It is not a hit rate: how often a cluster lands depends on how many symbol types the game uses and how they are weighted. Big Dog Bonanza runs on Stake Engine.
A few cluster slots worth knowing
Aloha! Cluster Pays, 6x5
Aloha asks for 9 matching symbols on a 6x5 screen, the highest bar in the table above. Cover the whole screen in one symbol and you get that symbol's top pay. It's one of the older cluster games still around, from 2016, and VegasSlotsOnline puts the RTP at 96.42%.
Jammin' Jars, 8x8
Jammin' Jars needs only 5 on an 8x8 grid, and it's the jars you watch. Each jar is a wild with a multiplier of its own that begins at x1. Push Gaming prints two RTP figures, 96.83% and 94.25%, and which one you get is the casino's call, so open the info screen before you play.
Big Dog Bonanza, 6x5 on Engine
Big Dog Bonanza is one of the cluster games built for Stake Engine. Clusters start at 8 on a 6x5 board, the board tumbles once a cluster pays, and multipliers come along with it. Stake.us launched it in March 2026, listed at 98% RTP.
Not affiliated with Push Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Play'n GO, Hacksaw Gaming, Black Coffee Studios, NetEnt or other studios in this guide. Game names belong to their owners.
Questions
What is cluster pays?
A way of paying where matching symbols that touch each other form a win, in any shape. The game sets a minimum size, for example 5 in Sugar Rush and Reactoonz or 9 in Aloha! Cluster Pays.
Do diagonal symbols count in a cluster?
Each game decides, and its help screen says which neighbours count. In the example on this page, a symbol that only touches the group at a corner is left out.
Is Sweet Bonanza a cluster pays slot?
Not quite. Sweet Bonanza needs 8 of a symbol anywhere on the screen, touching or not. Pragmatic Play calls that pays anywhere. Pragmatic's candy slot with true clusters is Sugar Rush.
Is Pop Parade a cluster pays slot?
No. Pop Parade, our own game, works by swapping. You trade two stones that sit side by side, and the swap has to line up three matching stones across or down. It is not out yet.
Sources
- Push Gaming: Jammin' Jars. 8x8, match 5 or more, jar multiplier from 1x, 96.83% and 94.25% RTP Checked 12 November 2026
- Pragmatic Play: Gems Bonanza. 8x8 Checked 12 November 2026
- SlotCatalog: Gems Bonanza. clusters of 5+ Checked 12 November 2026
- Pragmatic Play: Sugar Rush. clusters of 5 to 15+ Checked 12 November 2026
- SlotCatalog: Sugar Rush. 7x7 Checked 12 November 2026
- Play'n GO: Reactoonz. 7x7, cluster of five or more Checked 12 November 2026
- OLBG: Superstar Sevens. 6x5, 5 or more adjacent Checked 12 November 2026
- next.io: Big Dog Bonanza on Stake.us. 6x5, clusters of 8+, tumble, multipliers, 98% RTP, March 2026 Checked 12 November 2026
- VegasSlotsOnline: Aloha! Cluster Pays. 6x5, 9 or more, 96.42% RTP, released 2016 Checked 12 November 2026
- Pragmatic Play: Sweet Bonanza. 8+ anywhere Checked 12 November 2026
- Pragmatic Play: Gates of Olympus. 8 to 30 anywhere, six reels Checked 12 November 2026
- SlotCatalog: Sweet Bonanza. 6x5 Checked 12 November 2026
- SlotCatalog: Gates of Olympus. 6x5 Checked 12 November 2026
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