Diamonds Up: Slot Overview
For fans of classic fruit-themed slots, the options are endless, with the genre expanding year after year. The fruit slot tradition dates back to the earliest days of slot machines, and Evolution-owned Red Tiger is keeping the legacy alive with Diamonds Up. This game introduces a Diamond Wild progression feature, which upgrades lower-paying symbols, adding a fresh twist to the familiar format.
Visually, Diamonds Up sticks to a straightforward and traditional aesthetic. It’s a “seen it all before” mix of classic slot symbols, a simple background, and a lighthearted, cheerful soundtrack. If old-school fruit slots aren’t your thing, this one might not grab your attention at first glance. However, that 1/30 counter above the symbol ladder hints at something more beneath the surface. And despite its generic exterior, Diamonds Up hides some serious win potential—making it worth a closer look.
Diamonds Up: Gameplay & Mechanics
Diamonds Up features a 5-reel, 3-row grid with 25 paylines, where winning combinations are formed from left to right starting from the leftmost reel. Despite its medium-high volatility, the game offers surprisingly high winning potential—at least on paper. The betting range is relatively modest, from $0.10 to $/€4 per spin, likely a reflection of its volatile nature. The default RTP is 95.69%, slightly increasing to 95.7% if you opt for the free spins buy feature.
Symbols & Payouts
The paytable consists of classic slot symbols you’ve likely encountered before:
- Low-paying symbols: Cherries, plums, oranges, grapes, and watermelons—offering 2x the bet for landing 5 of a kind.
- High-paying symbols: Bars, horseshoes, bells, and sevens, awarding 4x to 40x the bet for a 5-symbol combination.
- Diamond Wilds: Appear on reels 2, 3, and 4, substituting for all regular paying symbols to help create winning combinations.
While Diamonds Up may look like another traditional fruit slot, its Diamond Wild progression feature provides an intriguing twist, enhancing the potential for substantial payouts beyond its familiar exterior.
Diamonds Up: Features & Bonus Mechanics
In Diamonds Up, Diamond Wilds serve a dual purpose—not only do they substitute for other symbols, but they also act as progression symbols, helping players climb the symbol upgrade ladder to transform lower-paying symbols into higher-value ones.
Symbol Upgrade Ladder
- The game runs in 30-spin cycles, with a counter beside the reels keeping track.
- Landing Diamond Wild symbols progresses the upgrade ladder, which displays symbols ranked from lowest to highest.
- Each level on the ladder has 3 steps, with each wild symbol filling one step.
- Once a level is fully upgraded, all lower-paying symbols on the reels transform into the newly unlocked symbol.
- Upgrades continue throughout the cycle but reset after 30 spins.
Free Spins
- 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols trigger 9, 12, or 20 free spins, respectively.
- Scatters also pay out:
- 3 scatters → 5x the bet
- 4 scatters → 20x the bet
- 5 scatters → 100x the bet
- Symbol upgrading remains active during free spins—each Diamond Wild continues to progress the upgrade ladder.
- Free spins can be retriggered the same way they were initially activated.
- At the end of free spins, the current upgrade ladder state carries over to the base game, allowing the cycle to continue from where it left off.
Feature Buy
Diamonds Up offers an extensive feature buy menu, more than what’s typically seen in Red Tiger slots:
- 20x the bet → Free spins start with the second upgrade level unlocked.
- 120x the bet → Free spins start with the third upgrade level unlocked.
- 200x the bet → Free spins start with the fourth upgrade level unlocked.
- 800x the bet → Free spins start with the fifth upgrade level unlocked.
Once the bonus round is completed, the base game state is restored, ensuring progress is not lost.
With its persistent upgrade mechanics, symbol transformation features, and high-stakes bonus buy options, Diamonds Up packs layered gameplay depth beneath its classic slot appearance.
Diamonds Up: Slot Verdict
With fruit slots flooding the market, it’s not always easy to separate the standouts from the forgettable clones. While Diamonds Up may not be a true gem, it turned out better than expected, offering a surprisingly engaging progression system and a massive 20,000x max win, which certainly raises an eyebrow for a game of this style.
Spin cycle mechanics pop up from time to time, with NetEnt’s Babylon Riches being a recent example, but Diamonds Up brings a unique twist to the format. One of the biggest differences is its 30-spin cycle, whereas most games with a similar system tend to cap around 10 spins. With enough luck, these extended cycles can provide ample time to upgrade symbols, leading to screens packed with higher-value icons.
During testing, reaching the upper levels of the upgrade ladder made for some exciting moments, with near-full or fully stacked reels of matching symbols landing. A full screen of seven symbols delivers a 1,000x payout, making it easy to see how the 20,000x potential could be hit in the right conditions.
That said, Diamonds Up isn’t groundbreaking, and it likely won’t become the next big hit. However, for players who enjoy progression-based slots, fruit themes, and high-risk/high-reward gameplay, this might be the perfect fruit fiesta they’ve been searching for.