Pragmatic Play has kept things relatively basic as far as design is concerned - set against a grassland backdrop, the reels include A to 10 royal values plus gazelles, zebras and rhinos. The best of the standard symbols is the elephant which pays 16 times your stake for a 5-in-a-payline combination.
The lion is the wild - it offers payouts of 1, 2 or 16 times your stake if you land 3, 4 or 5 on a line - when the lion lands in the middle position of a reel, it will expand and turn the whole of that reel wild.
Accompanying the main machine is a 6th reel - this features a selection of multiplier values. Land a winner and whatever multiplier value is showing on the 6th reel will be applied to your win. This can be anything up to 10x.
Joining the multiplier values is a Super Wild symbol - if your 6th reel pointer lands on this, you’ll activate the Super Wild Bonus feature. 1 wild is added to each reel and a respin is awarded. Once again, any wild that lands in the middle position of a reel expands to turn the whole reel wild.
The red-faced monkey is the scatter - land 3 of these on the same spin and you’ll trigger the Free Spins feature and be awarded 10 free spins. The 6th reel multiplier is in play during the free spins meaning you can get a 10x multiplier on each free spin. You can land the Super Wild Bonus re-spins from within the feature too. Landing 3 scatters will add more free spins to your tally – there are no limits to how many extra free spins you can win.
What you’ll be hoping to see is a wild sitting in the middle position of each reel with the maximum 10x multiplier showing on the multiplier. Manage that and the maximum payout of 800 times your stake is awarded.
It’s not the most visually impressive game you’ll see but the features make Hot Safari a slot game worth playing. The base game action ticks over nicely thanks to the multipliers. The free spins were something of a feast or famine affair. We missed completely or did very well. More consistent were the re-spins.
There are plenty of safari themed slot games out there – such as Jungle Giants by Playtech or King Tusk by Microgaming. It might not be the best looking but this African adventure can serve up some pretty hot action.