Dancing Drums Explosion Slot - Review for Canadians, Demo Play & Payout Info

Introduction

The Dancing Drums slot combines 243 ways to win with some exciting jackpots and a shifting layout in its free spins round. Dancing Drums Explosion takes inspiration from this and adds even more complexity with 243 ways to win that can be increased to 32,768 depending on your choices in one of the two free spins rounds. This is not bad for what looks like a standard five-reel Asian-themed slot!

Theme, graphics & soundtrack

Some parts of Dancing Drums Explosion will be pretty familiar if you have played an Asian inspired slot before, from the imagery to the distinctive music. There are warm colours - oranges, reds and lots of golds. There are Chinese coins - those distinctive little circles with holes in the middle. There are also some less common symbols, including a beautiful ship and the titular drum. What they all have in common is that they are drawn in vivid and colourful detail.

Dancing Drums Explosion RTP and variance

We normally say you want to look for a figure of 96 per cent or above when choosing a slot, and this is exactly where you will find Dancing Drums Explosion. Medium variance is another way in which this slot is balanced and should appeal to most players. As always, remember there are no guarantees.

How to play Dancing Drums Explosion

It’s all pretty simple:

1. All the buttons you need are on the right of the screen. The top one looks like a gear and will open a mini-menu where you will find a mute button for the sound and a hand to switch between right- and left-handed mode.
2. The third button in this menu looks like a question mark and may be the most important. It will lead you to the game rules and paytable, where you will find everything you need to know.
3. Close the menu, skip the next button and go to the one that looks like a stack of coins. You will see your current bet, and clicking on it will make plus and minus symbols appear to adjust it.
4. Now is the time to decide whether you want to go back up to the button that opens autoplay settings or continue down to the regular spin button.
5. Regular spin will turn the reels once. If you are planning to play for a while, sometimes autoplay is more efficient. Autoplay options not only include a number of automatic spins but also allow for win and loss limits to help you stay within your budget.
6. Setting a budget is important to keep your game under control. Slots stop being fun when you hopelessly chase losses. Even in free play demo mode, win and loss limits are good practice.

Bet & win sizes

Eight is a lucky number in China, so it is no surprise to see a bet range with an otherwise unusual looking 0.18 minimum and 88.00 maximum.

A change in your bet means changes both to your potential jackpots, as displayed at the top of the screen, and the values on your paytable. If you play at the minimum bet, the payouts for three, four and five matches are as follows:

• Nine, ten, jack = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03
• Queen, king, ace = 0.01, 0.02, 0.04
• Coins = 0.03, 0.05, 0.20
• Pot = 0.05, 0.10, 0.30
• Pot of coins = 0.6, 0.15, 0.40
• Ship = 0.10, 0.20, 0.80
• Lion dog = 0.20, 0.40, 1.60
• Drum = 0.88, 1.76, 8.80

Dancing Drums Explosion bonus features

Free spins

The free spins round in Dancing Drums Explosion is a complicated one, but this means it has lots of different opportunities to win. It starts pretty normally - you just need to find three or more drum symbols (or drums plus wilds) adjacently from the leftmost reel. This is when it gets trickier, as you have to choose between five different modes:

Three rows - 15 spins - 243 ways
Four rows - 10 spins - 1024 ways
Five rows - 5 spins - 3,125 ways
Six rows - 3 spins - 7,776

Mystery - any combination of rows and spins

Golden drum free spins

Regular free spins can only be triggered with the regular drum symbol, but the golden drum symbol, in the same circumstances, can trigger golden drum free spins with an even more exciting selection of enhanced modes to choose between:

Four rows - 15 spins - 1,024 ways
Five rows - 10 spins - 3,125 ways
Six rows - 5 spins - 7,776 ways
Eight rows - 3 spins - 32,768 ways
Mystery - any combination of rows and spins

Two or more drum symbols during either free spins round can trigger three more free spins.

Jackpots

Available in both the base game and free spins, every wild symbol may award you a jackpot (up to three per spin). Jackpots can be mini, minor, major, grand or explosion and may be upgraded by the golden fu bat. Just choose three matching coins from the 12 available.

Dancing Drums Explosion review: our verdict

Dancing Drums Explosion may look pretty basic at first glance, even with some vivid graphics; however, when you take a closer look at the layers of free spins, it is clear that this is a distinctive and possibly highly rewarding slot. It certainly sits comfortably next to the other great SG Gaming demo slots.

Disclaimer: Dancing Drums Explosion trademark / license is owned by Light & Wonder. This site is not endorsed by Light & Wonder.