Monkey Mines - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

Deep in the jungle is a mysterious mining operation that uses mischievous native monkeys to dig for diamonds and gems in an animal-only mine. Play as the tyrant mining leader to control the monkeys and try to take home the glorious glittering rewards that await.

In this 5 reel, 4 row, 50 payline slot, winning combinations are found when you land 3+ matching symbols (2+ for the monkeys, TNT barrels, or helmets). The ringleader of this operation is the Wild in the game, and she can substitute for any symbols, excluding the Scatter, to help you land more frequent and impressive prizes.

This exciting game also features a free spins bonus round that’s triggered when you land 3 Scatter symbols (piles of gemstones) in any position. The game also features a double-or-nothing gamble feature. We’ll look at the bonus features in more detail later in this Monkey Mines slot review.

Theme, Graphics & Soundtrack

Monkey Mines is set deep in the jungle, away from prying eyes who might disrupt the operation. The background shows plenty of lush green scenery and the entrance to the mines is also visible to the left of the reels. The reels themselves are slightly translucent, so you can see the jungle behind them as though through a curtain, and are filled with symbols relevant to the theme including monkey miners, TNT barrels, pickaxes, and more.

The soundtrack is also appropriate for this jungle animal themed slots, with nature sounds, monkey screams, and bird song playing throughout the game. There’s no musical soundtrack here beyond the singing of the birds, which allows you to become fully immersed in the jungle environment this game takes place within.

Monkey Mines RTP & Volatility

Monkey Mines is a medium volatility slot offering an RTP of 95.16%.

How to Play Monkey Mines

Here at Slots Temple, we always recommend taking a few free spins of a new online slot, plus some time to check out the rules and controls, before wagering any of your own cash. You can play the Monkey Mines 5 Men Gaming slot demo right here, or read on to learn the layout of this exciting game.

All the controls for Monkey Mines are found beneath the reels in a control panel.

1. The first thing we always look for in a new slot is the ‘I’ icon, which provides information including the game’s paytable, paylines, and bonus features. In Monkey Mines, you’ll find this symbol near the middle-right of the control panel.

2. After checking out the game rules, place your bet by using the relevant ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons. In Monkey Mines, you can do this in three stages: firstly, by adjusting the number of active paylines, then by selecting your bet per line, followed by dictating how many credits should =1.

3. Once you’re happy with your wager and the number of active paylines you wish to play with, it’s time to spin the reels. To do this, click the green ‘Start’ button on the far-right of the control panel.

4. If you prefer hands-free gaming, use the AutoPlay toggle above the ‘Start’ button to turn on automatic spins. This will continue until you turn it off (or run out of credit), so you will still need to pay some attention during AutoSpin.

5. You can keep an eye on your available balance under the ‘Credit’ heading to the far-left of the control panel.

Bet Sizes & Paytable

There are three stages to placing your bet in Monkey Mines. First, you’ll need to choose how many active paylines you wish to play with from 1-50. Your bet per line can then be adjusted from 1-10. You can also dictate the value of your line bet: 1 credit can be worth between 0.01 up to 1.00.

While none of these values are particularly wide, altering them all does provide a decent betting range that most players should be happy with.

The best rewards in Monkey Mines occur when you land 5 matching symbols along an active payline. You can use a Wild to substitute for one or more of these symbols without affecting the value. The top prizes for each symbol are as follows:

Monkey: 10,000

TNT: 5,000

Helmet: 5,000

Lantern: 4,000

Pickaxe: 4,000

A / K: 4,000

Q / J / 10 / 9: 2,000

The Scatters will also pay out up to 2,000 for 3 appearances, in addition to triggering the free spins round.

Monkey Mines Bonus Features

It’s fair to say 5 Men Gaming haven’t gone all-out in the bonus features for Monkey Mines. There is a free spins bonus round that offers 10x free spins for 3+ Scatter symbols, but that’s about it.

After every win, you’ll be given the opportunity to take advantage of the Monkey Mines gamble feature. This simply involves correctly guessing whether an overturned card will be revealed as red or black. Guess correctly to double your winnings, but guess wrong and you’ll lose the lot. You can gamble up to 6 times on any win.

Conclusion

Overall, we really enjoyed Monkey Mines and the attention to detail that’s gone into the design of the game. We quite liked the change of pace regarding the soundtrack, with nature noises instead of a musical number. When we played, we found wins surprisingly rare considering this is meant to be a medium variance slot, but we also found stacked symbols meant the wins we did hit tended to be pretty rewarding, with multiple winning paylines at once.

If you enjoyed Monkey Mines and want more primate action, you might also enjoy Blueprint Gaming’s Return of Kong Megaways slot.

Disclaimer: Monkey Mines trademark / license is owned by 5 Men Gaming. This site is not endorsed by 5 Men Gaming.