Taiko Beats - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction 

Enter a celebration of all things Japanese, especially kumi-daiko, the lively organised performances involving the famous taiko drums of the title. Set in a vibrant festival atmosphere, this slot machine uses a typical 5x3 layout and offers players 243 ways to win. Featuring both wilds and scatters that are key to the free games round, read on for our full Taiko Beats slot review to see if this is a title for you.

Theme, Graphics & Soundtrack 

This choice of Habanero slots takes its inspiration from various recognisable images and symbols from Japanese culture. The taiko drums of the name are famous for their use in kumi-daiko, powerful performances whose echoes can be heard when landing wilds that use this as their symbol. 

In the background, daruma dolls and maneki-neko can be seen on a vibrant red traditional village scene, the glow and colours of which evoke a festival atmosphere. The music is suitably celebratory with lots of competing drumbeats, while the game symbols use a great variety of foods and items found in traditional festivities.

It's an eye-catching performance that stands up to the graphics of other great free slot games such as the Age of the Gods slot, which also features the ever-popular free spins round.

Taiko Beats RTP and Variance

This online slots game is reported by the developer to have an RTP of 93.92%. This is very low compared to the current industry average of 96%, but a variety of online casinos list different RTP rates in ranges up to 98.18%, so always check before playing. Available as a free slots game here at Slots Temple, it displayed medium variance in testing.

How to Play Taiko Beats

Keep to the beat with our quick-start guide below:

1. All the key controls are along the bottom of the game screen.
2. Start with the ‘i’ symbol to the left, which will give you the paytable and free game rules. 
3. Bets have a variety of options, as you can set both bet level and coin size. 
4. Fast play and sound can be toggled in the bottom right; these symbols are small so you may need to zoom in!
5. The central button will spin for one round.
6. To the left of this is max bet. Be aware that pressing it twice will trigger a spin on that bet.
7. Autoplay can be set up to the right of the spin button and offers win and loss limits.
8. Always enjoy video slots responsibly by sticking to budgets and quitting play as soon as it is no longer fun. Slots Temple offers self-exclusion and time-out functions across all their free slot games.

Min & Max Bets + Top Wins 

Taiko Beats offers a range of bet choices through coin size and bet level selectors. The minimum is 0.25 and the maximum is 5000.00.

The highest-paying symbol is the lucky mallet that pays x400 the bet in play for 5 of a kind, followed by the fan for x175 for 5 of a kind.

Max-win 4,005x

Volatility High

Top RTP 96.48%

Taiko Beats Bonus Features 

This slot machine has a decent selection of bonuses, the best of which is the free games round.

Wilds 

Taiko drum wilds substitute for all symbols except the scatter and help to form winning combinations. They also can turn into multipliers and become sticky during the free games rounds. They appear only on reels 1, 3 and 5.

Scatter

These form wins independently of where they land and are also key to the free games round.

Free spins

Land 3 scatters for 8 free games, 4 for 18 free games and 5 for 28 free games. Once in this round, wilds will become sticky if they form part of a win. Any that remain will transform into a x2 multiplier, and any x2 multipliers will become x3 multipliers. A wild landing on the final round of free games will also award an extra 2 free spins. 

Taiko Beats Review Our Verdict 

This slot machine is a fun choice from Habanero, offering players an engaging free spins round and a well-designed theme that adds to the atmosphere. Those looking for a greater variety or complexity of features in an online slots game might be disappointed, but otherwise we feel we can recommend this to most players. Just look out for a better RTP.