The Ultimate 5 - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

While not exactly a house style, Pragmatic Play games have a very recognisable format. There is room in this for considerable variation - some games even use Megaways mechanics, for example - but once you have got the hang of one, you will usually find the others straightforward. The abundance of Pragmatic Play free slots online means many gamers will choose to play the games as free slots before deciding whether to bet for real. 

The Ultimate 5 sits stylistically somewhere between the dark imagery of a game such as Devil’s 13 and the tooth-aching pastel cuteness of Pragmatic Play's Sweet Bonanza slot. It has five reels, three rows and 20 fixed paylines. The minimum bet size is 0.20 and the maximum is 100. There are ten regular symbols: the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and wildebeest, and the five highest-value playing cards. The wild is a tree at sunset and the scatter/free spins symbol is a diamond. A bright sun is the money symbol.

Theme, graphics and soundtrack

Given the subject matter, this slot looks rather flat with its background of the African plains and a solitary gazelle crossing the screen. The symbols are accurate drawings but the animation is uninspired and the soundtrack is an indeterminate electronic approximation of tribal music that sounds suspiciously 1980s.

The Ultimate 5 RTP and variance

The game’s RTP is 96.5 per cent, which is slightly above average for slot games. The variance is high.

How to play The Ultimate 5

1. When the game loads, you will see a minus and a plus symbol on either side of the play button. Click the plus to open the betting menu. This is where you can change the bet level and the coin value to give you the total wager. 
2. Click the play button or press the spacebar to spin the reels at the bet you have chosen. 
3. The paytable details and other game information are accessed in the ‘i’ menu.
4. Your credit balance is displayed to the bottom left of the screen and will update with each play.
5. All winning symbols pay from left to right in the payline combinations, starting from the leftmost reel. Only the highest win per line will be paid. If you land wins on several paylines with one spin, all wins will be added to the total.
6. The wild substitutes for all symbols except the free spin/scatter and money symbols. 
7. We support BeGambleAware and encourage responsible gaming. Always make sure you stay within the limits of what you can afford and quit when any game stops being enjoyable.

Bet sizes and paytable wins

The bet size ranges from 0.25 to 100. The maximum payout is 5,000x.

All symbols pay out for combinations of 3x to 5x The highest multiplier values in the paytable are for five matching symbols:

• Wild, lion = 12.00
• Leopard = 7.50
• Elephant = 6.00
• Rhino = 3.00
• Wildebeest = 2.40
• Ace, king = 1.20
• Queen, jack, ten = 0.60

Max-win 5,000x

Volatility High

Top RTP 95.50%

The Ultimate 5 bonus features

Free spins

If you land three, four or five scatter symbols in the base game, you will win 8, 10 or 12 free spins respectively. During the free spins round, the reels will level up randomly by progressively removing the lowest-value symbol as follows:

On the first level-up the ten is removed; on the second, the jack; and then the queen, king and ace. When a random level-up occurs, a wild symbol is guaranteed to hit on the spin in which the level-up happened.

The diamond is the free spins overlay symbol. During the free spins, the overlay symbol can appear at random on top of any other symbol, awarding additional free spins as follows:

5x = 8
4x = 6
3x = 4
2x = 2

Special reels are played during the free spins round.

Hold & spin super boost

The money symbol appears on reels two, three and four in the base game and on all reels during the hold & spin super boost. On each spin, the money symbol takes a value at random from mega (500), maxi (100), major (75), minor (50), mini (25) or from ten down to one. Three or more money symbols will trigger the hold & spin super boost.

The feature starts after all wins are paid. Normal symbols disappear and only the money symbols remain, moving to the centre. The normal reels are replaced with special reels containing money symbols and empty spaces.

When a money symbol lands adjacent vertically or horizontally to at least one other money symbol, they form a group and all members of the group increase in value to the next possible higher value.

You start with three respins. Money symbols that land after a respin stay in place and each one that lands resets the number of respins to three. If a money symbol does not link immediately after landing, it stays in place and may form a group with others that land later.

At the end of the feature, all linked money symbol values are added and the total is paid. If all 15 positions are filled and linked, you will receive the highest-value mega (500).

The Ultimate 5 review: our verdict

Apart from the over-complicated super boost feature, there is nothing beyond very ordinary gameplay. Although the RTP is above average and the maximum payout is decent, this is generally an unremarkable slot.

Disclaimer: The Ultimate 5 trademark / license is owned by Pragmatic Play. This site is not endorsed by Pragmatic Play.