Wild Kingdom - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction 

Enter the Wild Kingdom of lions, rhinos and more in this colourful video slot by Fazi. This animal themed slot has a standard 5x3 layout with scatters, wilds and a free spins feature, with the lure of additional spins during the bonus round. You can double your winnings by playing the optional risk game; what’s more, there is the chance to win one of three jackpot prizes.

Theme, graphics & soundtrack

Wild Kingdom is set in the African savanna. This forms the backdrop for the reels, with dry grasses in the foreground, trees beyond, and misty mountains in the distance. The reels, which form five brown stripes across the screen, are populated by lions, rhinos, warthogs, zebras, and the usual high playing card symbols. 

The artwork has exaggerated colour but is realistic, and the detail on the lower-tier symbols, such as the small crown on the king, the flower on the queen and the fleur-de-lis on the jack, is a nice touch. Although there is no idle soundtrack, the sound effects and the music accompanying wins sound good.

Wild Kingdom RTP and variance

This slot has an RTP of 96.1 per cent, which is just above the average, and the variance, excluding the jackpots, is medium to high.

How to play Wild Kingdom

1. Once the game loads, choose whether you want to enable the sound. You will then be taken to the reels.
2. Familiarise yourself with the game's rules by touching the information icon. This is where you will find the payline configurations, the paytable, and details about the features and general rules.
3. To find information on the jackpots, you can touch or hover over the icon to see when the jackpot was last won and the win zones.
4. Set the number of paylines you want to play and the bet level by using the + and - buttons to either side of the amounts.
5. The gamble button is enabled only after a win. 
6. For the autoplay function, tap the auto button to access the settings. Choose from 5 to 1,000 automatic spins and use the checkboxes to set whether the spins stop on a bonus or jackpot win and the sliders to set loss and win limits. When autoplay is in progress, you can stop the automatic spins at any time by touching the stop button.
7. You are now ready to start, always playing responsibly.

Bet sizes & paytable wins 

Bets can be set for up to 15 paylines and range from 0.20 coins to 500 coins, with a maximum total bet for 15 lines of 7,500 coins.

- Wild

5 = 2,000x
4 = 200x
3 = 25x

- Lion

5 = 1,000x
4 = 150x
3 = 15x

- Rhino

5 = 500x
4 = 100x
3 = 15x

- Zebra

5 = 250x
4 = 50x
3 = 10x

- Warthog

5 = 200x
4 = 50x
3 = 10x

- Ace, king

5 = 150x
4 = 25x
3 = 10x

- Queen, jack, ten 

5 = 100x
4 = 20x
3 = 5x

Wild Kingdom bonus features 

Free spins

The free spins symbol appears on reels one, two and three only. Two and three free spins symbols will grant three and five free spins respectively; in addition, the reels that the free spins symbols appeared on will turn into stacked wilds, increasing the chance of a win. During the free spins round, a respin symbol is added to the reels, granting one respin each time it appears.

Gamble 

After each winning round, you have the opportunity to gamble your win in a simple red/black prediction game. Guess the colour of the next playing card correctly and you will double your winnings, with a chance to gamble again; guess incorrectly and you will lose it all. The maximum gamble win limit is 2,000 coins.

Jackpots

There are three jackpots: gold, diamond and platinum. These jackpots can be won at random. They are also progressive, increasing with each spin. The rate of increase and the chance of winning depends on the size of the bet. The maximum progressive jackpot value is not known. 

Wild Kingdom review: our verdict

Although Wild Kingdom isn't packed full of features, it has enough to keep things interesting. In our test run, we had a long wait before triggering a bonus with free spins symbols on reels one and three. Seeing the stacked wilds on these reels was a pleasant surprise, as the game rules hadn't mentioned that they would be stacked. 

Wild Kingdom is a typical example of a Fazi Interactive free play slots game in that it is not out to push any boundaries, at least for the most part. If you like basic 5x3 slots with standard features, there is a great catalogue to explore. If you are looking for an African animal-themed slot that completely deviates from the online slot norm, Big Time Gaming's King of Cats slot is one to try. It is literally two games in one, with different rules and features for each and up to 117,649 ways to win.