Ninja Monkey Slot
Combining wildlife and Asian culture into a single set of reels, the Ninja Monkey video slot from Inspired Gaming is a cartoon style game that comes with some unique features such as expanding reels that give you 8 rows of Monkey-related adventure, plus a free spins round with expanded wilds, random extra wilds and an option to make a Fortune Bet which triggers these features more frequently. The 5 reels are filled with the tools of the trade that ninjas like to dispatch their targets with, such as throwing stars, and nunchucks, along with a couple of less deadly items like a bonsai tree and some koi fish.
While Inspired Gaming might not be as well known as some other online casino games developers such as Playtech and Microgaming, believe us when we say it’s a big company. How big do you ask? How about employing 10,000 people worldwide and having some 50,000 gaming machine installed in 30 countries? It’s a UK-based operation that’s fully licensed for fair play and reliability by the local Gambling Commission, and all of their games are tested to ensure compliance, so punters can spin the reels of the Ninja Monkey video slot and the rest of the range, knowing that they can collect some great wins along the way.
Of course, without a nice design, no-one will want to spin the reels anyway, but fortunately for us, and Inspired Gaming, the Ninja Monkey slot machine looks pretty darn good, with a nice image of our not-so-friendly simian chilling out on a cloud above the reels, with the sun shining behind him and surrounded by bamboo trees. This image continues below the game, where we see a peaceful mountain scene which has the control buttons superimposed over it, while in normal play, the reels contain just 3 rows of symbols, which has left space for these nice background pictures above and below them.
Monkeying Around on the Reels
A total of 35 paylines cross the reels of Ninja Monkey, and when 3 or more of the same type of symbol stop across any of them, running in a continuous line from the left side, you will win a prize. The lower-value wins come from the throwing stars, daggers and nunchucks, each of which is worth 10x, 40x, or 200x the line bet when landing on 3, 4, or 5 reels, while the bonsai tree and fish pay out a little more. The top symbol is the game logo, and this returns 100x, 200x, or 1000x the line stake.
Some dangerous-looking swords make up the wild symbol, which will substitute for others if it’s possible to complete a winning line or extend a win across extra reels. This symbol won’t pay anything out on its own though, and it won’t be able to stand in for the monkey, as this black-clad guy is the key to unlocking the bonus features.
Before we get to the separate bonus rounds though, players can enjoy Mystery Symbols, which can turn up in any spin and once the reels have come to a stop, all Mystery Symbols in view will transform into a single type of standard symbol, which will hopefully complete extra win-lines.
Going ape for Bonus Features
If you opt for the Fortune Bet, the stake goes up by 50%, but you are given twice as many chances to land a bonus feature, as the monkey symbol is twice the size. It’s an option well worth considering, as the bonus rounds are what makes this slot so special. If any 3 bonus symbols appear at once, you are awarded free spins, during which the monkey can turn up at any time and create stacked wild reels.
So far, so standard, but if the free games are retriggered, which happens when 3 more bonus symbols appear in any single spin, you not only get another bonus round, but the number of rows increases to 4. There’s still just 35 lines in play, so it’s easier to land winning combos in this expanded format. It gets better though, as another retriggering of the bonus round sees the reels expand again, this time to 5 rows, and this goes on until the maximum of 8 rows is achieved. This is why the Ninja Monkey video slot has so much space above and below the main game in normal play, to accommodate all these extra rows in the bonus rounds.
Betting Options
You can start playing for real cash wins from just 0.20 per spin or raise stakes to a high limit of 20.00. There’s also free Ninja Monkey video slots to try out, although clearly there’s no chance of actually winning anything this way, so most spinners get right in and go for those real prizes.
Ninja Monkey also has an autoplay option, so you won’t need to click a button with each spin, plus you can activate the soundtrack and listen to some tinkling Asian-style music as the game plays out.
Other Ninja-themed Slots
If you like the fusion of animals and martial arts, then why not check out the Ninja Cats video slot, from Espresso Games? It’s another cartoon-style online slot machine that’s got various moggies in their dojo, and some of these are real wild-cats, acting as other symbols, and multiplying wins when they appear.
Perhaps the best-known game in this genre is Ninja Fruits, which comes from Play’n GO. It’s got a tasty variety of traditional fruit symbols making up the lower-value winning lines, while ninja students and a wise master will pay out the top awards. There’s a throwing star bonus game for some big coin payouts, along with a free spins bonus round where extra scatter symbols can pay multiples of the total bet.
Are we Bananas for Ninja Monkey?
This Asian themed slot game has an interesting concept and some great design features that bring the strange world of primate assassins to online and mobile optimised casinos. In normal gameplay, the reels are a little squashed up, but this slot is all about those expanded reels in the bonus games. It may be a little difficult to get the full complement of 8 rows on each reel, but however many symbols are on each, there’s still that useful monkey adding stacked wild symbols to the matrix throughout them.
Factor in the relative ease with which you can land win-lines in the base game, thanks to there only being 6 standard symbols, plus the chance to land wilds, Mystery Symbols and the neat animations that accompany the monkey, and we have a slot that can be a real treat to play at online casinos which carry the Inspired Gaming collection.