Jungle Jim Slot Machine

There are many video slots rattling around in the Microgaming casino suite; Jungle Jim is just one of them. The vivid 5-reel slot has 15 paylines and is set – where else? – in the jungle, though a specific continent is not mentioned. It is characterised by wonderfully illustrated symbols using a broad colour palette, a wide betting range, bonus features such as wilds, scatters, free spins and multipliers, and a grand prize of 4,000 credits.

All wins pay left to right except scatters, which pay wherever they lie. If you’ve got your Indiana Jones style wide-brimmed hat at the ready, and you’re handy with a bullwhip, let’s waste no further time and enter the jungle.

“Do You Know Where You Are?”

As stated, Jungle Jim takes place on a 5-reel grid with 3 rows. While you play, you’ll hear chirping and chirruping from the jungle, and when the reels are spinning, the beat of tribal drums is audible. The audio serves to enhance the immersive feel of the game.

Visually, Jungle Jim is pleasant to look at. The grid appears against a jungle backdrop, and though the symbols are not photorealistic, the illustrator has done a credible job of rendering them: every icon stands out on the reels and is sharply defined. Below the grid, the game title appears on a sharpened spear along a wooden board.

Either side of the title, there are View Payout tabs you can click into. Below, there are controls regulating the number of lines played – you can play on one, two, three, right up to 15 – and also the coins. You can choose to play with between one and ten coins, and the denominations go from 0.1 to 1. As such, the maximum bet per round is 150. If you’re ever in any doubt about the rules, simply click into the Help tab in the lower left-hand corner.

In total, there are 11 symbols which appear on the reels. They include an angry orange piranha, a tropical green flower, a tarantula, a snake coiled around a branch, a jaguar, a red-headed female who bears a striking resemblance to Scully from The X-Files and a monocle-wearing explorer with a grey moustache. This isn’t Jungle Jim, incidentally – perhaps it’s his dad. Jungle Jim appears to be the grinning gent with the Desperate Dan-style jaw wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

While the piranha and the green flower are linked in the pay-table, meaning you can find ‘of a kind’ combinations involving the two, the rest of the icons must be found in combinations of three, four or five. Among the regular symbols, Jungle Jim pays best: five for two, 50 for three, 150 for four and 1,500 for five in a line. His wizened dad pays five for two, 20 for three, 100 for four and 750 for five; his girlfriend (sister?) Scully pays four for two, 20 for three, 100 for four and 500 for five.

Wild and Scatter

There are three bonus symbols in Jungle Jim, including a wild and a scatter. The scatter is easy to spot – it’s the word SCATTER emblazoned on a circular shield. This one pays three for three, 12 for four and 75 for five. Scatter wins, as usual, are multiplied by the total number of credits staked and added to payline wins.

The wild icon is the word WILD against the jungle backdrop. As well as being able to replace all other symbols in the game to help you make wins, it pays 10 for two, 200 for three, 800 for four and the 4,000 jackpot for five. Just note that the wild cannot replace the scatter or the bonus.

Gator Alley Bonus

Three, four or five alligator bonus symbols triggers Gator Alley free spins. Not only will you win 10 free spins but you’ll trigger modest pay-outs of five for three, 20 for four and 50 for five.

As if free spins weren’t enough, the Gator Alley bonus entails a 5x multiplier with every win formed during free spins. The free spins cannot, however, be re-triggered.

Jungle Frolics

Jungle Jim won’t win any awards for innovation, but it is what it is: a colourful, cartoonish 5-reel video slot with several compelling bonus features. Its pay-outs are decent, the gameplay is nice and the graphics are solid. We like the generous multiplier during free spins and we like the fact that there’s another bonus over and above the wild and scatter. Venture into the jungle and see if you can’t make hay.