Monkeys are an important animal in Chinese culture and one of the 12 zodiac signs. People born in the year of the monkey could have traits like a good nature, cunning, self-confidence, charm, and maybe a bit of arrogance. Naturally, these things are subjective, and we're just listing one of the titbits of knowledge from one of the first sites we visited. It could be stone-cold real; it could be the opposite. Who can say for certain? What we can say with more confidence is that 3 Dancing Monkeys is an Asian-themed slot from Pragmatic Play and associates Wild Streak Gaming. As well as primates, it's got three modifiers, mystery symbols, free spins, and bonus buys.
It's also set in a basic-looking cartoon realm, with a basic cartoon graphical style used to paint a blue, cloudy sky, rolling hills, and what looks like it might be a pagoda in the bottom right corner. Kinda simple, kinda plain, the actual 3 monkeys of the tale sit next to the game grid, each one of them linked to a specific modifier while adding much of what constitutes 3 Dancing Monkeys' charm. Without them, the scene would be a little lifeless.
>3 Dancing Monkeys is available on any device and has an unusual range of bet levels incrementing in a sort of pattern of 3 thing. The minimum bet is 30 p/c per spin, while the maximum is $/€150 per spin. It's a highly volatile slot, rated 5 out of 5 in this regard, and generates a default RTP value of 96% either when playing the game normally or when buying free spins.
To the left of the smiling monkey trio is 3 Dancing Monkeys' game grid, holding 5-reels, 3-rows and a 243-ways to-win pay system. As is usually the case on the set-up, matching symbols on 3 or more adjacent reels from the left creates a winning way. Altogether you're looking at 10 pay symbols in 3 Dancing Monkeys. Five of them are the low pay 10-A card royals, awarding approximately 0.33x to 1.17x the bet for 5-of-a-kind and five Asian slot style symbols as the high pays, worth roughly 1.67 to 6.67 times the bet for a line of five. Lastly, we've got a wild symbol present on reels 2, 3, and 4, there to substitute for anything except Gem symbols.
Now for the features, where extras to cross off the list include three monkey-linked modifiers, Mystery symbols, and the buy feature.
Red, green, and blue gems appear on all reels, and each one is associated with a different modifier for the free spins phase of play. Whenever a gem hits, there is a chance that the associated free spins feature triggers. When triggered, each gem on the triggering spin awards 5 free spins. Then, depending on which gem hit on the triggering spin, one of these modifiers is active for the round of free spins:
During free spins, when a Gem hits, there is a chance it activates its associated modifier for the rest of the round if it was not already triggered at the start. When this happens, +5 free spins are awarded.
The Mystery symbol only appears during free spins. When it lands, it transforms into a number of extra free spins or an instant cash prize. It is possible to win 1 to 42 extra free spins this way, or 30x to 5,000x the bet per line.
Players may buy the free spins feature for 100x the bet. When buying free spins, the triggering spin is guaranteed to land a combination of two Gems.
Okay, confession time, even in the end, it was hard to form a definitive verdict about 3 Dancing Monkeys. It wasn't a game that particularly thrilled, though, nor was it hideously repulsive, either. It inhabited some shifting middle ground between those two extremes, one-minute kind of dull with its basic graphics and generic artwork, at others charming with its three kiddish but friendly trio of simian characters. Opinion was forever bouncing from yeah to nah as the review progressed, and even now, the game's memory has an elusive etheric quality about it.
The plus points include a free spins bonus round that isn't necessarily stuck doing one thing. Such is the power bestowed on gems being able to trigger additional modifiers for the remainder of the round. The modifiers themselves are fairly common items but useful nonetheless should they end up producing something exciting. Mystery symbols, too, are not bad and have a ring; a faint one of the Coin symbol action Push Gaming is up to these days, though in a different, more straightforward form. The icing on 3 Dancing Monkeys cake, though, might well be its winning potential. At 12,077 times the bet, its top prize is certainly more enticing than a flea infestation.
What can we say other than 3 Dancing Monkeys would appear to be one for the fans of this sort of thing. If you're down with an Asian-themed slot heavy on monkeys, then 3 Dancing Monkeys might be just what the doc ordered. For those residing outside the game's scope, well, it's hard to see 3 Dancing Monkeys being the very thing you just didn't know you needed in your life.
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