Age of Golden Ape Slot
Philippines-based online casino games developer GamingSoft have packed their Age of the Golden Ape video slot with lots of lucky animal symbols, gold coloured playing card icons and a whole series of bonus features, from wild substitutions, to no less than 7 free spins rounds and a jackpot side game. It’s a 5-reel slot machine where instead of conventional paylines, the 243 Ways to Win system in in effect, where players just need to land matching symbols anywhere on adjacent reels from the left side to get paid for a win.
An obvious Chinese theme runs through this online casino slot machine, and it includes classic symbols like golden bowls and coins in the mixture, while the swirling patterns behind the reels and scrolled frame around them serve to emphasis the subject.
Playable from wagers of just 0.10 per spin, or even via free Age of Golden Ape video slots, it’s got a maximum bet of 100.00 and a good return to players, while most slots from GamingSoft are mobile-optimised to attract the widest possible range of players. An autoplay option sets the reels spinning for between 10 and an infinite number of games without any input needed from players.
Golden Opportunities to Win
Basic wins with the golden playing card symbols range from 10, 20 or 200 coins when the 9 stops on 3, 4 or 5 reels from the left, to the A, which is worth 20, 60 or 400 coins for the same combinations. The golden bowls that seem so popular in Chinese styled slot machines will pay out 30, 70 or 600 coins, with other unique picture icons being the rooster, turtle, panda and a tiger that’s the top paying standard icon, worth 100, 200 or 2,000 coins.
The actual Golden Ape of the title is a wild symbol that will help spinners towards further winning lines when he stops in the right places to fill in any missing pieces in a continuous run of matching symbols across the reels. He’s a wise-looking character, very much in keeping with the rest of the design.
The wild won’t be worth anything on its own, and isn’t able to act as either the golden coin scatter symbol or red lantern jackpot icon.
Multiple Free Spins Options
As well as being worth 2x, 5x or 20x the total stake when it stops in any 3, 4 or 5 places, the coin scatter symbol heralds the start of a free spins bonus round, but players are able to decide from 7 different options of how many spins they want and any multipliers that will apply when special Ape wild symbols are part of a winning line.
The choices are for 25 free spins and random 2x, 3x or 5x multipliers, 20 spins with 3x, 5x or 8x, 15 bonus games where 5x, 8x or 10x multipliers will be paid out, 13 spins with 8x, 10x or 15x wins, or 10 games where the random multipliers are set at 10x, 15x or 30x. The other fixed option is for just 6 spins, but wins created by the special Ape wild are boosted by 15x, 30x or 40x.
The last option is for a Mystery Choice where the spins and multipliers are chosen at random by the game. Being able to decide on how the bonus games play out is a useful feature although on average, the potential returns are actually very similar.
Progressive Jackpots to Claim
If the red lantern stops on reels 1, 2 and 3 at once, the progressive jackpot round begins, with a guaranteed prize as soon as it’s triggered. 12 lanterns will be displayed and a click on each reveals a jackpot icon which can be Mini, Minor, Major or Grand.
Once 3 of a kind have been found, the corresponding award is paid out, although it’s worth noting that players using smaller stakes can only cash out a percentage of each jackpot and will need to be at Max Bet to claim 100% of them.
Other Ape-ealling Slots to try
We like the Chinese theme of this slot machine, but anyone who wants to spin monkey-themed reels should definitely visit online casinos where Playtech games are featured, as they will carry the fun Triple Monkey, while combining the Asian influence and primates theme, we have Spade Gaming’s Ho Yeah Monkey video slot game.
The Verdict
This feature-filled online casino slot machine doesn’t monkey around when it comes to handing out winnings, in fact, there’s lots of reliable prizes to collect. It’s nice to see players given the choice of how volatile or not the free spins games will be, and if you want some steady payouts over the course of multiple games, then go for the 25 spins, but if you think you can land a big multiplier quite soon, then maybe the 6 spins will be enough.
Any progressive jackpot prize is very welcome, but we can’t help being a little disappointed with this and other GamingSoft slots that only reward players with a percentage of the prize unless they are at maximum stakes. At the lowest bet levels, only 10% of any jackpot can be claimed.
This aside, Age of Golden Ape video slot is a fun game, with a nice theme and style, and plenty of bonuses to enjoy.
