Jumanji Slots
Since its release in 1995, Jumanji has become a classic adventure movie. 23 long years later, we are able to play a slot game based on the film – one we think deserves to become a classic in its own right. If you’ve spent the last couple of decades hiding in a jungle and haven’t seen the film, or only recently became aware of it through the 2017 version that starred Dwayne ‘’The Rock’’ Johnson, here’s a brief synopsis. It’s 1969, and twelve-year-old Alan Parrish is magically lost inside a board game which is rediscovered by two kids in 1995. They release Alan, now a grown man (played by the late, great Robin Williams), along with a menagerie of jungle creatures that cause chaos in their small town. It all ends happily ever after, with Alan retuning to 1969 where he’s a child again.
Moving forward to the present day, we have the Jumanji video slot machine from NetEnt. The game packs lots of action and adventure into the reels, with bonus features that will be familiar from the film and a mini-game that takes place on an almost identical board to the one from the movie. Fortunately, rather than magically transporting you to a jungle, the game is more likely to transform your bankroll when you land some of the big winnings available during both the base games and the features. Like most slot machines in the NetEnt range, it comes with some stunning visual effects, and you will see animated creatures crawling all over the reels. There are also realistic animations as tokens move around the board in the main bonus round. It’s all accompanied by an exciting soundtrack of jungle drums to go with the adventure of the reels.
NetEnt is among the top online and mobile-optimized slots developers in the business. It is the brains behind famous games like Dead or Alive, Guns N’ Roses and the record-breaking Mega Fortune, which has paid progressive jackpot prizes of over €15 million in one hit. Its collection of fully licensed games has been independently certified for fair play, and each is unique in its own way, with innovative features and the potential for big rewards. Are you ready to enter the jungle? Then let’s strap on our pith helmets and open up Jumanji.
Welcome to the Jungle
The first thing you’re going to notice is the unusual layout of the reels. It’s a five-reel game, but the outer ones are three symbols high. The next two inwards each contain four symbols while the middle reel has five symbols on it. They are all set against the weaving path of the Jumanji board game in an overhead view of a grand hallway where monkeys, stairs and bookcases fill the corners.
36 paylines cross these reels, and you will need matching symbols across a line to win a prize. The lower-value payouts come from playing card icons J, Q, K and A. These are all in the same style as the movie title, and the higher-paying symbols will also be recognizable to anyone who has watched the film. A Pelican, Crocodile and Rhino return the higher prizes, with the top awards claimed when the Lion appears. He’s worth a high limit of 140x the total stake when he fills a whole payline. A golden wild symbol can act as any of these if it’s able to create extra wins for you, although it won’t be able to substitute for the scatter symbol and isn’t worth anything on its own.
Extra Treats at Any Time
There are four in-game features that can be randomly triggered. Sticky Vines can appear from behind the reels after a winning spin, wrapping themselves around all symbols that created the win along with any wilds in view, even if they were not part of the winning combination. These symbols all stay locked in place as the remaining reel positions spin once more for free. If you land a new win, the process is repeated. Should the Monsoon Wild feature be awarded, a crocodile crawls across one or two random reels, turning all symbols on it into wilds as the remaining reels spin.
Those troublesome monkeys from the film can turn up in the Monkey Mayhem feature, grabbing symbols and rearranging them on the reels. Thankfully, they will shuffle them into a guaranteed winning combination for you. Look out for charging Rhinos in the Wild Stampede feature – these run across the reels, turning between four and nine random symbols into extra wilds as the reels spin.
A Board Game You Won’t Get Bored Of
The Jumanji box is a scatter symbol. Whenever it’s seen in any three or more places in a single spin, the main bonus feature begins. Pick an animal token and it will appear at the beginning of the Jumanji board game, moving along the path as you roll two virtual dice. You get between six and eight rolls, depending on how many scatter symbols triggered the game. When you land on a free spins position in any corner, you are awarded extra games, which are similar to the in-game features.
In the 10 Vines free spins, you get a respin with every win. This sees symbols locked in place by the vines, while the Monsoon spins have random reels fully wild during the 7 bonus games. 6 Monkey free spins can be won, with symbols shuffled into winning combos at the end of each; and although you only get 5 Stampede free games, the Rhinos charge across the reels in each, adding lots of extra wilds to the mix. Other spots on the board award instant coin wins, extra rolls of the dice and a Mystery free spins feature. It’s a thrilling round that perfectly captures the excitement of the film.
Betting Options
All paylines are active by default, so there’s no trying the game out with a tiny wager on a line or two – although free Jumanji video slot versions can be found instead. If you want to actually win something, though – and who doesn’t, you’ll need to wager from just 0.10 per spin to a high limit of 200.00. It comes with a very precisely calculated return-to-player percentage of 96.33%.
Other Adventure-Themed Slots
Jumanji isn’t the only movie-based online slot machine, or even the only jungle-themed one. The 2005 King Kong film has been given the slot treatment by Playtech, who have come up with an incredible adventure that plays out over five reels and 20 paylines. Actual clips from the film and images of the cast are featured, plus you can collect extra payouts and respins when Kong himself appears as the wild symbol. You can play in Jungle mode, or Big City mode, depending on your favored location. Players find different bonus features in each place, either finding prehistoric creatures on the island for coin awards, or swatting biplanes out of the sky in the City Tower round.
If you’re tough enough, why not brave the jungle in the Chuck Norris: Missing in Action video slot from Openbet? The world’s hardest hardman kicks butt with a huge arsenal of weapons including knives, machine guns, and grenades – and he even has a helicopter. Mr Norris is, of course, a wild symbol, but he will also be able to trigger free spins and a P.O.W. Camp bonus where you win prizes based on how many prisoners you rescue.
A Mighty Jungle
This outstanding game is well worth playing, even if you’ve never seen the film. It comes with some fun animations during the features and really brings the magic of Jumanji back to life. You can enjoy all of this on desktop computers, or play this slot game on iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows mobile devices at NetEnt-powered casinos, where it joins the huge range of other slots from this top-quality developer.
