The latest Jumanji film, Welcome to the Jungle was one of the most successful Hollywood blockbusters of 2017. It grossed almost $1 billion at the box office worldwide, cementing the Jumanji franchise in the heart of popular culture for some time yet. With plans afoot for a Welcome to the Jungle 2 sequel at the end of 2019, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be one of the most talked about film franchises of the year. With that in mind, we thought now was the ideal opportunity to check out the Jumanji video slot, designed by one of the pioneers of online casino software, NetEnt.
The Jumanji video slot is based largely around the 1995 original hit movie, starring the legend that is Robin Williams. The slot has somehow managed to incorporate the board game that the film is centred around into its game mechanics. If you are familiar with the NetEnt brand, you’ll know that they have a history of producing state-of-the-art visuals and animation and polished audio, creating immersive video slot gaming experiences across all manner of themes within popular culture. The Jumanji video slot was only released in 2018 but already it has made a huge impression on the iGaming scene. It is available on mobile devices as well as desktop and laptop, with mobile iGaming evolving rapidly just like the casual mobile gaming industry. There are some iGaming brands that are now dishing out up to 30 free spins on the Jumanji slot without the need for debit or credit cards. This alone has helped bring the Jumanji brand to new audiences.
Understanding the game dynamics of the Jumanji slot
From the moment the Jumanji slot loads up, you’ll be able to see clearly that this is a five-reel slot, set within the thick of the action of the board game that characterised the movie. There are 36 fixed paylines in action, with this top-down view of the ‘board game’, including playful monkeys in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. In terms of the highest-value symbols in the base game of the Jumanji slot, the lion, rhino and crocodile are the best payers, while the traditional playing card-style symbols (Jack, Queen, King and Ace) are the lowest-value icons.
The main symbol you need to watch out for is the large gold ‘Wild’ symbol, which is designed to substitute for all other symbols on the reels to form winning combinations, apart from the Jumanji box ‘scatter’ symbol. The first exciting in-game bonus feature surrounds the wild symbol. The Sticky Vines feature triggers a free respin for those landing at least two winning combinations in a single spin. All wilds that locked in during that winning spin remain in place, and if more wins keep coming, the free spins carry on until the winning combinations stop – it can be very lucrative.
The Jumanji box scatter also triggers the Board Game bonus, which is where the real fun begins. Lock in a minimum of three scatter symbols anywhere on the reels in a single spin to get a minimum of six rolls of the board game dice. If you land five scatter symbols, you’ll get the maximum eight rolls of the dice. You’ll be asked to select a token to use and move around the board. With every roll of the dice, your token will land on one of the following free games:
- Vines Free Spins
Win ten free spins on the reels with the Sticky Vines feature activated - Monsoon Free Spins
Get seven free spins to play with and the Monsoon Wilds feature activated, turning up to two entire reels fully wild - Monkey Free Spins
Play with six free spins with the Monkey Mayhem feature activated, shuffling the reels for guaranteed wins with each spin - Stampede Free Spins
Get five free spins with the Wild Stampede feature activated, where marauding rhinos storm across the reels, turning up to nine base game symbols wild - Mystery Bonus
Get either a bundle of free spins, two additional rolls of the dice or 10x win multipliers
Jumanji: What’s the verdict?
If you like video slots that have plenty of action and bonus games to sample, you’ll love NetEnt’s Jumanji slot. Their attention detail and commitment to staying true to the 1995 original movie has to be applauded. With a return-to-player (RTP) percentage of 96.33%, Jumanji will also give you a fair bang for your buck. With 140x maximum jackpots up for grabs, you can expect more regular wins than some of the other medium-to-high volatility video slots out there in the iGaming scene.