Year of the Monkey Slot
There may be 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, but there’s plenty of good arguments for the monkey being the coolest one. Sure, the dragon, horse and tiger have their qualities, but do they look as though they have as much fun as the monkey? They get to swing around, can be wonderfully messy, are cuddly and pull some of the best faces.
The free Year of the Monkey Slot highlights its role in the Chinese Zodiac. It also has plenty of incentives. The 5-reel 3-row slot game with software by Bede Gaming has a Wildcard, Scatter, up to 25 Free Spins and 3 types of Bonuses. As well as the bonuses being fun and pretty, they also include Multipliers. With no download needed and the game being mobile-optimised, you’ve no excuse not to try it out for a swing.
Monkey, Monkey, Monkey
As with other recent Bede Gaming online slots, its 3D graphics are impressive. It keeps the loading page simple. There’s no mention of bonuses or how to play the game, but does have the game’s name in big letters as well as the monkey, the star of the show. As he’s on a floating cloud, this isn’t your average ape. The main screen uses a gorgeous orange sunset image, with grey mountains in front. While sometimes the reels are the most eye-catching part, here the background will stand out most. This is helped by the reels not being transparent, as well as the quality of the image. The monkey is the top star here, being the only thing that moves.
The sitar is very relaxing and exotic. It’s gentle pace really will sooth you and help set the scene. There are 8 regular symbols, half of which are themed to the game. The monkey is the most valuable, followed by a pig, gold coin and empty candle sticks. The Ace, King, Queen and Jack are the other 4. While they are in a delightful font style, it’s a shame that the chance to show us more about what Year of the Monkey represents isn’t used.
From Monkey to Money
There’s plenty of flexibility when betting on this medium variance game. You can play for any payline between 1 and 25. Helpfully you can move from 1 to 25 and 25 to 1 which saves a lot of button pressing. While you can’t switch in the same way for the Bet, it does offer 15 choices. You can play for as little as 0.01 or go up to 5.0. Max Bet is worth a total of 125 credits. You can use Autoplay for either up to 100 spins. Or even use the extra settings for a win or loss of up to 4,000 credits. The options are different depending on what your betting stake is. There is no speed setting, though the pace is already pretty fast. Throughout the game, the bonuses are highlighted through intermittent messages in the line above the gambling buttons.
The Wildcard is a Maneki-Neko, familiar as the cat who brings luck. It replaces everything except the Red Letter Bonus and the Dragon Scatter symbol. If you get 3 or more of the Scatter you’ll get 15, 20 or 25 Free Spins. They can be retriggered for up to 5 times. The Bonus options are great. If you get 3 of them, you’ll get 1 of the 3 extras. The Zodiac Wheel you spin and win either x10, x15, x20, x35 or x50 Multiplier. The Money Tree is one of the loveliest bonuses out there. You chose from the various red letters before it falls to the ground. You can win up to x50 Multiplier. The other possibility is a x20 Multiplier.
Other Types of Monkey
While the dragon may be the most popular creature from the Chinese Zodiac, there are plenty of different monkey themed online slots out there, including ones like Legend of the Golden Monkey and Banana Monkey. Another of the free online slots is Golf n Monkeys. As the name suggests, this is a more light-hearted game that has nothing to do with Chinese culture. The graphics aren’t as high-quality but you’ll struggle not to smile seeing a monkey ready to putt. The 25 paylines are the same, but though the wildcard and Scatter offer credits among their uses, there are no bonus games. Jungle Monkey has sparkling graphics like in Year of the Monkey, but there is a more playful vibe, as shown by fruit and drums being among the symbols. This high roller is certainly at the top end of high variance. You can bet up to 10,000 per spin, and among the bonuses is an eye-catching 1 million coins prize.
Good Points
The Year of the Monkey video slot by Bede Gaming has many good points. Punters will struggle to find a game that offers more options for Multipliers. The way it is done, through 3 different Bonus Games, is delightful. The Wildcard and Scatter are both useful, and it’s always nice to see different Free Spins available, especially when they can be retriggered.
While the bonuses stand out, the regular symbols provide great value. They might not stand out as much as the other graphics, but with a minimum of x100 for any 5 of a kind they are rewarding. The RTP is a reasonable 95.05%. There are plenty of games that focus on the oriental theme, but there’s enough going on here that means it stands out.
