By NetEnt
RTP 96.20%
Min bet $0.10
Max bet $100
Max Win bet x 1300
Popularity Medium
Min bet $0.10
Max bet $100
Max Win bet x 1300
Gamble Feature Buy bonus game, Multiplier, Multiplier wilds, Freespins, Wilds
Layout 5x4
Devices Support all devices
Configurable Winlines No
Volatility High
Progressive Jackpot No
Who is the king of African cats, the lion or the panther? Serengeti Kings answers that with a huge destruction of cats.
Feel the warm air of the savannah as you gather your lions in a pride. Feel the bite of the cold night as you bring the panthers together. All for that one moment in between, when all cats are let loose and the fight for the crown.
Serengeti Kings is a 2020 slot by NetEnt. It has five reels, 26 paylines and a 96.2% return to player. This is a high volatility game, that makes you properly hunt and prowl for your wins.
What makes this game special, is its day and night cycle. You try to collect as many lions and panthers as you can, and they come pouncing in when the time is right. This little hook makes you want to keep playing. Just to the end of the next cycle, and to the end of the next.
First thing you notice when you start Serengeti Kings, is the most stereotypical African-styled music. I mean, just think about what would background music for anything African sound like, and you pretty much just thought of the music that is used here. Fitting, but boring.
The first impression of Serengeti Kings was pretty mixed for me. My initial thought was that this game looks like it’s a decade old, but oh, how wrong I was. At that point, the game was actually just a couple of months old.
The painted animals and loose design reminded me of older slots from some of the smaller game developers. This didn’t look like a modern NetEnt game. Sure, the user interface looks new, but everything else had an old vibe.
After I started playing it, the game bared its teeth. The visual effects and the graphical design of the game in motion were much better. Now it looked like a modern game.
Even though the game looks fine and sounds are okay, the game has a generic vibe. There is nothing unique about it. The mechanics of the game are great, but the exterior is lacking.
Serengeti Kings has eleven basic symbols and two special symbols. The normal symbols are the wild animals of the savannahs and card symbols covered in animal patterns. For the special ones we get scatters and wilds. Everything here fits the theme well, but I do think that the scatter symbol is a bit corny. Half of it is the sun, the other half is the moon and it has a big blocky scatter text all over it.
The paytable is very top-heavy. Most of the symbols have only small wins and everything comes down to the special features. At the end of each cycle, and at the end of the free spins, you have a chance of hitting it big. The Release the Cats feature is the jackpot of this game.
This is a gameplay mechanic not suited for everyone. Serengeti Kings expects you to always finish up your cycles, as you won’t get much in between. I have mixed feelings about it. I do suggest that you are careful with mechanics like this, as they can make you play more than you originally wanted to.
Serengeti Kings runs in a day and night cycle, both being 12 spins long. You collect lions and panthers with every spin and at the end of a cycle, you get to release the cats. The cycle is linked to your wager level, and if you change it, you start over from scratch. If you return to your previous bet, all the stored up cats are still waiting and you get to continue where you left off. This means you can’t just suddenly increase your bet near the end of a cycle.
At the end of each day or night cycle, you get to release the cats. At nightfall, all the lions you gathered are set free, and at dawn, all the panthers go out. The cat symbols cover up other spaces and can create special symbols as well. If a lion and panther would be put in the same square, they become a wild symbol. If two cats of the same kind would go in a square, they make a special version with a multiplier number on it.
After the cats are released, you get to count your multipliers. Here the math is a bit different than normal. You count all the visible multiplier symbols on a given payline and then add one for the base value. Add it all together and you get the final multiplier of that particular payline. This is why the first multiplier symbol only has 1x on it.
Getting the scatter symbols, which have the split sun and moon on it, will net you 12 free spins. If you get three scatters, you get the spins with zero cats. With four scatters you get to start the spins with the amount of cats you currently have, and with five scatters, you get five extra lions and panthers. At the end of the free spins, all the cats are released at once.
If you grow tired of waiting for those scatters, you can skip that part and buy the free spins. You have the option to buy either the 3, 4 or 5 scatter versions of the free spins. The price is determined by your wager and the amount of lions and panthers you have stored up.
Bonus type: No Deposit, Low Wagering, Free Play, Sign Up, Free Money, Welcome Bonus, Registration
Min Deposit: No Deposit
Bonus type: Coupon, Code, Welcome Bonus, Registration, Sign Up, Deposit Bonus, First Deposit Bonus
Min Deposit: $10
Wagering: 60x
Serengeti Kings was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, the game works well and features are fun, but on the other, the game looks boring.
I feel like I’m nitpicking here because it is a well-thought-out theme, but it had no personality. Everything fits together like a good jigsaw puzzle, but the picture it creates is so generic.
For me, the Lion and Panther Spin mechanic is the best part of this game. I always wanted to just hit the next end of the cycle before I could stop playing. You can also see why this would be a problem. Just one more cycle, just one more cycle. Doesn’t sound too healthy to me.
So, in the end, how did I like the game? It was good. Not great, but good. It has great mechanics, but a forgettable exterior. I just hope that I remember this game after a week because I would like to get back to it someday.
