Pragmatic Play currently occupies both first and third place in the popular safari genre , at least according to our SlotRank system. The African animal theme is obviously well known to them, but The Ultimate 5 doesn’t add much in terms of graphics. There are, however, some minor changes to the somewhat standard features that might interest a certain target audience.
The Hold & Spin Super Boost round is the main attraction, and it involves connecting adjacent money symbols in groups to increase the value of all the symbols involved. If you do this completely, all 15 symbols will be converted into 500x Mega Jackpot symbols, but the maximum win is still limited to 5,000x your bet . In the regular bonus round, random royal symbols are removed and you can win up to 2,000x with a single free spin.
Bonus Features of The Ultimate 5 Slot
The 5 African animal symbols pay between 4x to 20x your bet for 5 of a kind, but you win 100x your bet if all 5 animals land on the same payline in any order. The Savannah Tree in the Sunset Wild substitutes for all regular pay symbols to complete winning combinations, but it cannot complete the 100x win for all animals. The wild pays the same as the highest level lion symbol.
The bonus round is triggered when you land 3, 4 or 5 diamond scatters anywhere in view, and this gives you a scatter win up front of 5, 25 or 50 times your bet respectively before you get 8, 10 or 12 free spins. A symbol removal feature is triggered at random times, and you can thus remove up to all 5 bad paying symbols for the duration of the feature if it is triggered 5 times. Each removal upgrade awards a wild and you win 2, 4, 6 or 8 extra spins if you land 2, 3, 4 or 5 small diamond overlay symbols at the same time.
The Hold & Spin Super Boost feature is triggered when you land a Money Sun symbol on reels 2, 3 and 4 (they cannot land on reels 1 and 5 in the base game) and the triggering symbols will be in the middle of the 3 middle reels on a new and cleared grid, no matter where they landed. The money symbols have random values between 1-8x and 10x your bet, and they can also land with mini, minor, major, maxi or mega jackpot prizes worth 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x and 500x your bet respectively .
The Hold & Spin feature starts with 3 respins and the count resets for each new non-blank symbol you lock onto the grid. Neighboring symbols are linked to form a group on the grid, just like triggering symbols were, and each new addition to the group increases the value of all symbols in the group. As an example, x8 becomes x10, while x10 becomes the mini jackpot and so on. Only linked symbols pay out at the end of the feature, and filling the grid increases all existing symbols to the Mega Jackpot level. This awards 5,000 times the maximum win with a fixed cap.
The 200 Spins The Ultimate 5 Slot Experience
You’ll get a little taste of the grind in the base game before we trigger the free spins round at 0:43 in the 3:23 minute highlights video. You can see the Hold & Spin Super Boost feature right after that, and just click the play button below if you’re curious how we did in our 200 spins test session.
Rating Conclusion
Sometimes subtle changes to familiar features are enough to tip the scales and take a game in a new and exciting direction, and this is the case in The Ultimate 5 from Pragmatic Play. The generic African safari theme leaves a common first impression that you’ll have to shake off, and the bonus round for removing random symbols isn’t really the main attraction here.
Sure, it can bring decent payouts if you remove all the royal symbols from the grid, not least from the 100x wins that sometimes come along, but don’t expect too often. Grouping sticky symbols in the Hold & Spin feature is more exciting, as they can all be converted into 500x Major Jackpot symbols. However, it’s a bit lame that you don’t get the full 7,500x payout when this happens, as the hard win cap cuts you off at 5,000x your bet.
Pros
All 5 animal symbols pay 100x in all orders.
FS with random removal of low paying symbols
Hold & Spin with value upgrade of linking symbols
Wins up to 5,000 times your bet
Cons
Look out for customizable RTP ranges
Maximum win should have been 7,500x
The Ultimate 5 Slot FAQs
What is the return to player of The Ultimate 5?
The highest RTP of 96.5% is above average, but keep in mind that this release comes with adjustable RTP ranges .
How volatile is The Ultimate 5?
This is a very volatile release from Pragmatic Play, scoring 5 out of 5 on the in-game volatility scale.
What is the maximum possible profit?
You can win a maximum of 5,000 times your bet, although a grid full of Megas would have paid out 7,500 times without the fixed cap.
How does the Hold & Spin Super Boost feature work?
Triggered by 3 Sun Money symbols becoming a linked group in the center of the otherwise cleared grid, you get 3 respins that reset per new cash or jackpot symbol you land. Grouping/linking adjacent symbols increases all individual symbol values and a complete grid pays 5,000 times your bet.
Is there a free spins mode in The Ultimate 5?
Yes, you get up to 12 free spins to start with, and low-paying royal symbols are removed one after another at random times, awarding a guaranteed wild each time.
Can I play The Ultimate 5 slot for free?
Yes, you can try The Ultimate 5 free demo game at the very top of this page (UK players must confirm their age first).
