Safari Riches Slot – Free Demo

A Scatter the size of nine positions

The Scatter here lands as a single 3x3 block dropped across reels 2, 3 and 4, and whether it arrives whole or clipped is the entire difference between 7 free spins and 1. Safari Riches was first released in 2020. A Daily Jackpot ticker runs above the reels, shared with other games and awarded at random on a single spin with no symbol combination needed. It has been silently resting in the lobbies ever since, and it's an average slot at best, which is why I'm surprised to see Section8 Studio keeping it alive. Three percent of every bet feeds that jackpot pool, which starts at 5,000 and carries no cap.

Forty lines that pay one way

Safari Riches has a traditional configuration of 5-reels, 4-rows and 40 fixed paylines. They pay left to right. Only the highest win on a line is paid, and wins on separate lines are added together. The stakes are chosen from a list of predefined amounts rather than typed in. I played 400 spins at 4.00 from a starting balance of 1,000.00.

The game includes the customary savannah drums, and you can nearly smell the dust on the plains in this African inspired slot. Not truly. It just sounded pleasant. Section8 Studio also has Safari Riches Megaways on this site, the ways build of this same title, along with Millionaire Genie.

Big symbols in 2x2 and 3x3 blocks

Symbols on the reels can arrive as big symbols, 2x2 or 3x3 blocks that occupy any paying symbol except the Wild. A big symbol can start or complete a payline begun by regular-sized symbols. They may arrive partially and still pay their standard paytable amount, and the Wild substitutes for everything but the Scatter, appears stacked and pays by itself. Two big symbols cannot overlap each other on the reels. It never shows up as a big symbol. Only one Scatter can be on the reels at any given time. The Scatter only emerges as a big 3x3 symbol on reels 2, 3 and 4, and pays nothing on its own.

Seven spins, or one

Should the Scatter arrive fully you get 7 free spins. The round begins on the spin the block lands, the upgraded reels carry through every spin of it, and it ends when the count runs out. A partial arrival grants a single free spin, and furthermore, the reels are enhanced for the round with more big symbols in them, though there is no retrigger. Free spins pay the same bet per line as the main game, and their wins are added to whatever the triggering spin paid.

Final Minty Score: The three whole Scatters I landed in 400 spins paid 364.00 between them, 32% of everything the session won, and none of the three could retrigger.

Three bonuses in 400 spins

The best I observed in the bonus was 54x the stake, which demanded the enhanced reels to actually stack something. That was the first bonus, on spin 106, and it took the balance from 707.20 to 919.20. My 400 spins yielded 70.8%, wagering 1,600.00 and winning back 1,132.80, with 142 paying spins of which 93 paid less than the stake, and I got completely bored playing this. The Daily Jackpot never landed across those 400 spins, and it cannot land during free spins in any case. That was not necessarily because of the weak paytable, but because the game feels sluggish and stale. The balance peaked at 1,106.40 on spin 139, sank to 479.60 at its lowest, and the longest run without a win was 10 spins, ending on spin 233. The three bonuses I observed took forever to appear, with 241 spins between the second and the third. The second came 33 spins after the first and paid 18x the stake, the third 19x. With that said, it does have some upside thanks to the big symbols that can fall into the free spins, which paid me 364.00 in total, 32% of everything won.