African Guardians Slot Machine: Review & Demo
We don’t see a lot of new slots from Microgaming directly these days, but they’re still developing them, and they’ve just released African Guardians. The theme is not much of a surprise, since Africa’s name is mentioned. What I did appreciate immediately, is that the slot’s focus is on the people of Africa, and not on its wildlife.
5x3 reels spin for the player in African Guardians, and that brings a total of 243 ways to win. Up to 12,000x the stake will be paid, meaning that a $234,000 top jackpot is a possibility. With the 96.86% RTP that’s mentioned, we have every reason to be moderately optimistic about this highly volatile game. Expect to see inside the Wild Spirits modifiers, along with the 2x multiplier wild, but also scatters and several variants of free spins.
African Guardians Slot Betting and Prizes
African Guardians can be played with a wager that’s selected from within a range of $0.30 to $19.50. This allows for line bets of up to $0.65.
With a jackpot of 12,000x the stake mentioned as a possibility, African Guardians look like it could bring players prizes of up to $234,000 cash. That would require the maximum bet, and the highest likelihood of it happening would be during the free spins, particularly those with multipliers.
For a slot machine that can pay so well, the risk tends to be higher for the average player, so expect high volatility. Still, it is worth mentioning that a 96.86% RTP is used, and so it pays better than the average competitor.
Features
I like the way they crafted the design of the wild symbol. Showing a W logo, it will be a type of feature that you will most likely be familiar with. The presence of a substitute is still appreciated, even though it’s such a common option. I found it well implemented in this case, since it will boost wins by 2x, with its own multiplier. It can even form combinations with other wilds that are on the other reels, paying the most out of all symbols (up to 50x the stake per combo).
Randomly, while playing African Guardians, you may encounter a feature called Wild Spirits. It is used to give you up to 5 wild reels. Given how much wilds pay on their own, and the fact that they have multipliers as well, you can imagine the impact that such a feature could have.
Another beautiful symbol, the African Mask will be the slot’s scatter, and you will need it to land 3 to 5 times, all in a single spin. In exchange, you will receive access to the free spins, along with a prize of up to 200x the stake. There is only one option initially, but as you get 5, 10, and then 15 triggers of this feature, you unlock the other three versions as well:
- 10 free spins where all wins get a 5x multiplier applied to them. Can be retriggered.
- 15 free spins where the Baboon Spirit transforms regular symbols into extra wilds, which have 2x and 3x multipliers (combined they can boost wins by 6x).
- 20 free spins where you get Rolling Reels after winning spins, bringing new symbols to replace the ones that got you paid. Increasing multipliers apply, going up to 5x after the fourth roll.
- 25 free spins where a 3rd reel Wild Shield will turn regular symbols into extra wilds. It can be retriggered, with 2-5 scatters, to win 1-4 more rounds.
Theme & Design
When it comes to the world’s continents, I think Africa got the least amount of attention, at least if we go by the slot machines designed to cover their people and history. There is no shortage of safari-themed games out there, but the tribes and civilizations of Africa didn’t get attention at all. African Guardians slot is one of the few releases that try to rectify this, and I love the attention to detail and design style that was chosen for it.
You will find that about half of the regular symbols are simple ones, with six Royals going 9 to A, but colored tastefully. The top symbols range from the water ladle and the drum to the four African warriors (two females and two males are used). A Mask and a W logo are their feature symbols.
Conclusion
African Guardians has the right design, along with a type of theme that not many have attempted so far. I think it has every chance to become a popular slot machine, particularly since it uses a couple of tried and tested mechanics from Microgaming’s arsenal (the free spins feature and its four variants have been borrowed from previous releases).
