Go on safari with some of the world’s majestic animals, in The Ultimate 5 Slot from game provider Pragmatic Play. Explore the Serengeti as you play with 5 reels, 20 paylines and a 96.50% RTP. Get a glimpse of these beasts in their natural habitat, where you’ll also find wins of up to a maximum of 5,000x the stake.
Along with the natural beauty offered in this slot, this game brings many features to keep players interested. The two main highlights are the Hold & Spin Super Boost feature with the amount of cash locked up increasing in value. And a free spins bonus round, where lower value symbols can be removed.
Get ready and go on an expedition with us, as we guide you through our full review of the game. Included in our article for your convenience you will find The Ultimate 5 free demo slot that you can practice at your leisure via compatible desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
The Ultimate 5 Slot Machine Review
On the outside, hold & win games set in the plains of Africa don’t sound like a festering bowl of originality, and for most of the time, The Ultimate 5 is pretty average. However, Pragmatic Play has been doing this for a while and has added a few elements that give it a certain measure of novelty. On this savanna stopover, players encounter a Hold & Spin Super Boost, free spins with symbol removal, and a pretty neat winning combination of five animals.
The scene will be familiar when The Ultimate 5 turns on the screen, where the five-reel game panel takes center stage in a grassy part of Africa filled with trees, streams, mountains, and the like. To the right are five different prizes that can be won in the Hold & Spin feature, giving the game a bit of a Wolf Gold feel. Obviously, the settings and animals have been changed this time, from wolves to the top five. Ultimate 5 would be pretty stale, and it still is, but Pragmatic has squeezed a bouncy physical slot through its soundtrack and bright visuals, so there’s sure to be some appeal to players interested in this style.
Numerically, The Ultimate 5 is another Pragmatic Play masterpiece, where the default RTP value of 96.5% keeps things going on a positive footing. Note that RTP can be found at lower levels, although volatility remains high throughout. Action takes place on a 5-reel, 3-line matrix that provides 20 fixed paylines to win. This usually happens when three or more matching symbols land from the far left on adjacent reels.
Playable from 200 rupiah to a maximum of 1200,000 rupiah, the pay table is divided between the low paying 10-A card symbols and the top five African animals. These are buffalo, rhino, elephant, leopard and lion. Getting a low five pay line is worth 1-2x the bet win, going up to 4-20x the bet for the five premium symbols. However, players collect wins worth 100 times their stake if all five animals land in any order on the payline. Lastly, the acacia symbol in the sun is wild, replacing any pay symbol, though not for 100x all animal wins.
Features of The Ultimate 5 Slots
Two bonus rounds have been included with The Ultimate 5. Those are free spins where the symbol removal function is used, and the hold & win feature with upgrades.
Free Spins
Scatter diamonds land on all reels, and have 3, 4, or 5 of them in sight providing a payout of 5x, 25x, or 50x the stake each plus 8, 10, or 12 free spins. During the free spins, the reels randomly level up by removing the lowest value symbols from them. It is possible to remove all low value symbols after the fifth random level rises. Every time you level up randomly, the wild symbol is guaranteed to hit. On a final note, the bonus game can be extended by landing layers of tiny diamond symbols. Having 2, 3, 4, or 5 of them visible at the same time grants 2, 4, 6, or 8 additional freespins.
Hold & Spin Super Boost
Money symbols land on reels 2, 3, or 4 in the base game and all reels during the Hold & Spin feature. The money symbol has a random value of 1-10x the stake or one of five prize values. This is Mini, Minor, Major, Maxi, or Mega, worth 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, or 500x the stake. Pressing at least 3 of them triggers the Hold & Spin Super Boost feature where all symbols are removed except the trigger money symbol, which moves to the center of the grid.
The bonus game starts with 3 respins, which reset when a new money symbol hits. When a money symbol hits and closes with another money symbol vertically or horizontally, they connect to form a group. All symbols present in the group have their value increasing when new ones are added. For example, 8x becomes 10x, 10x becomes Mini, Maxi becomes Mega, and so on.
The round continues until the respin is exhausted or all positions are filled. Any money symbols that hit but are not connected will not pay out at the end of the spin. If all positions are filled and connected, the value of all money symbols on the screen will be raised to Mega.
Conclusion
At first glance, The Ultimate 5 doesn’t seem to have developed much of the genre, and after playing it for a while, its original rating still holds up. However, The Ultimate 5 does have a few tricks that connoisseurs might appreciate. This applies to both the base game and its bonus rounds, although free spins, which are triggered at a much lower rate than Hold & Spin, tend to be the less exciting of the two.
Symbol removal is in the free spins, but its random nature means it’s not as exciting as the collect/boost system found in, say, Pink Elephants. Deletion occurred or not; no real rhyme or reason for them. Also, only the low paying symbols can be removed, which can be a good thing if it helps generate five 100x payout animals. These occur with greater frequency than initially thought, although they are not common by any means.
The twist Hold & Spin feature can be really interesting if you can get a good stream of upgrades. The last one is filling the board, of course, where all positions become Mega prizes. It’s a bit odd because technically, a box full of Mega is worth 7,500x, but Pragmatic has capped wins at 5,000x, so payouts will be deducted.
Ultimate 5 ended up being a decent enough slot with an element of novelty going on, despite the mass-produced theme and look. This may be far from being a game changer, but there is value here for players who like the well-presented release of Pragmatic Play with some new ways to win.
Pragmatic Play have opted to stick with the tried and tested safari genre to bring us their newest online slot offering, and overall it’s not a bad game to play. Hardcore fans of the provider will really love this one, with the Hold & Spin feature having a new dynamic added to it, with wins increasing every time a new symbol lands.
The best way to get a good feel for this title and to see what it’s all about, is to try out a few test rounds in our demo game above. This will save you from having to make a deposit, and you’ll be able to trigger some features to see what they can afford.
