3 Dancing Monkeys Slot (Pragmatic Play) Slot Demo & Review

Why do you suppose it is that monkeys are seen as being, well, cheeky? It’s a fascinating question in my eyes, especially considering that their gorilla brethren are typically considered much scarier and more menacing. Let me put this another way – if Pragmatic Play had named their new online slot Three Dancing Gorillas, would that even make sense to you? Or would it just sound bizarre and unrealistic? Interesting issues to ponder, indeed… if you have too much time on your hands, that is! Much more relevant are the game’s vital statistics, which include 243 payways, a 96% RTP, and an attractive maximum jackpot of 12,077x the player’s total stake.

So, what can 3 dancing monkeys do… aside from dancing, of course! Well, they each have their own wild symbol – one of which appears on reels two, three, and four; but aside from this, all of the games’ features are locked away behind the main free spin bonus round. There are three exclusive gem modifiers that can help you to trigger the free spins, but these aren’t scatter symbols as such – it’s a very unusual bonus triggering setup, but if you do manage to trigger the bonus with all three gem modifier symbols, then you’ll be rewarded with an enlarged 5×5 playfield, additional wild symbols, and wild multipliers of 2x, 3x, or 5x.

So, how do you fancy a dance with some funky monkeys? They’ve promised me that they won’t throw any excrement at you if you choose to play our free demo slot of 3 Dancing Monkeys, but demoslot.com takes no responsibility for any ‘accidents’ which may occur should you decide to party with primates. You have been warned!

3 Dancing Monkeys Slot
ProviderPragmatic Play
Reels5
Rows3
Paylines243
Bonus Rounds1
Bet Range0.30 - 150
VolatilityHigh
Max Win12,077x
Bonus BuyYes
RTP96.00%
Our Rating7.3

3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Casino Bonuses


3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Free Play


3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Paytable
3 Dancing Monkeys slot paytable

We love monkey-themed slots here at Demoslot – just check out our reviews of Bananaz 10K Ways or Wild Wild Bananas! In fact, we just reviewed another excellent Banana-themed slot just this week – the Dream Drop update of Relax Gaming’s excellent Banana Town online slot. All of these games are unique in their own way, and Three Dancing Monkeys once again sports a unique visual style, cute monkey characters, and a refreshingly original feature set that once again demonstrates just what Pragmatic Play can do when they put their mind to it. Last year it seemed like all these guys could do was recycle their previous ideas – it’s starting to look like the developer was busy putting some new game engines together for 2023, as almost every release they have published this year so far has been an original machine rather than just another clone. I’m hoping this trend will continue for a while yet.

So far, so good then for Three Dancing Monkeys… but how does the paytable stack up? The Chinese lantern is the highest-paying regular symbol with a payout of 6.66x the bet for a complete payway of five of a kind. The group of oranges have a return of 5x the total bet for all five of those symbols, followed by the Chinese fans at 2.33x for a full payway. I’m not sure what the proper word to describe the final two high-paying symbols are – there’s a double jug at 2x, then three linked gold coins at 1.66X. Both of these symbols show up in loads of Far Eastern-themed games, so if anybody can tell me what the proper term for these is meant to be, I’d very much appreciate it! As for the low pays, five tens will get you 0.33x your stake, whilst five aces award 1.16x for a five-of-a-kind winning combination.

The betting range is a little unusual for a Pragmatic Play slot – the minimum bet per spin is €0.30; this isn’t particularly high, but it is a little more than fans of this developer have come to expect. The upper limit is also a little bigger than usual at €150.00 per round, but I’m pleased to report that you can play any multiple of the minimum bet until you bump into that plentiful maximum wagering limit.


Base Game & Modifiers

3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Base Game
3 Dancing Monkeys slot base game

The base game of Three Dancing Monkeys utilises the traditional video slot layout of five columns of three rows each. However, you’ll also notice an additional column on the right-hand side, each containing one of our cute little monkey friends whose bonus-boosting benefit is mentioned below his portrait. Just keep in mind that this additional reel is of no use during base gameplay!


Wild Symbols

Wild symbols act as substitutes for all other symbols but only appear on reels two, three, and four in 3 Dancing Monkeys. During the bonus round, wild symbols can also appear with 2x, 3x, or 5x multipliers attached to them.


3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Bonus Features

3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Free Spins Feature
3 Dancing Monkeys slot free spins feature

Gem symbols appear in red, green, and purple and can land on all five of the game’s reels. Each gem has a different bonus round boosting modifier attached to it, and whenever one or more of these lands on the reels, there is a random chance that the free spins will be triggered.


Free Spins

For each gem visible on the reels as part of the triggering spin, five free spins will be added to your starting total. Likewise, if any further gems land on the reels whilst the feature is active, the game may decide to add that gems modifier to your bonus round as well as adding five more free spins to your remaining total.

This is a strange setup, in my view – there’s nothing worse than seeing a couple of these gems show up, and yet nothing happens whatsoever! It just doesn’t seem like cricket, does it?

Still, let’s assume that you are lucky:

  • The RED GEM awards a ways modifier – during the free spins feature, the playfield expands from 5×3 to 5×5, increasing the number of pay ways from 243 ways to 3,125 ways.
  • The GREEN GEM awards the wilds modifier – during the free spins feature, a large number of additional wild symbols are added to reels two, three, and four.
  • The BLUE GEM awards the WINS modifier – at least, that’s what the paytable calls it! I’d describe this one as the MULTIPLIER modifier, as it adds a 2x, 3x, or 5x modifier to all wild symbols that land for the duration of the feature. Should more than one wild multiplier appear on screen at once, the product of their values will be applied to all winning pay ways that intersect their positions.

New mystery symbols are added to all five reels during the free spins feature. Then, whenever they land, they will transform into either a number of additional free spins – between 1 and 42 – or a direct money value that is awarded instantly.

This latter reward is undoubtedly the most interesting, as the very least it can be worth is 30x your total stake, whilst the largest amount is a super-chunky 5,000x your entire bet! I bet you wouldn’t mind hitting a couple of those, would you? In fact, I reckon I’d even do a slow dance with a monkey for a few of those mystery prizes… she’d have to be cute, though. Christ, what am I saying….!


Bonus Buy

The bonus buy facility costs 100x the normal price per spin and will always guarantee a combination of two possible gem modifiers. This can’t be just any two gems either, unfortunately – it’s always one of the following combinations:

  • RED and GREEN – Ways and Wilds
  • RED and BLUE – Ways and Multipliers
  • GREEN and BLUE – Wilds and Multiplier

Pros

  • Attractive maximum jackpot of 12,077x the total bet.
  • Beautiful graphics and cute monkeys!
  • Mystery symbols in the bonus round are infinitely superior to typical ‘mystery’ symbols.

Cons

  • The bonus-triggering system is bizarre, to say the least – if I hit all three gems, I want my bonus round! If I were playing this game for real money and saw such a combination hit without any reward, I’d never be willing to try the game again.
  • Being limited to just two of the three gems when using the bonus buy facility is frustrating – an option to pay more for a three-gem feature would have been welcome.

Final Thoughts

Pragmatic Play rarely comes out with a duffer, and 3 Dancing monkeys isn’t going to be the game to break with that tradition. At the same time, I hate the bonus triggering mechanism, and the base game would certainly have benefitted from a little more variety to keep things interesting between bonus rounds. This isn’t Pragmatic Play’s best game of the year – but they’ve released so many strong titles in 2023 that it would be a miracle if it were!

7.3

Decent


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