Wild Panda is not only inspired by one of the most popular themes from the last couple of years, being based on China, but it’s also one of the better designed games I’ve seen Aristocrat release, something more in line with what’s available at other online developers.
Things are just as exciting on the reels, with the game selecting 20 to 100 active lines for use on 5 by 4 reels. Wild Panda will have all the usual basic features, so expect to have wilds act as substitutes, or scatters landing randomly to trigger free spins. The big jackpot inside will get you paid $10,000 with just five symbols.
Betting
You’re getting a small freebie with Wild Panda’s betting system, or at least that’s the impression since the game requires the use of 50 credits per spin, for a setup with 100 lines that need to be activated. The main option that you’re probably going to be using, will be the coin denomination. It starts from $0.01 and ends up at $1, so the bets you can use with all lines active go from $0.50 to $50. There will be the option to reduce the number of lines to 80, 60, 40 or 20, so bets can be lower as well.
Wild Panda Jackpot
A 2,000x win is the ultimate target to have in Wild Panda if you’re taking into account the possibility of forming multiple combinations of that type in a single round. Each one would pay $2,000 at the maximum bet, and it would use the Panda icons during the free spins. Otherwise, it’s a jackpot of $10,000 that will be coming via the Gold Coin scatters, when you get five of them in view.
If you consider the RTP of Wild Panda, you will find that this is one of the best slot machines that Aristocrat is offering. It’s been announced at 97.02%, being considerably higher than most slots, and giving the casino a house edge of only 2.98%. The downside is that the game has three different settings here, and you’re not guaranteed the higher one. The casino decides this, and they could pick the house edge at 5.1%, or 9.57% instead. It’s a good idea to check and try to play at casinos which specify that they’re using the 97.02% setting.
Special Features
Features in Wild Panda aren’t particularly impressive, plus they don’t offer anything truly unique. It’s not quite the usual way to get features though, so perhaps it can give you some excitement and a unique experience for a while thanks to that aspect.
Wild Symbols
The promise of the Wild Panda is met, but not for the base game, and that’s a let down as far as I’m concerned. It’s supposed to be a game defining feature, since it’s even in the title, but you get it only as an extra during the free spins. It’s in the free spins that you get the chance to win the biggest prize as well, worth 2,000x when five Pandas land together on a line.
Free Spins
The symbols which act as scatters here don’t appear by themselves on the reels. Instead, some of the J, Q and K symbols will appear with one of the letters P, A, N or D on them. You get the P on the 1st reel, the A on the 2nd and 5th, the N on the 3rd and the D on the 4th reel. Have all five in view at the same time, to spell the word PANDA and trigger free spins.
The prize will consist of 5 free spins. The symbols which were involved in creating the PANDA word will be transformed into Panda Wilds, which you only get during this feature. They form combinations or act as substitutes, depending on how they land.
Design
The graphics are at the same level as those you get from the other slot machines being released right now. The high quality of the symbols and the use of a Chinese inspired theme should make it a good choice for anyone interested in this type of look. It’s not something unique, Chinese themed games have been very popular lately, but at least it’s not giving you any reasons to stay away from it quality wise.
For the symbols of Wild Panda, the list has Panda Bears, Gold Coins, Gold Fish, Temples, Hand Fans, Bonsai Trees, Chinese guitars and Lotus Flowers. The playing cards are given an important task, to act as triggers for the free spins in certain situations.
Summary
Wild Panda stands out thanks to the quality of the design, which is not a given for a developer like Aristocrat. Feature wise it’s not impressive, but its 97.02% maximum RTP could be an excellent reason to stick with it.
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