The Ultimate 5

The Ultimate 5 takes Pragmatic Play into the African savannah, but its Big Five setting is only the surface of a game built around two very different bonus mechanics. Played across five reels, three rows and 20 fixed paylines, it combines conventional animal symbol wins with a progressive Free Spins feature and a Hold & Spin Super Boost where connected Money symbols can repeatedly increase each other's values. The maximum payout is 5,000x the bet, while the standard betting range runs from 0.20 to 100 per spin, subject to casino limits. Regular wins require three or more matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left. Lions, leopards, elephants, black rhinos and buffalo form the premium side of the paytable, with the lion paying as much as 20x the bet for five symbols. The game also has a much less conventional animal combination. Landing one of each of the five different animals on the same payline, in any order, awards 100x the total bet. The tree Wild appears across all reels and substitutes for regular paying symbols, but it cannot replace any animal in this special five animal combination, nor can it substitute for Scatter or Money symbols. The Hold & Spin Super Boost begins when three Money symbols land across reels two, three and four. The triggering Money symbols are transferred into the central positions of a separate five reel, three row grid and three respins begin. Only Money symbols and blanks are used during this feature. Whenever another Money symbol lands, it remains in place and the respin counter returns to three, allowing the round to continue for as long as new Money symbols keep appearing. What separates this feature from an ordinary Hold & Spin is the linking system. Money symbols positioned directly beside each other vertically or horizontally become connected as a group. When another Money symbol joins a connected group, the values of the symbols within that group are upgraded to the next available prize level. This creates a reason to care about where each new Money symbol lands rather than simply how many are collected. Money values progress through 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x and 10x before reaching the jackpot values. These are Mini at 25x, Minor at 50x, Major at 75x, Maxi at 100x and Mega at 500x. A symbol at 10x that receives another upgrade therefore becomes a 25x Mini, while continued connections can eventually push a group toward the 500x Mega level. Importantly, Money symbols left outside any connected group when the feature finishes do not contribute to the payout. Filling all 15 grid positions produces the most extreme version of the Hold & Spin Super Boost. When the entire grid becomes filled and connected, every Money symbol is upgraded to the 500x Mega value. The theoretical total displayed across 15 Mega symbols would exceed the game's payout ceiling, but The Ultimate 5 applies its hard maximum and awards 5,000x the bet. The second major route is Free Spins. Three, four or five Diamond Scatter symbols trigger eight, ten or twelve Free Spins respectively, while also paying 5x, 25x or 50x the bet. During the feature, special Scatter overlays can appear over existing symbols. Landing two, three, four or five of these overlays awards another two, four, six or eight Free Spins, providing a different retrigger system from simply landing the standard base game Scatter arrangement again. Free Spins also use a five stage reel upgrade mechanic. At random moments, the reel set levels up and permanently removes the lowest remaining card symbol from the reels. The first upgrade removes the 10, followed by J at Level 2, Q at Level 3, K at Level 4 and finally A at Level 5. Every time one of these upgrades occurs, a Wild is guaranteed to appear on that particular spin. Reaching the later levels therefore leaves the reels increasingly concentrated around premium animal symbols and Wilds. The Ultimate 5 has no conventional Bonus Buy in its standard configuration, so both major features must be reached organically. Its 5,000x maximum is paired with high volatility, while reliable published figures for exact hit frequency, Free Spins frequency and the mathematical probability of reaching the maximum win are unavailable. That makes it more useful to judge the game through its feature structure rather than attach unsupported probabilities to rare outcomes. There is more depth here than the familiar safari presentation initially suggests. Free Spins gradually improve the symbol composition of the reels, while Hold & Spin Super Boost turns adjacency into the crucial factor by rewarding Money symbols that connect rather than simply land. Add the unusual 100x combination for collecting all five different animals on one payline and The Ultimate 5 becomes one of Pragmatic Play's more mechanically distinctive African themed releases, particularly for players who enjoy bonuses where the value of the grid can evolve as the feature progresses.

The Ultimate 5 takes Pragmatic Play into the African savannah, but its Big Five setting is only the surface of a game built around two very different bonus mechanics. Played across five reels, three rows and 20 fixed paylines, it combines conventional animal symbol wins with a progressive Free Spins feature and a Hold & Spin Super Boost where connected Money symbols can repeatedly increase each other's values. The maximum payout is 5,000x the bet, while the standard betting range runs from 0.20 to 100 per spin, subject to casino limits. Regular wins require three or more matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left. Lions, leopards, elephants, black rhinos and buffalo form the premium side of the paytable, with the lion paying as much as 20x the bet for five symbols. The game also has a much less conventional animal combination. Landing one of each of the five different animals on the same payline, in any order, awards 100x the total bet. The tree Wild appears across all reels and substitutes for regular paying symbols, but it cannot replace any animal in this special five animal combination, nor can it substitute for Scatter or Money symbols. The Hold & Spin Super Boost begins when three Money symbols land across reels two, three and four. The triggering Money symbols are transferred into the central positions of a separate five reel, three row grid and three respins begin. Only Money symbols and blanks are used during this feature. Whenever another Money symbol lands, it remains in place and the respin counter returns to three, allowing the round to continue for as long as new Money symbols keep appearing. What separates this feature from an ordinary Hold & Spin is the linking system. Money symbols positioned directly beside each other vertically or horizontally become connected as a group. When another Money symbol joins a connected group, the values of the symbols within that group are upgraded to the next available prize level. This creates a reason to care about where each new Money symbol lands rather than simply how many are collected. Money values progress through 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x and 10x before reaching the jackpot values. These are Mini at 25x, Minor at 50x, Major at 75x, Maxi at 100x and Mega at 500x. A symbol at 10x that receives another upgrade therefore becomes a 25x Mini, while continued connections can eventually push a group toward the 500x Mega level. Importantly, Money symbols left outside any connected group when the feature finishes do not contribute to the payout. Filling all 15 grid positions produces the most extreme version of the Hold & Spin Super Boost. When the entire grid becomes filled and connected, every Money symbol is upgraded to the 500x Mega value. The theoretical total displayed across 15 Mega symbols would exceed the game's payout ceiling, but The Ultimate 5 applies its hard maximum and awards 5,000x the bet. The second major route is Free Spins. Three, four or five Diamond Scatter symbols trigger eight, ten or twelve Free Spins respectively, while also paying 5x, 25x or 50x the bet. During the feature, special Scatter overlays can appear over existing symbols. Landing two, three, four or five of these overlays awards another two, four, six or eight Free Spins, providing a different retrigger system from simply landing the standard base game Scatter arrangement again. Free Spins also use a five stage reel upgrade mechanic. At random moments, the reel set levels up and permanently removes the lowest remaining card symbol from the reels. The first upgrade removes the 10, followed by J at Level 2, Q at Level 3, K at Level 4 and finally A at Level 5. Every time one of these upgrades occurs, a Wild is guaranteed to appear on that particular spin. Reaching the later levels therefore leaves the reels increasingly concentrated around premium animal symbols and Wilds. The Ultimate 5 has no conventional Bonus Buy in its standard configuration, so both major features must be reached organically. Its 5,000x maximum is paired with high volatility, while reliable published figures for exact hit frequency, Free Spins frequency and the mathematical probability of reaching the maximum win are unavailable. That makes it more useful to judge the game through its feature structure rather than attach unsupported probabilities to rare outcomes. There is more depth here than the familiar safari presentation initially suggests. Free Spins gradually improve the symbol composition of the reels, while Hold & Spin Super Boost turns adjacency into the crucial factor by rewarding Money symbols that connect rather than simply land. Add the unusual 100x combination for collecting all five different animals on one payline and The Ultimate 5 becomes one of Pragmatic Play's more mechanically distinctive African themed releases, particularly for players who enjoy bonuses where the value of the grid can evolve as the feature progresses.