Gems of Serengeti Slots
Serengeti Gems provides a basic hold-and-win feature and a pleasantly stylized African outdoors experience. If that sounds fine, then straightforward gameplay and basic features of Gems of the Serengeti are unlikely to wow you with their functionality or to surprise you because of how they work. There aren’t any features here except the basic ones, and none of these essential features function in mind-bending ways. So, Gems of the Serengeti can’t be accused of providing a unique experience or criticized for featuring gameplay that functions how you’d expect it to.
Serengeti Gems is a safari-themed slot that takes players into the heart of a sun-drenched savannah. Trigger a bonus feature, and it’s not just the sun that dictates when and where a feature will happen—the moon can take over and cause a lot of action. The reels are done in the same wood-carving style as the background art, with smooth edges and high-resolution art that makes them pop with color. Smooth edges aside, there are a lot of straight and curved lines just on the edge of what you’d call a recipe for a dangerous place. Bring on the safari.
What is it about?
Gems of Serengeti is one of those slots that does what it does satisfactorily while seeming to slack off simultaneously. Pragmatic Play has been in the game for a while and has an impressive catalog of slots it can point to. Yet, it sometimes seems content to release a lot of stuff that is okay and clever in parts yet insufficiently risky, adventurous, or ambitious enough to be worth our time. Not all of these slots are like that, of course. There are exceptions, but Gems of Serengeti is not one of those exceptions. It looks nice, sounds nice, and plays okay, but it doesn’t have practically everything for the world to see.
Game Symbols
For symbols, the low pays are ranks of cards J-A, while the high pays are vultures, leopards or cheetahs, lions, a female character, and a male character. Two other symbols with key roles are the Gems and the Bonus symbols, which start the re-spins and free spins when enough hits.
How to Play
You’ll love the Mask symbols, which are your basic wilds. These show up on all reels, can be replacement symbols, and can pay directly as much as 50x the stake for their combinations. You will receive a Re-spin feature if you can get the Blue Gems to land on at least five positions. The initial Gems are locked, and you start with three re-spins that can reset whenever new Gems land. At the end of the feature, you get paid according to the number of Gems present. It’s different than the usual Hold and Win style re-spins, but I’m not a fan of this version; it feels weaker.
Theme and Background
The landscape, already stunningly beautiful in parts, provides fertile ground for further romanticizing a gambling vehicle like Gems of Serengeti. When initiating the game, players are met with a standard fare view for this sort of slot. We see vast grasslands, semi-arid rocky outcrops, a river that seems to wind on forever, and a gigantic life-filled sky above it all. There are many nifty critters in the cast, and while they’re not too far outside the wildlife you would expect to find here, what is used as the eye candy at the top of the reels is kicking the scenery up a notch.
Free Spins Bonus
When three bonus symbols hit on reels during free spins, Gem symbols are gathered when they land. At the end of the free spins, if you have enough Gems, you’ll get a re-spin, which starts with the number of gathered Gem symbols on the reels. If 20 Gems are gathered during free spins, a prize amount is paid without playing the respin feature.
Re-Spin Bonus
Gem Symbols go on all reels, and the re-spin feature activates when five hits. The feature starts after wins pay and is on a grid with Gems or blanks. The triggering Gems stay in place, and three re-spins are yours. If new Gems hit, they'll lock onto the reels and reset to three. When respins end, the round ends, too.
Round Up
There are highlights when the going is good. Prizes from the Re-spins feature aren’t awful when Gems hit in great numbers, for one. Free spins, too, if ample Gems have been collected, even larger prizes will accrue. The action can be pretty meh when sizable hauls of gemstones don’t build. It is not hugely creative, but it all hinges on how many Gems you can get. Gems of Serengeti will feature graphics that draw inspiration from Africa. That’s not unusual for a slot, but while the graphics may be only above average, the features make up for that in releases from this developer. Score a load, and the trip to this Serengeti might feel justified.