Animal Instinct Casino Game Review

BetMGM Jul 31, 2025, 1:43 PM
min read
The header image for Animal Instinct, with bold text over a savanna landscape with mountains, trees, and a glowing sunrise in the background.
  • African “Big Five” theme
  • Four features that affect the gameplay
  • Max win of 7,553x the player’s stake

Set on a sun-drenched savanna, the Animal Instinct slot drops the player among lions, elephants, buffalo, rhinos, and leopards. Developed by Playtech, this online slot game gives the player a wildlife slot experience that combines multiple features with max potential payouts worth thousands of times the player’s wager. Learn more about this title before playing slots online.

Animal Instinct Game Highlights

Here are three key highlights of this online slot game:

  • An African theme: This game features an African savannah theme.
  • Multiple features: Four features can trigger each time the player spins the reels.
  • More than 7,000x potential payout: Players can win up to 7,553x with the right combination of symbols and features.

Animal Instinct Slot Quick Facts and Features

Software Provider Playtech
RTP 95.51%*
Volatility Medium
Jackpot Type N/A
Paylines 40
Reels 5
Max Wager $240
Max Win 7,553x

* Please note that the return to player (RTP) rate for this slot may differ from one jurisdiction to another. 

How Does the Animal Instinct Slot Work?

It’s important for players to understand how slots work before they spin the reels of online slot machines for real money. To learn how this Africa-themed slot works, players can tap the question mark below the game interface or select the “i” to the left of the reels. The question mark will open a detailed breakdown of the game rules, while the “i” will display the game’s paytable, features, and payline information.

Once the player has reviewed how the game works, they can select the grey arrow on the left to access the Total Bet and Turbo options. The minimum wager is $0.08, and the maximum is $240, giving the player a great range of betting options to use when implementing slot budget management tips. Once the player is ready, they can tap the “Spin” button to play one game at a time, or hold down the “Spin” button to reveal the Autoplay options. 

Wins are awarded for landing 3–5 matching symbols along the game’s 40 paylines. Winning combinations must start from the first reel on the left to count as paying combinations.

All of this information will give players a better understanding of Animal Instinct and how it works compared to other types of online slots.

Animal Instinct Game Features

In Animal Instinct, players could experience three features with each spin of the reels. 

Animal Instinct Wild Symbol Feature

The wild symbol appears on all reels, substituting for regular paying symbols to help players form winning combinations.

Animal Instinct Power Collect Feature

When the Power Collect symbol lands on the reels, one of the five colours on the symbol will be selected. This colour then collects every on-screen animal symbol associated with that colour, awarding an instant cash prize. The meter above the reels that’s associated with that colour will also start to fill. Finally, the Power Collect symbol will transform into a wild.

Here are the five colours and the animals they’re associated with:

  • Gold: Lion
  • Red: Elephant
  • Green: Leopard
  • Purple: Rhino
  • Blue: Buffalo

Animal Instinct Extra Spins

Landing three scatters on reels 1, 3, and 5 launches extra spins. The coloured meter above the reels that’s filled the most will decide which animal mode plays out, and the amount that the meter is full with, will decide how many spins the player gets. Here are the bonuses that appear during each of these modes:

  • Lion Extra Spins: One random animal symbol turns wild each spin. 
  • Elephant Extra Spins: A cycling set of multipliers is applied to a win whenever the player receives a payout. 
  • Leopard Extra Spins: A scatter reveals a coin prize, followed by a second scatter, which reveals a multiplier worth up to 5x. These combine to offer an instant payout.
  • Rhino Extra Spins: All the Power Collect symbols that land during this mode are double-stacked, boosting payouts.
  • Buffalo Extra Spins: Sticky wilds appear each time the player spins the reels. 55 wilds appear on reel 2 on the player’s first spin, 40 on reel 3 on the second spin, and 65 on reel 4 on the first spin. 

Animal Instinct Slot Bonuses and Jackpots

Players can win bonus payouts during the Leopard Bonus, but no jackpot prize is available in this game of chance. Instead, the max payout is over 7,000x, offering prizes on par with many jackpot slots online. This allows players to try their luck without venturing into the high-variance territory associated with other Playtech slots.

Animal Instinct Slot Graphics and Design

Animal Instinct renders the African savannah in a high-contrast, safari aesthetic. Stylized photorealistic portraits of rhinos, lions, elephants, and other animals are set inside glowing frames, while the reel background itself is a deep charcoal patterned with subtle tribal patterns. The game’s background features a warm savannah sunset washed in shades of peach, amber, and dusty yellow, capturing the African plains as the sun starts to set. A mellow African instrumental soundtrack with tribal chanting reinforces this game’s theme and setting. 

Animal Instinct Slot Symbols

Each spin of the reels can reveal high-value and low-value slot symbols. High-value symbols include the lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, and buffalo. There are two types of max payouts for these symbols: regular max payouts result in prizes worth, in descending order, 12.5x to 3.75x the players’ wager, while Power Collect max payouts pay, again in descending order, 675x and 500x for the first two symbols, and 375x for the last three symbols. The low-value symbols are the A, K, Q, J, and 10. They offer a single max value payout of, once again in descending order, 3.12x to 1.87x the player’s wager.

The special symbols are the African savannah wild, the tribal mask, and the Power Collect symbol, which is shaped like a ring with blue, red, green, purple, and yellow segments.

Similar Slot Games

Here are some similar animal-themed slots: