Banana Rush

Banana Rush: Slot Overview

Contrary to what pop culture would have us believe, bananas are not part of a gorilla's natural diet, which tends to consist of stems and leaves and what have you. Oh well, never let the truth get in the way of a good story, as they say, because without a bit of make-believe, the logic behind Play'n GO's online slot Banana Rush might soon fall apart. This is a slot that can, after all, trigger a hold & win feature when its main gorilla character gobbles Bananas from the reels. Other features include collecting Banana values by Baskets for players' financial benefit, and free spins with a trio of different modifiers.

If nothing else, Banana Rush is a jolly looking game, held in the sort of make-believe world where all animals are friends, though what carnivores consume in a place like this is something to think about. Maybe they're vegetarians as well. Presiding over it all is a gorilla character who isn't just there for decoration, but is able to collect Banana symbols, which may, if you're lucky, trigger one of the bonus rounds. Banana Rush sounds just as jovial as it looks, so even if the game doesn't max out the scorecard in other areas, it at least provides a charming game environment.

Like a little hut built in the jungle, Banana Rush's gaming area is a 5x3 reelset held together with bits of wood, holding 10 paylines that create winning combinations of 3 or more of a kind from the leftmost reel. With a 5 out of 10 classification, Banana Rush is a medium volatile slot with 96.2% as its highest of five RTP configurations. There is one way to play the game, which is betting $/€0.10 to $100 per spin.

On the lower end of the paytable are 10-A card ranks, which are worth 3x to 5x the bet when landing a 5 OAK winning combination. At the upper end is a bird, crocodile, hippo, and monkey, paying 10x to 25x the bet when landing 5 OAK. Wilds appear on all reels. They're able to substitute any regular paying symbols and award 40x when five wilds land in a winning line.

Banana Rush: Slot Features

Swinging through Banana Rush's trees are Banana Basket collection, reward spins with modifiers, and a gorilla-triggered hold & win round.

Banana Basket

When Bananas land alongside a Banana Basket symbol, the Basket will collect them and reward the displayed Banana values.

Reward Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters on the reels triggers 9, 12, or 15 reward spins, respectively. A random modifier is awarded when this occurs from a spinning wheel. The possible modifiers are:

• Win Multiplier - all wins are multiplied.
• Banana Modifier - lower Bananas are replaced by higher value Bananas. Default Banana values are 1x to 100x the bet.
• Banana Basket Modifier - Banana Baskets become more common.

During reward spins, collecting 4 Banana Baskets awards extra spins and modifiers. Modifiers can be upgraded if the base modifier has already been obtained, though the effects of upgraded modifiers do not stack on the base modifier, meaning the base modifier is not active after it has been upgraded.

Hold & Win

When bananas land without a Banana Basket being present, they are collected by the Gorilla. When this occurs, there is a chance that the hold & win bonus round starts. When it does, players receive 3 respins, which reset when Bananas hit. Only Banana symbols may land during the round, and when the feature ends, the Banana values are awarded. If the reels are full, an extra 1,000x is awarded on top.

Banana Rush: Slot Verdict

These charming animal slots are hard to hate at a glance, on account of all the jungle charm, and Banana Rush makes a positive first impression. It's brightly lit and coloured, the animals are quirky, and who doesn't like the look of a perfectly ripe yellow banana? From there, though, it didn't take long for the charm to wear thin and Banana Rush's shortcomings to become more apparent. Examining the rules rang memory bells of Play'n GO's Legion Gold slots, for one thing, which were not overly remarkable games, Legion Gold, Legion Gold Victory, Legion Gold Unleashed, for example, and then it become clear that Banana Rush is a reskin of the also not overly remarkable release Divina Commedia I Nove Cerchi, a slot that squandered much of its heavy underworld atmosphere with average gameplay.

And so, what we find when peeling back Banana Rush's skin to reveal the inside bit is a predictable set of extras. Baskets collect Banana values, providing not only cash money but a break from reelin' in fish, fair dues. Or if Banana Baskets don't hit, then Bananas might trigger the hold & win, which, sorry for stating the obvious, is a very no frills streak respin round of landing Bananas, and that's it. There is a cherry on top for filling the reels, though the game's overall potential is a distinctively non-silver back gorilla-sized figure of 3,000x the bet. Free spins are able to replenish a balance that's taken a knock during a low-key base game session, and upgrading modifiers might trigger a thrill.

Play'n GO clearly knows how to package slots with bright skins and familiar mechanics, but Banana Rush feels like one of those releases made to fill a calendar rather than push the envelope. It borrows too heavily from past titles, offers little in the way of excitement, and its features barely move the needle beyond routine. While someone out there might find momentary amusement in its colourful presentation, the experience quickly slips into forgettable territory. More filler than feast.