Bonzo’s Bananza

Bonzo's Bananza: Slot Overview

Thanks to cartoons, we all know monkeys like bananas, but few simians have fallen so head over heels for the bendy yellow food items like the star in today's game. His name is Bonzo, and he plays the titular role in software provider ELK Studios' online slot Bonzo's Bananza - a play on the words banana and bonanza, which has been used before, but anyway. A simple love affair between monkey and banana has been matched by a slot that is fairly simple by ELK Studios standards, making use of full reel wild multipliers, nudging wilds, and respins to drum up thrills.

Bonzo certainly isn't lacking in 'tude. He's an ice-cool monkey if ever there was one, chilling with his hip-hop tunes, leaning against his symbol frame as if nothing in the world could go wrong. Maybe life is easy when all you've got to worry about is banana accumulation and which branch to sleep on at night? In the base game, Bonzo hangs out in Aztec slot-style country where a mighty temple looms, and a monkey statue rests amongst the vines. Clawing your way into free spins means breaking into the temple, which is covered in bananas. This is good because Bonzo loves bananas, and they are a way to distract him from his guard duties, providing a chance for gamblers to get their hands on the temple treasures. Well, that's pretty much how the game info describes things.

Bonzo's Bananza uses 259 win ways on its 5-reel, 5-row grid. Rated 8 out of 10, the math model is highly volatile and produces an RTP of 94%. When selecting a stake, the options are $/€0.20 minimum and $/€100 at the most.

Just seven pay symbols land on the reels. They are Q-A card ranks, kiwifruit, oranges, watermelons, and birds. Hitting 5 OAK winning combinations of these symbols pays 0.25x to 5x the bet.

Bonzo's Bananza: Slot Features

Bonzo goes bananas with Monkey wilds, Banana wilds, respins, multipliers, free spins, and X-iter feature buys.

Wilds

The Monkey wild and the Banana wild substitute for all symbols except scatters. A winning line of all wilds has the same value as the highest pay symbol. Monkey wilds are fully stacked symbols. They nudge onto the screen to cover their reel when they hit. When reels stop spinning, a random multiplier is added to the Monkey wild. Landing a Monkey wild also awards a respin where the Monkey wilds in view are sticky. If two Monkey wilds land at the same time, the respins play out one by one. Banana wilds are 2-position tall symbols without a multiplier that nudge up or down, awarding respins until moving off the screen. Banana wilds may randomly connect with a Monkey wild, creating an increase in the multiplier for each nudge.

Free Spins

Landing 3 or more scatters in the base game triggers 5 free spins. Landing 4 scatters awards a Monkey symbol on the first free spin, while 5 scatters award 2 Monkey wilds on the first spin. Free spins are retriggered in the exact same way when 3 or more scatters hit, with awarded Monkey wilds appearing on the next free spin. All Monkey wilds landing in free spins are sticky for the remainder of the round. Free spins are not consumed by respins triggered by Monkey wilds or Banana wilds. If free spins occur during a base game respin, the game returns to respins when the bonus round ends. Monkey wild symbols present in a base game bonus trigger are not brought to the bonus round.

X-tier Feature Buys

Bonus Hunt buys a spin with 3 times the chance of triggering a bonus round for 2x the stake, the Monkey Wild costs 10x to guarantee a Monkey wild symbol, while Monkey Wild Bananza costs 25x to land two Monkey Wilds. It is also possible to buy free spins for 100x triggered by at least 3 scatters, or the super bonus triggered by 5 scatters for 500x the stake.

Bonzo's Bananza: Slot Verdict

Not saying this to paint Bonzo's Bananza as a bad game, but it does feel underdeveloped by ELK Studios' standards. Again, not in a bad way, more as a point of interest. While some ELK Studios slots can feel like studying for an end-of-year exam when poring over their fine print, Bonzo's Bananza is much easier to get to grips with. This isn't a game concerned with complexity, though, favouring fast-paced wild multiplier action instead. It felt a little bit like a mix between Giraffalot and Man vs Gator, in some ways, though Bonzo and his features create a different type of mayhem.

That is, mayhem focused on getting Monkey wilds on the screen, then hitting Banana wilds to increase their multipliers, while shooting off hits as respins rattle on. When the game is acting in this way, nudging, stickying, wilding, multiplying, etcetera, it can actually be quite exhilarating. Some of the peak moments were bonus rounds with two sticky multiplier Monkey wilds on the two leftmost reels, or having a pair of Monkey symbols on reels 2 and 3, thereby guaranteeing wins on every free spin. Two did seem to be a lot more productive than one, if memory serves. Five spins aren't a lot, but retriggers are possible, as are respins, which can help prolong the bonus session.

While Bonzo's Bananza may be a tad underdeveloped for those who prefer ELK Studios' more intricately functioning slots, simplicity is one of its biggest strengths. A 10,000x max win doesn't hurt the game's appeal either, and when taken together, Bonzo's Bananza presents a ripe banana split of a slot for players tempted by its fast-paced design.