The Ultimate 5
Pragmatic Play’s The Ultimate 5 online slot takes players to the plains of Africa for a value-packed adventure. The name of this title refers not only to the five wild animals from this part of the world seen on the reels but also the five static jackpots available to win on every single spin.
Casinos with The Ultimate 5
- The Ultimate 5
An Introduction to The Ultimate 5
When a software provider produces a game based on a common theme, it can be tricky for them. On the one hand, popular themes exist because players like them. On the other hand, they can fall into the trap of only offering what seems like clones of other titles in the sub-genre.
Pragmatic Play avoided all of these traps with The Ultimate 5 video slot.
They did this by going out of their way to stand out in every way possible from other similar titles. For example, the graphics are much more detailed than what you normally see in games like this. That includes the animated background as well as the symbols on the reels. The special symbols and animals are highly detailed and obviously had a lot of care put into their creation. However, even the low-tier symbols with card ranks look great.
On the gameplay end, they apparently knew they needed to bring something extra with this slot. We suspect this because the feature set is tremendous, and you really get a lot to be excited about. If you’re the type of player who needs a lot going on to enjoy a game, you’ll love this title. Additionally, you’ll have five static jackpots constantly waiting for you to hit them on any given spin.
Betting and Layout
One thing Pragmatic Play didn’t do is go for a non-standard format. Instead, they went with something straightforward that the vast majority of players would already be familiar with. This makes it much easier to hop in and start playing since you don’t need to relearn basic game mechanics.
- You have a standard play area here with five vertical reels and three rows each.
- A total of 20 paylines are used in this title. However, you cannot change how many lines are set to be active.
- Aside from the scatters, every single win must happen from left to right on those paylines. Additionally, they must start from the far-left reel.
- The betting setup is handled in a way that gives a lot of smaller increments than usual. However, this is done to make it easier for you to get the exact bet size you’re looking for.
- In any case, you can start off with a minimum bet size of €0.20 per spin. The maximum size is €100 per turn in this game, however.
You’ll find that the volatility in this game is above-average. We call it medium-high, but for Pragmatic Play titles specifically, it’s higher than most non-progressives for comparison. This happens because of the top-heavy pay table and the great value the numerous features bring.
Each win we talk about in the following will be a multiple of however much you’ve chosen to bet. However, even though the betting interface allows betting increments on a per-line basis, those numbers are only there for convenience. They don’t affect how wins are talked about or listed on the pay table.
Gameplay and Features
This is a feature-centric game by far, and The Ultimate 5 online slot machine really packs them in there. Knowing how the features work and what to expect is the key to starting off on the right foot here. To help with this, we’ll be walking players through all of them in the following.
Wild Yggdrasil Trees and Payouts
The Yggdrasil tree is the wild symbol in this video slot. It gives good payouts on its own along the following lines:
- Five of a Kind – 20x
- Four of a Kind – 5x
- Three of a Kind – 2.5x
However, there are also some quirks with how these wilds work. For one, you cannot use it to substitute for the money symbols or the free spins scatters. Additionally, they cannot be used to make five of a kind combinations of any of the five animal symbols. Those five of a kind combinations must be made “naturally” without wilds. They can be used to make four of a kind combinations of those symbols, however.
Scattered Diamond Payouts
You’ll notice scattered diamond symbols that are also used for the free spins on the game board. What’s important to point out is that they are not exclusively bonus symbols. Instead, they also give scatter payouts no matter where they land.
- Five of a Kind – 50x
- Four of a Kind – 25x
- Three of a Kind – 5x
It’s important to realize that these symbols are the best-paying in the game as a whole. Additionally, they pay out regardless of where they land, meaning they don’t have to be on left to right reels or on particular paylines to give these prizes, making it much easier to hit these wins.
The Ultimate 5 Free Spins
Three or more scatters will give you a set of free spins in The Ultimate 5 video slot. You’ll get more free spins if you trigger the feature with more scatters as well.
- Five Bonus Symbols – 12 free spins
- Four Bonus Symbols – 10 free spins
- Three Bonus Symbols – 8 free spins
The key thing to know here is that you can only land one scatter on each reel at a time.
During this free spins mode, you’ll get random level ups. Each level up removes a low-tier symbol from the reels. This makes it much easier to get winning combinations in general. However, it also increases the average payout when you do hit wins. Additionally, you’re guaranteed to get a wild symbol on the level up spins.
Free spins overlays can be placed randomly during the free spins mode. They do not take up space that other symbols could use; instead, they lay over top the symbols already on the reels. Two or more of these on the board simultaneously will add more free spins to your total.
Super Boost Feature
The glowing sun symbol is the money symbol. It shows up on the middle three reels during the regular game mode. However, it shows up on all reels during the Super Boost Feature, which is triggered by getting three money symbols on the board at once.
You start this mode by having all non-money symbols removed from the board. From there, you start with three re-spins. All money symbols that have landed stay in place, and all of the other spots are blank with a chance to hit new money symbols. When you do, the number of re-spins resets to three.
Players can get money prizes for each of the money symbols that land on the board. You can also win one of the five static jackpots:
- Mega Jackpot – 500x
- Maxi Jackpot – 100x
- Major Jackpot – 75x
- Minor Jackpot – 50x
- Mini Jackpot – 25x
As you can see, these include some of the best payouts in the entire slot.
How to Win at The Ultimate 5
In games like this that have a higher volatility than usual, we strongly suggest making a betting adjustment to compensate for the higher swings. We recommend starting off with a bet size that’s around 25 to 33 percent lower than what you normally prefer. While you will get slightly smaller payouts, the end result is that the swings are much easier to deal with.
This is a trade-off, but we think it’s one worth making for the majority of players. However, this adjustment is completely optional, and you have no obligation to make it if you’re uninterested.
Payout Structure for The Ultimate 5
The five animals from the title of the game make up the best payouts overall. For the lion, the win is 20x for five. Five of the cheetah or elephant will earn you 12.5x and 10x, respectively. Additionally, the rhino pays 5x for five, and five of the wildebeest earns 4x wins.
For the card rank symbols, we really like the style that Pragmatic Play went for. The red A and orange K in this font give you 2x for five. However, five of a kind of the green Q, blue J and purple 10 are all worth 1x.
Overview
The Ultimate 5 online slot is a perfect entry into this software company’s overall offering of online slots because of its aesthetic appeal and style of play. Also, we also enjoy how the detailed graphics and animation give people a seriously immersive style of gameplay.
In addition to that, the driving theme used as the basis for this game is a solid springboard for the feature set, jackpots and more. Along these lines, the features include a number of different additional ways to win on top of the typical pay table offering, and that makes the name of the game action with this slot. That is awesome news for those who need an action-oriented type of gameplay.
FAQ
Which online casinos have The Ultimate 5?
Use the list of The Ultimate 5 casinos to see all online casinos that have The Ultimate 5. We filter the casino top list to only show The Ultimate 5 casinos that accept players from your location.
What is the Return to Player (RTP) for The Ultimate 5?
The The Ultimate 5 RTP is 96.5%. An RTP of 96.5% puts The Ultimate 5 among slots with an average Return to Players. To be a high RTP slot it would have to be 98% or more.