Taking a trip to the African savannah is an adventure for the brave. Once you’ve got used to the scorching heat and wild animals, you’re up for a trip of a lifetime. A software provider also needs to be brave to release a slot game with an African theme, challenging the undisputed king of safari slots: Microgaming’s Mega Moolah. However, Malta-based game developer Playson got the courage.

So, we put on sun cream, filled up our canteens, and took to the reels of the Lion Gems: Hold and Win slot. Did we find the gems we were looking for? Join us on a trip to the African continent and find out!

We loved what we saw when uploading the Lion Gems: Hold and Win slot for the first time. The 5x4 grid is set atop a beautiful backdrop showing the sunset over the African Savannah. Game controls and balances are all white and transparent, without buttons to clutter the screen and draw our attention away from the beauty of the African plains. Combine the visuals with relaxing music that increases as the drama evolves on the reels, and you’ll get right into the game’s atmosphere.

The game grid is crisp, with the four jackpots (Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand) sitting on top of the external reels. Low-paying symbols are letters, and high-paying symbols are wild animals. Playson’s designers paid a lot of attention to detail, and it shows in the sharp visuals.

There are three special symbols to watch out for when spinning the reels: The lion wild, acacia-tree scatter, and diamond-gem bonus. Three or more scatter symbols trigger the free spins round, where any wild symbol also awards you a 2x multiplier.

What do gems have to do with lions? Possibly the reference of diamonds to the African theme? You’ll certainly have your eyes shining if you trigger the Lion Gems slot bonus game by landing six or more diamond gems on the reels. You will receive three respins, and as bonus symbols are sticky, they remain on the reels for more wins.

Each gem adds value to your payout, and every new bonus gem that lands will trigger three more respins. The bonus round ends when you either fill the grid with bonus gems or run out of respins.

Things start getting really get wild in the African Savannah when jackpot gem symbols appear. If one of these lands on a reel, it will trigger the respective jackpot, winning you 20x, 50x, 150x, and a whopping 3,000x multiplier! If that’s not enough, there are also mystery symbols that can turn into any of the jackpot gems and give you your lion’s share of a payout.

Lion Gems: Hold and Win is a 30-payline slot with an average RTP (return to player) rate of 95.55% and medium to high volatility. Even with the 3,000x Mega jackpot, the maximum return of this slot may not excite high rollers, though the wide betting range ($0.1 to $100) means all budgets can enjoy this video slot. Ready to walk on the wild side and play Lion Gems: Hold and Win? We hope your lion heart bravery wins you some big prizes!