Overview
The first notable aspect about this 5 reel game is that it
has 100 pay lines. The standard for many slots is 20 to 30 pay
lines, so right away you can see why this game is intriguing
even today.
The 100 pay lines become even more attractive when you
consider that you can activate 2 pay lines for only one cent. So
you can unlock all 100 pay lines just by betting $0.50 per spin.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you’re going to break the
casino’s bank, but 100 pay lines create a lot of possibilities
on any single spin.
You can also adjust the coin size from $0.01 to $1.00, making
the minimum bet worth one cent and the max bet worth $50.00. And
like many Aristocrat slots, you can use the auto spin feature to
let the reels perform anywhere from 5 to 50 spins without you
having to do anything.
We have to say that the number of pay lines and relatively
low cost are definite assets for Wild Panda.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game is pretty basic.
Graphics and Animations
The graphics are mediocre, the sound effects are generic, and
you won’t find any wild symbols during the main game. This isn’t
the first Aristocrat slot to only have wilds in the bonus round,
but it’s still worth noting.
As for the theme, you won’t be surprised to know that it
involves pandas in an Asian bamboo forest. Symbols include many
stereotypical aspects of Asian culture like temples, lotus
flowers, oriental umbrellas, Chinese coins, and gold fish
statues.
The game’s background is nothing special either since it’s a
red bamboo forest, although it’s tough to tell this is bamboo
until you take a closer look.
On the plus side, this slot machine’s cover art, which
features a realistic panda eating bamboo, certainly looks good.
We imagine this is one reason why Wild Panda initially got
players’ attention as they were walking through casinos.
You won’t see many animations for winning payouts in this
game, with most of the animations consisting of the symbols
flashing when you win. A couple of exceptions to this include
the panda eating bamboo when it appears in a winning combination
and cherry blossom leaves sweeping over the temple.
The temple winning combinations feature traditional Asian
music, which is one of the few times that you hear a unique
jingle during wins. This temple is also the top paying symbol,
delivering you 1,000 coins when it appears five times in a
winning combination.
The Chinese coin is the scatter symbol, and it multiplies
payouts by 4x for 3 symbols, 40x for 4 symbols, and 200x for 5
symbols. Assuming you’re able to land five temples in a pay line
coupled with three scatters on the reels, you receive the top
overall prize of 200,000 credits.
Bonus Round
So far, we’ve painted the picture that Wild Panda just
doesn’t have anything special to offer players in the modern
slots industry.
However, we do have to give this game credit for the
inventive way that you trigger the bonus round.
Like many slots, Wild Panda features generic letters and
numbers for some of its lower paying symbols. But the A, K, and
Q have letters written over them that, when combined, spell the
word PANDA.
If you’re able to get all five of these letters on the reels
at once, all other symbols disappear while the word PANDA comes
together.
The bonus round is pretty basic since you only receive 5 free
spins. But the special part is that you finally get to make use
of the panda wild symbol.
The panda substitutes for every symbol except the Chinese
coin scatter, and you’ll typically see a lot of pandas on the
screen during your free spins.
We again run into something that’s pretty basic here in Wild
Panda’s bonus round. But trying to spell out the word PANDA can
be really addicting and keep you spinning the reels.
We noticed quite a few near misses, where three or four
letters would be on the screen. And while this doesn’t result in
any free spins, it keeps your hope up and makes the game a
little more interesting.
Wild Panda Online
You can easily find Wild Panda online these days, which is
more than can be said for some of Aristocrat’s other popular
slots.
The only downside to this is that the online version is
exactly the same as what you’ll find in land based casinos. We
imagine that Aristocrat did this because the land based machine
has become rarer, and some people still want a chance to enjoy
this classic game.
Regardless, if you’ve already played Wild Panda in a brick
and mortar casino, then you’ll be playing the exact same thing
online.
Unfortunately, Wild Panda is not available for either Android
or iOS devices.
Wild Panda Compared to Other Aristocrat Slots
Given that Aristocrat didn’t release any updated versions or
sequels to Wild Panda, we’ll compare this game to a few other
popular slots that Aristocrat released around the same time
period.
Big Red
This is pretty much a replica of Wild Panda, except that it
takes place in the Australian outback and features a muscle
bound kangaroo.
The graphics are a little worse in this game, and you don’t
spell out any words to trigger the 5 spin bonus round. But one
nice feature is that day turns to night as you play.
Buffalo
Buffalo has slightly better graphics and animations than Wild
Panda. For example, the buffalo charges at you when it appears
in a winning combination.
The bonus variety is a little better too because you can
trigger 8, 15, or 20 free spins by getting 3 to 5 scatters on
the reels.
Tiki Torch
This Polynesian adventure features tiki statues, huts, and
canoes. The graphical quality and animations are about the same
as what you’ll see in Wild Panda.
The bonus round is 8 free spins, which is similar to the
basic setup in Wild Panda’s bonus round. However, you trigger
Tiki Torch’s bonus round with three pearl scatter symbols.
Summary
It’s always hard to compare a slot machine from the 90s to
what has been released one or two decades later. Slots
technology has improved so greatly that there’s no chance for
Wild Panda to truly stack up to anything produced in the 2000s.
But there are a few good qualities to Wild Panda, such as its
low spin cost, 100 pay lines and bonus triggering concept.
As mentioned before, only having to spend one cent to
activate two pay lines is nice. And trying to land all five
PANDA letters on the screen adds some fun to this game too.
So if any of this sounds appealing to you, keep in mind that
you can easily try Wild Panda online. However, for the vast
majority of slots players, this game doesn’t have the graphics
or features that make it worth playing over many other games.
