It’s time to take another trip to the Serengeti with the Roaming Reels online slot from Ainsworth. Ainsworth is not a hugely well-known name in the world of online casino slots, but the company is famous for developing land-based slot machines. Roaming Reels showcases all of the trademarks of a land-based slot, but how well does it translate onto the smaller screen? I will hit the spin button and find out in this Roaming Reels slot review.

Ainsworth has kept the theme and design of the Roaming Reels slot very simple. The game is set in the Serengeti, and the developer chose a static background of the iconic landscape at sunset.

The symbols on the reels consist of the animals that would roam there, with a Lion being the game’s Wild symbol. There is also no soundtrack, with a few simple sound effects playing whenever you hit the spin button.

Overall, I found the game’s design to be very uninspiring. It may appeal to fans of land-based games and simple, no-thrills designs, but it is not likely to attract attention outside of this.

The simplicity of the Roaming Reels’ design extends to its gameplay. The slot uses five reels and three rows. However, it does have 100 paylines, the number of which is adjustable. Wins are formed with symbols landing across three or more consecutive reels on a line.

The game also features a vast betting range of between $0.01 and $10,000, making it suitable for all players, even high-rollers. The total bet is the product of bet-per-line multiplied by the number of paylines you choose. The + and - buttons underneath the game board let you set these parameters.

The rest of the gameplay is very self-explanatory. You can get the action started by hitting the big red spin button under the game grid. I recommend maximizing the game and playing with all 100 lines active.

Unfortunately, despite having a name that might suggest otherwise, Roaming Reels fails to deliver in the bonus department.

A Roaming Reels free spins bonus is triggered when you land three or more Scatter symbols. Landing 3, 4, or 5 Scatters triggers 8, 12, or 20 free spins, respectively. The Lion Wild symbol appears only on reels 1-5 during the round. A slightly different paytable is applied during the round, which you can find on the game’s information page.

I initially took the Roaming Reels slot for a spin in demo mode before playing it for real money. I wanted to get the most out of the game, so I set the paylines to 100 and played for $0.01 a line, totaling $1 a spin.

I had some success with base game wins, but it took a long time to trigger the Roaming Reels free spins mode. I ended up slightly down after a period of spins, but the gameplay was very repetitive. The lack of bonus features and the potential excitement of triggering them really took away the fun of the game.

If you want to play with fewer lines, this gives you plenty of flexibility over how you play. With 100 lines available, playing with 20 or 30 will still provide a pretty standard online slot experience.

Coming from a land-based background, it is no surprise that Ainsworth has delivered a low RTP with Roaming Reels. The Roaming Reels RTP comes in at 94.14%. The maximum win in the game is 10,000x your bet per line, with the slot being highly volatile.

Fans of land-based slot action will get some enjoyment from Roaming Reels, but the slot is undoubtedly for a specific audience. If you are used to playing online slots with immersive graphics and fun bonus features, Roaming Reels will certainly not be for you.

Ainsworth has not veered far from its land-based routes here, serving up an elementary game with a disappointing number of bonus features and a low RTP.

The Safari theme is extremely popular in online slots, and players should have no problem finding engaging titles in the genre. One of the most iconic examples is Games Global’s Mega Moolah, which offers some of the biggest jackpot wins in the industry. Safari Sun from Fantasma Games is also a personal favorite in the genre, while Safari Gold Megaways by Blueprint Gaming puts an exciting twist on the theme.