Safari Sun: Slot Overview

For plenty of travellers, a trip to Africa to experience one of its many safaris sits high on the bucket list. It’s easy to see why nature fans are drawn to it—getting out into the open to watch huge, exotic animals where they belong, without bars, glass, or moats between wildlife and the people observing them (ideally from a safe distance). If you’d rather keep things even safer, come along as we set off with Swedish software provider Fantasma Games in the African wildlife-themed slot Safari Sun.

It’s fair to say the market is packed with games in this vein, ranging from the classic progressive jackpot Mega Moolah to Avatar UX’s RagingPop, a newer title that comes to mind. Fantasma Games is no stranger to strong visuals, and its artists have done a fine job creating an inviting take on this corner of the African continent. Safari Sun feels set against a Mt Kilimanjaro-style backdrop, with grassy stretches and watery spots in the foreground and a mountain shooting up into the sky. The audio is as chilled as you could want, and with a little imagination, it’s easy to picture yourself relaxing in a luxury safari lodge while giraffes stroll by and elephants wander down to the river for a drink.

In the base game, Safari Sun runs on a 5-reel grid, with the reels arranged in a 3-4-4-4-3 formation. Wins are paid left to right on any row, starting from the leftmost reel, and an extra reel is added to the grid when free spins are triggered. Built on a highly volatile math model, the slot offers an RTP of 96% and accepts stakes from 20 p/c to $/€50 per spin.

Safari Sun’s paytable combines animals with royal card ranks. Specifically, 10-A symbols are the low pays, returning 1 times the bet for a 5 OAK winning way, while the premium set features a toucan, meerkats, a baboon, a rhino, and a lion paying 1.5 to 5 times the bet for a 5 symbol winning way. In free spins, once the sixth reel is active, 6 OAK wins pay 1.5x the bet for the royals and 3 to 8 times the stake for the picture symbols. And if wilds are on your safari wish list, you’ll be disappointed—Safari Sun doesn’t include them at any point.

Safari Sun: Slot Features

What you will or may encounter on this journey, however, includes an Expanding Symbol feature, a Mystery Sun feature, plus free spins with a bonus buy option.

Expanding Symbol Feature

At times, symbols can land with a sun-mark on them. When sun-marked symbols take part in a winning combination, they expand to cover all positions on their reel.

Mystery Sun Feature

This feature triggers at random in the base game during a win situation. The sun marks 1 to 3 symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 that take part in a winning combination. The sun-marked symbols then expand to cover their entire reels. Free spins cannot activate during the Mystery Sun feature. This feature has a theoretical hit frequency of 1 in 145.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game. Landing 3 scatters triggers the free spins bonus round. In free spins, the grid grows to 6 reels wide in a 3-4-4-4-4-3 formation. On entry, players pick 1 of 5 options – the lion with 4 free spins, the rhino with 8 free spins, the baboon with 12 free spins, the meerkat with 16 free spins, or the toucan with 20 free spins. During free spins, the chosen high pay symbol is the only high symbol that will land in the feature. Free spins trigger at a frequency of 1 in 170, theoretically.

Buy Free Spins

If you want to purchase the free spins feature, it costs 50 times the bet. When free spins are bought, the RTP increases slightly to 96.06%.

Safari Sun: Slot Verdict

If you’re into big game themes and don’t mind taking a gamble, this safari could deliver a few memorable moments. To begin with, it’s an attractive slot—though many African wilderness games are—which likely explains why the theme is used so often, and the soundtrack is easy on the ears, helping you settle into Safari Sun’s atmosphere. It leans more realistic than much of Fantasma Games’ output if you think back to titles like Fortune Llama, Magikspell, or Rich Raptors, although Safari Sun still carries a slightly dreamy feel. More importantly, the gameplay brings solid value, with features that perform nicely in both the base game and the bonus.

One point worth clarifying: the Mystery Sun feature says it marks symbols only on the middle three reels, and although the game info doesn’t spell it out, it seems sun symbols never appear on the two outer reels. The closest we came to stacking the first reel in free spins, for instance, was seeing two premium symbols land there. Even if premiums can’t fully stack on the outside reels, the maximum win is still impressive at 18,792x. To have a shot at reaching that number, Safari Sun’s expanding symbol mechanic is a fun addition, and limiting free spins to just one premium symbol is a smart touch as well.

In certain respects, Safari Sun’s free spins round resembles slots that “level up” through a collection mechanic, gradually improving lower symbols until only the top payer remains—Pink Elephants is one example—except here you can jump straight into the bonus with the symbol/volatility level you want. That approach leaves plenty of flexibility, from maximum volatility with the lion to more “careful” choices players can opt for, making Safari Sun a noteworthy entry in the crowded African countryside slot category.