Mammoth Peak Review
The developers at Playson have gone large for this latest slot, by basing the game around the prehistoric woolly mammoth. They’ve taken it even further by making the mammoth the game’s Wild and stacking it two symbols high just to emphasise the point.
In case the message still isn’t getting across, they’ve included a massive volcano that sits behind the reels and occasionally boosts gameplay with an eruption of bonus symbols.
Design
You won’t want to be shivering as you spin the reels, so the team at Playson decided to give Mammoth Peak: Hold and Win a light-hearted feel. The graphics aren’t quite cartoon-style, but they’re a long way from being photo-realistic either.
The game has been created with mobile users in mind, with chunky symbols that stand out even when playing on the smallest of smartphone screens. There’s a pleasant soundtrack based around flutes and drums, and gameplay is as smooth as you’d expect from a leading slot developer such as Playson.
Gameplay
The woolly mammoth is the game’s Wild and always appears stacked two symbols high. During free spins it comes with an attached 2x multiplier ensuring that even bigger wins are possible. You’ll need to spin up 3 Scatters to trigger 8 free spins, and it’s possible to land the Hold and Win bonus while your free spins are playing out.
It’s the Hold and Win bonus that players will be hoping to spin up, as that’s where the jackpot prizes are to be found. You’ll need to land at least 6 bonus lava balls on the reels to trigger the bonus, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the volcano in the background, At any time it can erupt and scatter balls of lava across the reels, triggering the bonus.
Throughout the feature only bonus symbols appear on the reels. They can appear as blanks, they can come with a coin value attached or they can offer one of the Jackpot prizes.
The bonus starts with 3 respins, and if you land any more bonus symbols the counter resets back to 3. Symbols drop to the bottom of the grid, and once you’ve filled the bottom row, all prize values for those symbols are awarded. Those balls of lava then disappear to make space for new ones to fall into place.
Win potential
Court cards pay up to 2.5x the bet for five-of-a-kind wins, increasing to 5x and 8x for the bird and the boar respectively. The sabre-toothed tiger pays up to 10x, with the rhino and the mammoth Wild topping the paytable at 20x the bet. Bigger wins are available during the free spins bonus round when the Wild doubles the value of all wins it contributes towards.
The bonus round is where the biggest cash prizes are to be found. Bonus symbols can appear with a value worth between 1x – 10x the bet. But it’s the Jackpot prizes that you’ll be hoping to line up along the bottom row of the grid, particularly that Grand Jackpot payout.
- Mini: 20x
- Minor: 50x
- Major: 150x
- Grand: 1,000x
Our Verdict
Mammoth Peak: Hold and Win is great fun to play thanks to excellent design values and the inclusion of two bonus features. The game plays out perfectly across a variety of devices, and there’s a wide betting range so every player will find their own sweet spot.
We were disappointed to find the game’s RTP comes in at under 96%, and the medium-high volatility means wins are likely to be infrequent. The top payout is nothing to get too excited about either. But this is such a fun game that it’s worth giving it a spin anyway – just be sure to divide up your bankroll to give as many spins as possible so you can experience all that the game has to offer.
Marianne's interest in slots was sparked by a win on a one-arm bandit at an old-fashioned seaside arcade. These days she's turned her back on classic games, and has made it her mission to track down the most exciting slots offering innovative bonus features - and a great soundtrack!
Learn more about Marianne here