3 Dancing Monkeys Slot Review
A Chinese New Year hillside, three grinning monkeys stacked in gold-framed panels, lanterns dangling off the logo. 3 Dancing Monkeys is a game that hides almost everything it has in one place: the base game is little more than a waiting room for a free spins round that reinvents itself every time it arrives. That’s a bolder design than the candy-bright artwork suggests, and it’s also the whole argument for playing it.
From Pragmatic Play, and first covered here in 2023, it runs on a 5×3 grid with 243 ways, medium volatility, a 96.00% RTP and a 12,077x maximum win. Of the studio’s Asian-themed work, 5 Lions and 7 Monkeys cover similar ground, and 3 Buzzing Wilds shares the numbered-trio naming habit. The gem system is what makes this one different.
How the Base Game Pays
Wins pay left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost reel, across 243 ways. A wild sits on reels two, three and four, substituting for everything except the gem symbols. That’s the whole toolkit here: no respins, no collection meters, just spins and the occasional gem landing.
The paytable is weighted gently. Red Lanterns lead, royals bring up the rear, and everything is a multiple of the total bet.
- Red Lanterns: 1x for three, 2.5x for four, 6.6667x for five
- Oranges: 0.8333x, 1.6667x, 5x
- Fan: 0.6667x, 1x, 2.3333x
- Gold Pot: 0.6x, 0.8333x, 2x
- Gold Coin: 0.5x, 0.6667x, 1.6667x
- A: 0.3333x, 0.5x, 1.1667x
- K: 0.2667x, 0.4x, 0.6667x
- Q: 0.2333x, 0.2667x, 0.5x
- J: 0.1x, 0.1667x, 0.4x
- 10: 0.0667x, 0.1667x, 0.3333x
Only the highest win counts per way, and multiple winning ways all add together. The gap between the top symbol and the bottom is wide, though: five Red Lanterns pay twenty times what five tens return, so the premium symbols are doing the real work.
Bets run from 0.30 to 240 per spin, a wide enough ladder for most bankrolls. Wins during the free spins round are added to any way wins from the triggering spin.
Free Spins and the Three Gems
The red, green and blue gems can appear on any reel, and whenever one or more hit there’s a random chance the feature triggers. Five free spins come per gem on the triggering spin, and the colour combination decides which modifiers the round runs with. Two different gems on the trigger means two modifiers from the first spin.
Once the round is under way, special reels are in play, so the symbol distribution differs from the base game. That matters more than it sounds: it’s why a single gem hit mid-round can change the shape of everything that follows.
The Three Modifiers
Each gem switches on its own modifier, and they stack when more than one is live.
- Red Gem, WAYS: the screen expands to a 5×5 grid of symbols for the round
- Green Gem, WILDS: extra wilds are added to the reel strips on reels two, three and four
- Blue Gem, WINS: every wild carries a 2x, 3x or 5x multiplier, and multipliers in the same winning combination multiply each other
The WINS modifier is where the arithmetic gets interesting. Two wilds at 5x in one combination produce a 25x multiplier, and a third takes it past 100x. The WAYS modifier changes the geometry instead of the maths: a 5×5 grid means more rows, more adjacent combinations and more places for wilds to land, while WILDS simply floods the middle reels with substitutes.
Mystery Symbol
This one shows up only inside the free spins round. On every hit it transforms into either extra free spins or an instant money award.
- Extra spins: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30 or 42
- Instant awards: 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, 200, 250, 1,000 or 5,000x bet per line
That 5,000x per-line prize is the biggest number in the round, and a single mystery symbol can change a session on its own. The ladder below it steps down steeply, with the next best awards sitting at 1,000x and 250x per line. If a round’s total win reaches 12,077x the bet, it ends immediately, the win is awarded and remaining free spins are forfeited.
Retriggers
Mid-round gem hits are where rounds grow. A gem whose modifier isn’t yet running can bring it online part-way through the feature, and every activation of that kind tacks on another five spins. A round that begins with one modifier can end with all three.
The grid can even expand mid-feature, if the red gem finally shows up. Rounds that start thin have real room to build, which keeps even the quiet opening spins worth watching.
Buy Free Spins
The feature can be bought from the base game for 100x the current total bet, and the buy runs at the same 96.00% RTP as the standard game. A bought round’s triggering spin is guaranteed to hit a random pair of gems, so two modifiers are live from the start. Which pair arrives is down to luck, and each combination plays very differently.
- Red with Green opens the round on the 5×5 grid, plus the extra wilds
- Red with Blue pairs the expanded grid with the 2x, 3x and 5x multiplier wilds
- Green with Blue skips the grid change entirely and stacks wilds with multipliers
So a bought round can land the 5×5 grid or the multiplier wilds, but never both. The missing modifier can still arrive mid-round through a gem hit, which keeps bought rounds from feeling fixed.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
This is a game of one long drumroll. The hillside sits there being cheerful, the middle-reel wilds tick over, and the gems quietly decide whether your next bonus round is a damp squib or a 5×5 grid drowning in multiplier wilds. That unpredictability is the reason to pick it: no two free spins rounds here feel like the same feature.
The gem system is genuinely good design, because the round you get is earned on the reels rather than dealt from a fixed script. The weakness is everything around it: the presentation is dated, the base game is thin, and most rounds finish a long way short of that 5,000x per-line mystery prize that the ceiling really depends on.
It’s a good fit for players who enjoy a build and don’t mind a quiet spell while the gems decide their mood, and a poor one for anyone who wants action from the first spin. Sit on this hillside with a little patience and the monkeys do eventually put on a show.
3 Dancing Monkeys FAQs
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How do you trigger free spins in 3 Dancing Monkeys?
Gems in three colours, red, green and blue, can appear on any reel. Whenever one or more of them hit, there’s a random chance the feature triggers, and every gem on the triggering spin awards five free spins. The colours that trigger it decide which modifiers run during the round. -
What does the Mystery symbol do in 3 Dancing Monkeys?
It only appears inside the free spins round. On every hit it turns into either extra free spins, anywhere from 1 up to 42, or an instant money award worth between 30x and 5,000x bet per line. -
Can free spins retrigger in 3 Dancing Monkeys?
Yes. A gem landing mid-round has a random chance to switch on its modifier if it wasn’t active at the start, and five extra free spins are awarded at the same time. -
Can you buy the bonus on 3 Dancing Monkeys?
Yes, for 100x the current total bet, at the same 96.00% RTP as the standard game. The purchase guarantees a triggering spin with a random pair of gems, so every bought round begins with two modifiers already active. -
What is the RTP of 3 Dancing Monkeys?
96.00%, which sits right at the industry standard. The bonus buy option returns the same 96.00% as the base game. -
Is 3 Dancing Monkeys high volatility?
No, it’s a medium volatility game, paying out steadily with a range of pays from low to very high. Wins land reasonably often while the biggest payouts remain tied to the free spins round. -
What is the maximum win on 3 Dancing Monkeys?
12,077x the bet, capped in both the base game and free spins. Once a round’s total win reaches the cap, the round ends, the win is paid and any free spins still remaining are forfeited. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on 3 Dancing Monkeys?
Bets run from 0.30 to 240 per spin, a range wide enough to suit both casual players and those chasing bigger stakes.
