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21 June 2024 
DonKey & the Goats Slot Review 2024
DonKey & The Goats from Avatar UX comes straight out of left field to shock us all with their first game in recent history to not feature their loved (but perhaps overused?) PopWins mechanic. Avatar UX did briefly touch on MultiPop, but by name and function, it was closely related.
We’re not sure what to expect in DonKey & The Goats, but we’re betting it’s a knockout title. Can Avatar UX rumble and brawl their way to victory with something that puts them outside their comfort zone? We think so. We’ve got front-row seats and we’re hoping for the haymaker in a title that looks thrilling.
DonKey & the Goats Base Game and Features
DonKey & the Goats is a 6-reel Video Slot with up to 117,649 ways to win. Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The minimum bet available here is £.€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€100 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 96.00% and a max win cap of 10,000x.
In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is the Fight symbol with the Yellow background, followed by Fight symbols with Red, Purple, and Green backgrounds.
Medium-paying symbols fall to Brawl, Thrilla, and Rumble symbols, and Low-paying symbols are the Boxing Gloves, Shoes, Punchbag, Lightbulb, and Shorts. Wilds substitute for all High and Low-paying symbols.
Each time a winning combination forms, all winning symbols will be removed from the reels (including the additional Sliding Reel), making room for new symbols to drop down from above via a Cascade.
Vegas Reel Multiplier
During gameplay, each time a win forms and a Cascade is triggered, a single Arrow will light up below the Multiplier shown on the Vegas Reel located to the left of the reel set.
When all Arrows are lit, the Multiplier value is awarded and applied to the Global Win Multiplier. The arrows will then reset and a new Multiplier value is drawn.
If the new Multiplier is won by lighting up all 3 Arrows in a single spin, the Multiplier value will also be added to the existing Global Win Multiplier.
In the base game, when no more wins or cascades occur in that spin, the Multiplier will reset. However, during Free Spins, the Multipliers won will continue as a Global Win Multiplier that persists for the duration of Free Spins.
Vegas Reel
Whenever a Donkey symbol lands on the reels, a random Vegas Reel Reward will trigger, awarding either Wild Bombs, Synced Reels, or Low-pay Removal.
- Wild Bombs – Once active, a random number of Wild symbols will appear over the reels during each spin.
- Synced Reels – Once active, 2 or more reels will become synced. Synced Reels drop at the same time during a spin and contain the same type of symbols.
- Low-Pay Removal – Once active, a random number of Low-paying symbols will be removed from play during that spin.
In the base game, the chosen reward is equipped with 1 to 3 Lives which count down with each subsequent spin. During Free Spins, the chosen reward comes with 1 to 5 Lives which are active for each sybsequent Free Spin, until the counter reaches 0.
Also during Free Spins, each time a Vegas Reel Reward is unlocked, it will award additional Free Spins equal to the number of Lives triggered for that particular reward.
More than 1 Reward can be unlocked at the same time, and if the same Reward is unlocked while the other is still active, it will be gifted additional Lives.
ZapReel
The ZapReel is an extra, Horizontal reel that displays all the regular symbols that can connect to form a win with the symbols from regular reels.
Uppercut Wilds can also appear on the ZapReel. The Uppercut Wilds will only activate if a win is formed on a position directly below it. Once active, Uppercut Wilds will transform into an Expanding Wild that covers the entire reel it is on.
DonKey & the Goats Free Spins
Landing 3 or more Bonus Scatters in the base game triggers the Free Spins round. Once active, you will enter the Champions Wheel draw, where random Rewards are drawn from the Wheel of Free Spins and the Wheel of Starting Ways.
The Wheels can be spun seperately and can award various combinations of starting Free Spins and starting number of Ways which determines your setup for the Free Spins round.
DonKey & the Goats Bonus Buy
Those outside the UK will benefit from AvatarUX’s XPress feature. Players can choose between 8 Bonus Buy options as follows.
- Ante Bet – Doubles your chances of triggering the Free Spins round for 1.25x your bet.
- Wild Flurry – Awards at least 1 Uppercut Wild on the ZapReel for 5x your bet.
- First Strike – Guaranteed Donkey symbol that triggers Reward Spins for 15x your bet.
- Bonus – Triggers Free Spins with up to 8 Free Spins and 30,625 Ways for 60x your bet.
- Bonus Plus – Triggers Free Spins with up to 10 Free Spins and 44,100 Ways for 120x your bet.
- Bonus Premium – Triggers Free Spins with up to 12 Free Spins and 60,025 Ways for 180x your bet.
- Bonus Ultra – Triggers Free Spins with up to 14 Free Spins and 117,649 Ways for 240x your bet.
- Bonus Max – Triggers Free Spins with a guaranteed 15 Free Spins and 117,649 Ways for 500x your bet.
DonKey & the Goats: Our Verdict
It’s strange. Avatar UX has proved almost nothing except for their creative aptitude with the PopWins mechanic, yet we had faith in them regardless. Their creativity may have been questioned due to their long succession of like-minded titles, but DonKey & The Goats breaks the mould in an excellent way.
Of course, Avatar UX couldn’t help but give DonKey & the Goats just a little hint of bygone slots. The ZapReel is a very effective feature seen first in LooneyPop, but it’s a diverse feature that could be used in many different games. When testing the game ourselves, we bought the s standard bonus and it yielded impressive results. A 2,000x win as a first bonus was enough to make believers of us, and the crisp graphics, entertaining theme and great sounds made DonKey & The Goats a pleasurable experience, even when the results weren’t significant. If DonKey & the Goats didn’t pull its punches then it could hit up to 20,000x the bet, which makes it highly attractive.
Overall, DonKey & the Goats feels and plays brilliantly. It may not be to everyone’s tastes, but it has significant potential, and you must applaud AvatarUX for being confident enough to try something new.
Welcome Bonus
