Safari Mystery

Safari Mystery (Jili Games) Review

The last month of 2024 was quite busy for the Asian developer Jili Games, as the studio released 10+ titles. Safari Mystery is one of the most recent ones, with a wide launch that took place in the first days of January. The game comes with standard mechanics, stacked symbols, including wilds, and several exciting features.

Jili Games is known for its Asian-themed slots and RNG games, but occasionally, the company exploits other niches. Safari Mystery is a cartoonish take on The Lion King with plenty of reminiscent symbol designs and animation effects. The slot is loaded with interesting features that are not innovative, but we see them for the first time in the provider's repertoire.

First thing first, Safari Mystery has a wide grid consisting of 5 reels with 5 rows, and offering 40 fixed paylines. They start from the far-left reel and stretch to the right on adjacent columns. The game is part of JILI's Event Calendar, so random rewards can be won on any real money spin.

Technically, the Safari Mystery slot is a bit contradictory, as it offers nice tools, like Autoplay and Quickpsin, but the gameplay is a bit clumsy. Bonus Buy and bet boosters are missing, while the Quick Tip available via the Info tab in the upper right corner of the grid reveals simple facts.

Safari Mystery Slot - Game Screen

Safari Mystery is not a branded slot but provides symbol designs similar to the animated movie. Simba or Mufasa, not certain, is the highest-paying character and a wild symbol that can substitute for all the others, except scatters and bonus characters. It also pays 1x, 4x, and 12.50x the bet when lined up.

The mandrill (Rafiki) awards from 0.60x to 7.50x, the warthog (Pumbaa) - 0.50x to 6x, the meerkat (Timon) - 0.30x to 3x, and Hornbill bird (Zazu) awards between 0.20x and 2.50x the bet. The low-valued symbols appear as single-colored bugs and pay from 0.10x up to 1x the stake.

The most significant downside of Safari Mystery, from where I see it, is the lack of RTP information provided by JILI Games. There is a nice brief on the provider's website with pretty much everything, but the payout rate, which is also missing from the title's menu. According to my research across partner casino sites, the RTP seems to be 95.60%.

Then again, I can't be certain that this number is correct and find it inconvenient and strange to be forced to look on the web for critical technical information. Moreover, JILI Games has posted on its official platform that its content is verified by GLI and BMM Testlabs. Hopefully, that is true, and the provider will fix this drawback soon.

The betting range is standard for this category of online casino games - €0.10 up to €100 per spin, with 15 stake levels in total. The Hit Frequency is average, without being able to provide exact numbers, while the levels of volatility are medium. Safari Mystery offers a juicy max win of 10,000x the bet.

Safari Mystery Features

Besides nice audio and visual effects, Safari Mystery provides a decent package of special features, instant cash rewards, and yes, Free Spins. The concept has already been introduced by another iGaming studio, but that's another story to tell. Every spin can deliver at least two types of rewards, so let's dig a bit deeper.

Mystery Symbols

Mystery Symbols land in stacks of 5 consecutive row positions and reveal the same symbol, which can also be a wild or a Golden Lion. They are active during both the base game and the Free Spins round. Mystery Symbols may land on any position and every time they do that, they activate the Nudge & Reveal feature.

Nudge & Reveal

The Nudge feature activates with Mystery Symbols in view. When they reveal the respective symbol and any wins are paid, the featured reels will nudge one position down, while the others will spin normally. That will continue until all Mystery Symbols leave the grid. Meanwhile, if new stacks appear, the feature will continue accordingly.

Golden Lion Symbol

Golden Lion can land on individual positions or in stacks, and each one activates the Reveal feature. Each grid cell occupied by Golden Lion will award one of the following:

• Instant Prize Symbols - awards instant cash of 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x, 25x, 50x, 100x, 250x, 500x, 1,000x, 2,500x, or 5,000x the bet;
• Multiplier Symbols - awards a multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10 on all Instant PrizeSymbols in view;
• Collector Symbols - collects all Instant Prize values in view, and the respective positions spin again to deliver new cash values;
• Converter Symbols - selects one regular symbol and converts all of its current instances on the reels into Golden Lion symbols;
• Nudge Up Symbols - advance symbols appear and move Mystery Symbols up with 1 position;
• Scatter Symbols - additional scatters appear on the grid for a chance to activate the Special Bonus.

Special Bonus Game

Scatters activate the Free Spins bonus which is unlimited in theory. Reels 2 and 4 are initially filled with Mystery Symbols, and until such are available anywhere on the grid, free spins will continue. On each round, the special win multiplier displayed on the right will increase by x1 with no limit.

That is the Total Multiplier, which is applied on all line wins. If you start the Special Bonus minigame with 4 scatters, the starting multiplier value will be x5. In case you do that with the maximum of 5 scatters, the starting Total Multiplier will be x25.

Safari Mystery Slot – Free Spins Gameplay Screen

Theme & Graphics

Safari Mystery is Jili Games' way to represent The Lion King animated musical drama and wrap it in an online slot design. The game perfectly fits the African theme, although most of the audio effects are not related to the subject. Anyway, the quality of the visuals is nice, including graphics and animations.

The setting is a grassland with a lion sitting next to the grid, which is wooden-framed and stacked with symbols. Nothing is lavish here, but not poor either, so fans of ordinary slot games should be pleased enough. Safari Mystery is compatible with all devices and is playable in landscape and portrait mode on Android, Windows, and iOS.

Pros And Cons Of Safari Mystery Slot

Our Verdict

Overall, Safari Mystery is a decent slot game if we don't count the lack of technical information. Despite the low hit frequency, both the main game and bonus round have significant potential. The combination of nudging stacks of Mystery Symbols and an all-powerful symbol that brings cash and modifiers is always enticing.

But haven't we seen this before? Perhaps you remember the mega-hit Razor Shark released in 2019 by Push Gaming. This 5x4 Underwater game has a magnificent payout potential of over 85,000x and its core feature is the Nudge & Reveal Re-spins feature, which is triggered by Mystery Stacks.

This amazing minigame is transferred in the sequel, Razor Returns, and provides plenty of rewards. The key is that while Mystery Stacks gradually leave the board, no spins are paid. Safari Mystery somehow conveniently has changed that. These slots also feature Golden Shark symbols, which have the same powers as Golden Lions.

The last installment of the series is Razor Ways, and it was released in 2024, moving the series to a much more advanced orbit. All in all, it seems that Jili Games has used Push Gaming's rather positive experience. Safari Mystery is similar yet a much simpler slot game that might be of interest to players who don't have access to certain content. The time will tell, but in my opinion, Jili Games will continue to exploit new iGaming verticals and horizontals.