Yggdrasil Gaming picked the self-explanatory slot game name Legend of the Golden Monkey for this May 24, 2016 release; it is the first game in Yggdrasil’s two-game Legend series, preceding Legend of the White Snake Lady (July 2016), and the developer’s other legend-inspired games include the Vikings series alongside Holmes and the Stolen Stones (September 2015). GameArt’s King of Monkeys, Monkey God by Kalamba Games, and Golden Monkey from Spade Gaming are among the rival games.

Legend of the Golden Monkey drew inspiration from the legendary Monkey King—alternatively named Sun Wukong—synonymous with Chinese mythology. Associated with the Tang Dynasty, the Monkey King, is, generally, about the real-life monk Xuan Zang who walked to India to fetch Buddhist religious texts. Legend of the Golden Monkey players match three, four, or five win symbols.

Legend of the Golden Monkey Game Characteristics
With a volatility rating of between 27% and 33%, Legend of the Golden Monkey has a 5X3 grid and—like Big Blox (2016) and Penguin City (2018)—lacks pay lines; but the cash bets are multiplied by 25, and the winnings are from left to right and vice versa.

Read about the thirteen symbols. High-paying symbols: a golden chalice cup with dragon decoration; green-gray three-legged pot containing six silver coins; purple scroll; amber-colored shield; pink potion container; and green snake headpiece.

Low-paying symbols: a red hearts suit, purple spades suit, green clubs suit, and blue diamonds suit. Special symbols: a symbols-transforming golden monkey; treasure chest with golden coins; sticky Wilds; countdown Wilds (wilds that stick on the grid for three spins); and a “Free Spins” symbol.

According to the starting page, Legend of the Golden Monkey has: sticky wilds that only leave after all winnings are exhausted; huge prizes from the golden monkey; and an option of three free spin modes—purple incremental wild, green stacked wild, and blue starting wild.

The coin values: $0.01, $0.02, $0.03, $0.04, $0.05, $0.07, $0.10, $0.16, $0.20, $0.30, $0.50, $0.70, $1.00, $2.00, $3.00, $4.00, and $5.00. The Legend of the Golden Monkey’s total bets: $0.25 (minimum bet), $0.50, $0.75, $1.00, $1.25, $1.75, $2.50, $4.00, $5.00, $7.50, $12.50, $17.50, $25.00, $50.00, $75.00, $100.00, and $125.00 (maximum bet).

The payouts for three, four, and five winning combinations, respectively: golden chalice cups pay X12, X75, and X250; three-legged pots offer X10, X60, and X200; scroll pay X8, X50, and X150; shields offer X7, X40, and X125; potion containers have X6, X30, and X100; and snake headpieces pay X5, X30, and X80. Hearts suits have X3, X16, and X50. Spades suits pay X3, X14, and X50. Clubs suits offer X3, X12, and X40. Diamonds suits give X3, X10, and X40.

Special symbols’ features, including sticky wilds: incremental wilds have six free spins; stacked wilds have eight free spins; and starting wilds have ten free spins. Three “Free Spins” symbols offer three free spins; four “Free Spins” offer four free spins plus 1000 coins; and getting five “Free Spins” give five free spins plus 5000 coins. The free spin mode-activating treasure chest can offer as much as 1000 coins and two additional free spins. The non-progressive jackpot is $125,000.

The software is good; the sounds, especially the bamboo flute sound effect, are relaxing; and the graphics reflect the Chinese setting, particularly the pagoda (curved) roofed grid.

Luck in Legend of the Golden Monkey
A game of chance, Legend of the Golden Monkey’s RTP rate is 96.1%, while the house edge is 3.9%.