Jump! Free Play in Demo Mode by Habanero

Jump! review

Theme and Storyline

Jump! takes the familiar iconography of the fruit machine and uses it to create a very different sort of slot machine. The theme – such as it is – is a classic. The reels are packed full of zesty lemons, juicy cherries, lucky sevens, and golden bells.

This is where the familiarity ends.

In place of the traditional three by one or five by three format, Jump! has an insane 2-2-3-4-4 pattern to its reels. In place of the usual bonus symbols, it has a system of respins and expanding reels linked to the Wild symbol and a counter system.

In other words, it is a funky slot in a one-armed bandit’s clothing.

Graphics, Sounds and Animations

The graphics are pretty good, though for some reason the whole screen appeared oddly pixelated on the browsers we tested.

Each slot on the 2-2-3-4-4 grid spins independently rather than as a reel, which makes for an interesting visual style that is a delicate touch. Beyond that the animation is basic but solid as you would expect from a Habanero production.

The sound is a pleasant ambient track that doesn’t annoy and the spin and win tones are all creative twists on the classic kind of sounds you’d expect. It is not flashy sound design, but it is flawless.

Gameplay

Jump! is an unusual slot in that the reels are arranged in a pattern of 2-2-3-4-4.

This format plays into the bonus system where re-spins result in the smaller reels expanding (full details can be found below). The bonus system is where the real quirks of the game show up, but on the whole, the gameplay style for Jump! it is distinct enough to really stand out in the often samey world of slots.

Wilds, Bonuses and Free Spins

When you win with a symbol, it activates the corresponding symbol on the Stacked Spin counter. Once the Stacked Spin Counter is full, you trigger a bonus spin in which five of a randomly selected symbol are guaranteed to appear on the reels.

The Wild symbol substitutes for all symbols except for the Scatter symbol. Unlike many slots, you can only ever hit one Wild symbol on a spin in the base game.

When you hit a Wild you also get a re-spin. If you win during the re-spin, you trigger a further respin, and the rightmost reel expands by one until it is four symbols high, then the next rightmost will do the same. If you hit enough re-spins to make all the columns four symbols tall, you also receive 7 free spins.

During re-spins and free spins, the Wild jumps about at random between spins.

Bet Sizes, RTP and Variance

The return to player of this game is 98.13%. This is much higher than the industry average and our yardstick of roughly 96%. The high return to player, when coupled with the high volatility of this slot, means that we really like the maths Jump!. High variance in a slot works well with our preferred strategies.

The range of bets on the site we tested ran from a minimum bet per spin of $/£/€0.25 up to a maximum of $/£/€50.00 per spin. This is not as wide a spread as some slots and will exclude some of the lowest and highest rollers from playing, but will cover any mid-stakes players nicely. Being a high variance game, players are unlikely to want to go with the higher value bets.

Conclusion

Jump! is a surprisingly great slot. The initial impressions are of a simple fruit machine style slot like any other, but the intriguing reel layout is just the first clue as to how intelligently and creatively designed this slot is.

With just one or two features Jump! builds up complex and interesting gameplay, coupling this with well-designed audio-visual elements, a very attractive RTP and high volatility.

The main let down is the oddly pixelated resolution and a narrow bet range on the site we tested (other sites may offer different spreads that solve this problem).

We highly recommend this slot.