Play African Elephant Slot

Grasslands, acacia trees, and a large elephant staring back at you. That’s the setting Pragmatic Play chose for African Elephant, its 5 reel slot built around one defining mechanic called Wild Shape. It wasn’t designed to reinvent slot games. Instead, it focuses on transforming parts of the grid into wilds and letting that do the talking.  

The game doesn’t hide its theme all that well. You’re on the African savannah with long dry grass, distant hills, and the kind of sunset that suggests mosquitos are not far behind. That said, there's no dramatic storyline. The elephant acts as both Wild and Bonus symbol, which makes it the centre of attention, while animal symbols including the rhino, zebra, wildebeest, leopard, and meerkat, frame the rest of the grid.

The paytable follows a clear structure, with animal symbols carrying the higher values and card ranks sitting at the bottom. Here is how that looks translated into a paytable: 

Special Symbols 

• Wild Elephant: Substitutes for all regular symbols except Bonus and pays on its own when forming a line. It only appears through the Wild Shape feature. 
• Bonus Elephant: Appears on all reels and triggers the bonus spins feature. 

Wild Shape

Wild Shape can activate randomly after a base spin. When it does, a highlighted shape appears across selected positions on the grid. Every symbol inside that marked area transforms into a Wild. 

Once the transformation is complete, the reels are evaluated again for potential wins. This mechanic can create sudden combinations without changing the overall structure of the game. 

Bonus Spins

Landing three, four, or five Bonus symbols triggers 10, 15, or 20 bonus spins respectively. During this round, Wild Shape activates on every single spin, removing the randomness of waiting for it in the base game. 

Because Wild Shape is guaranteed, the bonus round shifts the rhythm of the session. The grid constantly reshapes itself, increasing the chance of linking symbols across the 20 paylines.

African Elephant runs on a 5 by 4 grid with 20 fixed paylines. Similar to other casino games, wins here pay from left to right, starting from the first reel. There are no cascading reels or progressive multipliers attached to these line wins. 

Wild symbols don’t appear naturally during regular spins either. They only enter the grid through the Wild Shape feature, which makes the modifier central to the gameplay. The base game remains steady, and the feature checks happen after each spin. 

The African setting is not uncommon among online slots and its appeal is easy to understand. Here are a few related titles: 

• Sahara Riches Cash Collect MAX: Although set on a desert plain, this slot focuses on similar feature driven moments.  
• Golden Tiger: Jackpot Fortunes: A game that zeros in on the tiger with straightforward mechanics and a clear payline structure.  
• Hot Safari: Another game, another African safari only this time instead of an elephant, the lion takes center stage. 

African Elephant keeps things simple. One modifier, one bonus mode, and a clean payline structure. On the one hand, that can feel sparse compared to the busiest slot games out there, but it also keeps the rules clear. 

The Wild Shape does the heavy lifting. When it appears, the screen can shift quickly from quiet to active. Outside of that, the base game is measured. It won’t overwhelm anyone with mechanics, and that’s probably intentional.