Zany Zebra Pokie
With a multi-coloured cartoon zebra across its 3 reels and 5 paylines, Zany Zebra, from Microgaming, is yet another hit pokie from this prolific developer. Like most 3 reel games, it isn’t filled with much in the way of bonus features, but players can be treated to wild substitutions, along with a big jackpot of up to 6000x the stake.
Coupled with a bet range that’s bigger than most similar pokies and what we have here is a good quality game that will attract players who prefer straightforward gameplay and lots of winning spins.
Earning Its Stripes
Although most zebras look like horses with barcodes, the one that features in this game is a far more colourful creature, earning the Zany tag by waving his or her hooves around, pulling a funny face and being wrapped up in a fluffy orange scarf. The game title shares space with our zebra, along with information about how he acts as a wild symbol, while the reels are above and details of the payouts for landing winning lines are carried on the right side of the game.
Below it all is the control panel, where players can stake as little as 0.25 per spin. However, this will activate just 1 of the 5 paylines, with any combinations landing on the others not counting, plus the jackpot is only paid out on the fifth line. Having all positions in play will therefore cost 1.25 per spin, with the maximum wager being 100.00.
Zany Zebra
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Potential Payouts
Each symbol and the number of times the stake per line that it will be worth, are listed on the paytable, where we see that any combination of the single, double or triple Bar icons across an active line will pay out 5x.
Landing a full line of just the single Bar will equal a win of 10x the line stake, while the doubles will return 40 the amount to players. The triple Bar icon is worth 100x, with the Bell symbol across a line rewards a prize of 200x.
The most valuable standard symbol is the multi-coloured 7 and when this stops across a line, players are treated to a prize equal to 300x their line stake.
Equine Extras
Like most games of this type however, there’s a unique jackpot symbol, which in this case is naturally our friendly zebra. This icon is also a wild, substituting for any other if by doing so it can complete a winning line.
The real value of the zebra is when it makes up a line without help from anything else, and the amount won depends on which it stops across. The first line runs through the centre of the reels and landing the zebra across it will result in a win of 1000x the stake per line, while the second line across the top part will win 2000x.
Line 3 is along the bottom of the reels and landing our friendly zebra across it will equal a win of 3000x, with line 4 that runs from top left to bottom right being worth 4000x. The jackpot comes from a line of the zebra symbol across the fifth payline, which runs from bottom left to top right, and instead of the 5000x payout which would follow if the pattern was continued, it’s actually a win of 6000x the line stake.
This is an incentive to play all 5 lines, but only really makes a difference in this instance, so players who want to stake smaller amounts than 1.25 per spin will only notice less return on their investments if they hit these combinations.
The Verdict
Zany Zebra may not have the most unique features, but it follows a well-proven format which many players will enjoy. An easy to learn set of reels which should bring in plenty of winning spins, along with a fun character who can reward players with substantial jackpots are some of the main attractions. Wild substitutions are a nice way to create additional payouts, and this pokie comes with the reliability and fair play which all Microgaming titles have.
There are a couple of minor downsides, the main one being the relatively high minimum stake of 1.25 that’s needed to activate all lines, but as this only becomes apparent with jackpot payouts, most players won’t be affected by it.