I’ve looked at lots of ape slots. Gorillas pounding their chests, monkeys jumping from reel to reel, an occasional Wild banana that does nothing. And then Alchemy Gaming’s new Slot arrived on my desk. I’ll admit my initial response was a heavy sigh. Another Kong game? But then I noticed the second grid – transparent 5×5 cards sitting in the space where the bingo Card would go – and my interest began to perk up.

This Rumble Kong Cashingo Slot review covers everything that happens in multiple demos, explains what each feature does, whether buying a feature will make monetary sense, and who I believe should (or shouldn’t) throw money at it. Here is the quick version for people in a rush. Fast verdict: 7.5/10. It is a clever, feature-rich, high-volatility slot with an actual hook in the form of a bingo mechanism. However, it isn’t for people who want smooth, consistent winning.

Setting for Rumble Kong Cashingo

Rumble Kong Cashingo is visually placed in a dense Jungle environment. There are waterfalls cascading down mist-covered cliff sides and piles of gold coins surrounding a large, somewhat self-assured brown gorilla located on the left side of the screen. Some reviews refer to the neon city skyline in the upper right portion of the screen. That is not what you will see when you launch the game. The visual style is green, moist, and full of animals. The design influence is clear and sincere. Since the massive ape has become an integral piece of popular culture since King Kong strolled into movie theaters in 1933, Alchemy Gaming took some elements from both: the massive ape itself from the films, and the ape’s tendency to hurl objects from Donkey Kong. Unlike Donkey Kong, however, this ape hurls bananas worth money instead of barrels aimed at a plumber. The symbols take advantage of the wildlife theme as well. Hedgehogs, colorful birds, lemur and a sleek Jaguar comprise the premium symbols.

Card royalty symbols from 10-a fill in the lower-paying symbols. Although the royalty symbols were attractively illustrated, they appear fairly forgettable, which is true for virtually all slots that continue to use them. I was impressed that I was able to maintain a clean view of the screen despite observing two 5×5 grids simultaneously. On my laptop, it appeared organized. On my phone in portrait mode, it became a tad crowded but remained coherent and it was simple to follow as bananas traveled from the reels to the bingo Card. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same Thing about every hybrid slot I have tested this past year.

Screenshots

How do we play this game?

To players accustomed to traditional video slots, the first 10 spins can seem similar to studying a board game rule book while somebody yells numbers at you. Stay patient; once you develop a beat for this game’s rhythm, it truly becomes enjoyable. Behind the stacked coin logo, your bet menu is accessible, ranging from 0.20 to 25. The lightning logo accelerates play speed and autoplay behaves as expected. Three dots represent a menu containing the paytable and rules. I would suggest reviewing the rules screen at least once. There are a lot of moving parts in this game. Winning combinations occur when three or more consecutive matching symbols appear on adjacent reels beginning with reel one. To put it bluntly, the payouts for regular symbols are relatively low:

Symbol payout for 5 of a kind

• 10-j-q-k-a 0.80x to 1.20x
• Hedgehog-bird-lemur-Jaguar 1.80x to 4x

Although the highest-paying symbol pays only 4x for a full line win, clearly all of the “real” money will be earned through bananas. Bananas represent currency used throughout kong’s Jungle and serve as a basis for everything useful in this game. Therefore, it is essential to understand why there are two colors of bananas. Green Bananas remain on the main reels and function solely as substitutes for all paying symbols except for Scatters, bananas and Bonus Tokens (which have their own separate functionality), and do not award any payouts themselves.

Yellow Bananas have dual purposes: they can generate payouts on the main reel matrix and also transfer across to the cashingo matrix as well. Both types of bananas will arrive as either Cash Bananas (with values between 0.2x and 10x your bet) or as Jackpot Bananas tied to one of the four fixed jackpots. Whenever two or more Cash Bananas land consecutively (in an unbroken sequence) from the leftmost reel to the rightmost reel on the main reels, a cash award is triggered and will reward you with the sum total of all bananas present in that winning combination. If a jackpot banana exists within that winning sequence, you will receive the corresponding jackpot award as well. No more than one jackpot banana can exist per spin and serves as a means to limit potential winnings.

Kong’s banana toss

At random intervals during the base game, Kong can toss additional bananas onto random spaces on the reels. Kong does not add wilds via his banana toss; he merely adds additional bananas to existing reels. While i found that most times his banana toss seemed to provide minimal assistance – occasionally adding Only one or two bananas to the mix – occasionally he’d drop a yellow banana into precisely where your bingo Card needed one. Those occasions resulted in a genuine “come on!” Type exclamation from me.

Additionally, as bananas accumulate on the reels, the collection pot begins to build and can randomly burst and scatter additional bananas across reels prior to resetting. The graphical representation of the collection pot is strictly decorative and therefore does not indicate when a trigger event is near; unfortunately i continued to fall prey to this misconception for far longer than i care to admit.

Cashingo grid: where this Slot gets its title

This section describes why Rumble Kong Cashingo merits discussion.Each yellow banana that lands on a reel is automatically transferred into the identical location on the cashingo matrix. For example, if a yellow banana lands on reel #3 in row #2 of the reels, it will appear in column #3, row #2 of the bingo Card. If a banana already resides in that exact position, values will stack in that one position. All bananas remain on the matrix between spins.

Wins are achieved when five Yellow Bananas create a continuous line along any direction (horizontally, vertically or diagonally). There are 12 bingo lines available: 5 horizontal rows, 5 vertical columns and 2 diagonal corners. Each time a bingo line is completed, you earn payment equal to the aggregate value of its component bananas and those bananas will immediately exit the matrix. As many as four bingo lines can be completed on any single spin. Any jackpot banana included within a completed line earns its respective jackpot as well.

As mentioned previously, I am reminded of the excitement experienced playing bingo at a seaside hall as a child; you had four numbers in place on your line, your grandmother was holding tight to your arm, and it seemed like the caller was intentionally missing the number you desperately wanted. The developers did an excellent job recreating that sensation of anticipation with Cashingo.

You will find yourself looking at a column with four bananas on subsequent spins wishing that fifth banana will land in that same location. Alchemy Gaming has incorporated several additional features into Cashingo beyond what was provided in their previous titles, including Hot Mode (described below), The Wheel Bonus, and an over-the-bonus multiplier (also referred to as a Booster) that retains its value until the end of a bonus round.

Hot Mode: the banana frenzy

Hot Mode is another of Rumble Kong’s primary characteristics and can activate in two different forms. The first occurs randomly during any spin in base game play; upon activation you are rewarded with anywhere from 5-10 free spins of Hot Mode play. The second form of Hot Mode activates at the conclusion of a 24-hour countdown timer initiated upon completion of your first spin. Upon expiration of this countdown timer upon your next base game spin, Hot Mode will begin play for exactly 10 consecutive base game spins. During these ten base game spins, only bananas can appear on reels. All other locations are empty with no value assigned thereto and additional bananas will be awarded to increase chances of filling bingo lines rapidly.

Honestly speaking, Hot Mode felt much milder than its name suggested. More than half of my test runs produced fewer than five additional bananas and no bingo lines whatsoever were created during any given run. One test run, however, generated two entire columns simultaneously, resulting in more than $100 more than all of my preceding 50 spins collectively.

It is fair to note that purchasing features is disabled during periods when Hot Mode is enabled.

Wheel bonus and Kong’s helping hand

In addition to generating bananas, Bonus Tokens will fall onto reels periodically and count toward completion of their respective row(s). Once every row contains at least one token (a maximum of 5 tokens), the Wheel Bonus spins.

There are twelve sections on this wheel representing various rewards:

• Segment value
• Grand jackpot 5000x (unmultiplicable)
• Major jackpot 250x (possible x2)
• Minor Jackpot 50x (possible x2 or x3)
• Mini Jackpot 15x (possible x2,x3 or x5)
• Free spins bonus round
• 500x free spins premium bonus round

The Cashingo Booster: a patient payoff

One of the things I really enjoyed about this was watching the Booster fill up, because it rewards patience. As long as you don’t get enough Scatters to activate a round of free spins in the base game, those scatter symbols you’ve collected will accumulate in the cashingo Booster. Once you collect 10 of them, the Booster will empty and increase your cashingo multiplier by 10x. The multiplier begins at 10x, and increases all the way to 200x.

All that accumulated Booster is waiting for your next round of free spins, where it will randomly distribute itself across 2-20 squares on your bingo board. More Booster = stronger bonus. Watching that Booster fill up adds a new element to what’s normally pretty simple spinning action.

The free spins and 500x round

Once you collect three Scatters, you’ll receive 8 rounds of free spins. When the free spins begin, the Booster multipliers will be placed on your bingo board. Additionally, there are random multipliers (up to 5) that can appear on your bingo board. Those can appear on empty squares or add on top of squares already filled.

When a cash banana hits a bingo line on a square that has been multiplied, it multiplies and removes the multiplier. Jackpot Bananas aren’t able to be multiplied, so if you land a Jackpot Banana in addition to the 500x round, neither of them will appear in the same square. Now let’s talk about the “big” one. If one of your three Scatters that triggered the round is a super scatter, you’ll receive the 500x round. During this round, the multiplier will jump to 500x.

One nice touch — when this round ends, your Booster won’t reset. Normally, when a round of free spins ends, it resets your Booster back down to 10x. The 500x round leaves your progress intact. There are some additional rules you should know. You cannot re-trigger a round using Scatters. The only way to add more free spins is by collecting the +1 or +2 extra free spins symbol(s), and you can only collect one of those per spin. Since you only get 8 free spins as part of the standard round, each one is valuable.

Upsizer & Bonus Recharge

During a standard round of free spins, the Upsizer will pop up offering a larger multiplier for a fee (but no increase in stakes). This is something you can opt in or opt out of. There is no Upsizer during 500x rounds. After the round of free spins has ended, you might see an opportunity to purchase another spin with a fixed price via Bonus Recharge.

If you choose to accept this offer, you continue playing. If you reject it, you’re back to playing in the base game. Both of these items depend upon your location and betting amount. Personally, I think of both of these like the dessert menu after a large meal. While they are sometimes tempting, I find myself rarely needing them.

Is the Feature Buy worth spending your hard-earned Money on?

Here are how the various pricing levels compare and the results of my quick calculations:

• Option bet Cost buy Cost/multiplier
• Free spins with 50x multiplier 50x bet 1.00x
• Free spins with 100x multiplier 90x bet 0.90x
• Free spins with 200x multiplier 175x bet 0.875x
• 500x free spins 450x bet 0.90x

In theory, the 200x tier is your best bet (pun intended), providing you with the largest multiplier per dollar spent buying a round of free spins. However, the 500x round provides the most excitement (and protection of your Booster) for your Money (at a Cost of 450 times your current bet level). So while spending $450 in one click (or .45 cents at a $1 bet) guarantees you absolutely nothing,

I would advise you to test all of these buy options in the demo mode prior to attempting to use them in live play. Try running a dozen or so and track how many times the Money invested paid itself back in winnings. That’s probably the least expensive educational experience in Volatility you’ll ever have. Some jurisdictions restrict or eliminate the ability to buy access to special features such as the Upsizer and/or Bonus Recharge and/or Feature Buy. Please check what’s allowed at your casino.

RTP, Volatility & that 9000x Ceiling

A 96% RTP puts this game squarely in the middle of the pack regarding returns-to-player ratio — right on par with the industry average. What this tells you over millions and millions of spins is that approximately 96% of all funds put into the machine will be returned to players. In practical terms — what this tells you over the course of hours (not days) is nothing — particularly when compared to Volatility. And boy is this thing volatile. An approximate hit frequency of 12.58% means you’ll generally win about once every eighth spin. Most of those wins will likely be small.

The majority of significant wins occur due to completing bingo lines (or hitting a jackpot) during a round of free spins, and/or having multiple rounds of free spins with increasing multipliers. Therefore, you could potentially go long periods of time without anything worthwhile occurring. That being said — although extremely unlikely — a good combination of events (a fully loaded grid within a round of 500x free spins, or the Grand Jackpot falling within a series of other wins) could result in a payout up to 9,000 times your original bet — that equates to $225k @ 25bets. To help avoid going broke too quickly, please bring a minimum of 200-300 base bets into each session. That way — even when Volatility takes over — you’ll have plenty of opportunities for features to develop.

Additional practical session advice from my experience

• Test out the demo until you understand how/when lines are completed on Kong’s bingo board.
• You’ll be making better choices about whether or not to buy upgrades and/or buy direct access to the free spins based on what you see.
• Track your Booster throughout each session. Having a nearly full Booster will greatly enhance your chances of getting a good score during subsequent rounds of free spins.
• Don’t chase tokens — when wheel bonus comes around, it comes around… And trying to rush it by increasing your bet almost always ends poorly.
• And remember — every single spin is completely random. The countdown timer is true… But nothing says that you’ve earned yourself a win.
• Prioritize setting limits on losses/winnings before you begin, and try hard to stick to them.

Good/Bad

What I liked about

• The bingo board in Cashingo creates anticipation leading up to each spin.
• Over a dozen unique features create variety among sessions.
• There is a massive Grand Jackpot worth $5,000 and a max win potential worth $9,000.
• The 500x round allows your Booster to remain active after completion.
• Players can choose from over 24 different bet sizes ranging from $.20 to $25.
• Even in base game play, there is some form of progression with regards to filling up your Booster.

What didn’t quite live up to expectations

• Low-paying regular symbols.
• Scatters cannot re-trigger free spins.
• Both hot mode and banana throw can come across as somewhat disappointing.
• For new players, there can be quite a learning curve with regards to understanding all of the mechanics.
• While some jurisdictions allow access to buy options, others prohibit it entirely.

Conclusion: Is Kong worth your monkeys?

Going into this Rumble Kong Cashingo slot review, I expected simply another tired gorilla-themed slot game. Leaving this review, I now have begrudging admiration for what Alchemy Gaming has done with this product. While the jungle theme is certainly visually pleasing rather than groundbreaking, and while your regular symbols basically don’t exist outside of paying off free spins and jackpots …the bingo grid does create a mini-story behind every spin. That’s incredibly uncommon in today’s modern slots world where everything seems to happen in fast motion and rapid succession.

It’s far from perfect, however; this game is brutally high Volatility; there are several features that feel like fluff; and buying into a round of free spins can destroy your bankroll quickly if you get caught up in the excitement. Therefore, I’d recommend this game strictly for players looking for extreme Volatility games with lots of multiplier-based bonuses and some strategic thinking involved in each individual spin. If you prefer more consistent, lower-risk gameplay, then perhaps pass on this title.

Have you ever successfully filled up a full line of Bananas on Kong’s bingo board yet, or are you still staring down four Bananas in a row?

If so…load up the free demo model and spend some quality time playing; provide feedback on your experiences in the comments section below. If you’ve had success utilizing the cashingo style mechanics, we have reviewed several other titles featuring this type of mechanism that can be compared.

Frequently asked questions

What is the RTP of Rumble Kong Cashingo?

Rumble Kong Cashingo defaults to an RTP of 96%, but check the information screen at your respective casino, as operators sometimes alter RTP settings.

What is the max win potential?

Your max win potential is 9,000 times your initial bet.

Who made this slot?

This title was produced by Alchemy Gaming — which falls under the umbrella of Games Global.

How do I trigger a round of free spins?

Collecting three Scatters activates 8 rounds of free spins. If one of those Scatters is a super scatter, you’ll receive 500x free spins instead.

How does the cashingo grid work?

Each yellow banana you collect goes onto your cashingo bingo grid. Each time that grid fills up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, a player can collect all banana values associated with that win.

Am I able to play it using only free play?

Yes; you can play using only play Money in demo mode; it is one of the easiest ways to learn all features.