3 African Drums Slot Review

Overview of 3 African Drums Slot Machine

3 African Drums from 3 Oaks Gaming sticks to a classic setup with 5 reels, 3 rows, and 25 paylines, wrapped in an African savanna theme. The whole thing revolves around a Hold and Win style bonus with respins, three modifiers, and fixed jackpots. On paper it looks straightforward, but the way Collect, Double, and Multi can combine gives the slot a bit more bite than the simple layout suggests.

The maths model comes with medium volatility, a 95.68% RTP, and a max win of up to 4,280x your bet, while the Grand Jackpot itself tops out at 2,000x. It feels very much in line with the rest of the 3 Oaks ‘3 something’ line. As a regular slots player, I saw nothing shocking here, yet the package is solid enough for relaxed grinding sessions.

Theme & Design in 3 African Drums: African Safari Adventure

3 African Drums aims for an African safari vibe, with lions, leopards, giraffes, zebras, and antelopes on the reels against a sun-baked backdrop. Warm shades dominate the screen, trying to give that sunset-on-the-savanna feel. The interface is clean and easy to follow, so you never struggle to see wins or spot where the bonus symbols have landed, which suits longer sessions when you are spinning on autopilot.

Visually, though, it does not push the boat out. The animal symbols look quite basic and the background feels a bit generic, especially if you have played other African-themed slots. For me, the audio does more of the heavy lifting. The drum-driven soundtrack fits the Hold and Win rhythm well, and those beats during respins help keep the tension going even when the graphics are not exactly wowing you.

Game Symbols and Payouts in 3 African Drums

The paytable in 3 African Drums follows a simple ladder. At the top you have the lion symbol, which also acts as the Wild, paying 10x your bet for five of a kind, 3x for four, and 0.6x for three. Next comes the leopard on 8x, 2x, and 0.4x. Giraffe, zebra, and antelope share the same level, paying up to 5x for five, then 1x or 0.2x for shorter hits.

Low-paying symbols are standard card suits. They pay up to 2x your stake for five, with 0.4x for four and 0.2x for three of a kind. Nothing fancy here, but it keeps the paytable easy to read. In practice, the line wins are more about padding the balance and giving you something to do while you wait for those bonus symbols to drop in and trigger the Hold and Win action.

The lion Wild substitutes for regular symbols and can land on any reel, giving those stacked animal combos a nice bump when it lines up. Bonus symbols come in green, red, and yellow variants, showing coin values from 1x to 10x your bet. During the bonus round, Mini, Minor, and Major Jackpot symbols award 15x, 30x, and 100x respectively, while filling all 15 spots with bonus symbols pays the Grand Jackpot of 2,000x.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	Wild
	5	x10
	4	x3
	3	x0.6
	5	x8
	4	x2
	3	x0.4
	5	x5
	4	x1
	3	x0.2
	5	x5
	4	x1
	3	x0.2
	5	x5
	4	x1
	3	x0.2
	5	x2
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x2
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x2
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x2
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	Bonus

How to Play 3 African Drums

Getting started on 3 African Drums is dead simple. Set your stake with the bet controls, from 0.25 up to 60 per spin, then hit Spin or use spacebar or enter for quick taps. Autoplay lets you set it running for a batch of spins and stop on loss or win limits. The paytable explains symbol values, Hold and Win rules, and the three modifiers, while the Bonus Buy buttons give direct access to the feature.

Free Spins and Bonus Rounds in 3 African Drums

The main feature in 3 African Drums is a Hold and Win style bonus game rather than classic free spins. You trigger it by landing bonus coin symbols, with green, red, and yellow versions tied to modifiers. Once active, you start with 3 respins on a special grid. Every new bonus symbol that lands locks in place and resets the respin counter back to 3, with each symbol carrying a cash value from 1x to 10x.

Three modifiers can appear during this bonus: Collect, Double, and Multi. Collect scoops the coin values from all other symbols on the grid into one fat symbol. Double adds a second board, mirroring symbols from the first, effectively giving you two grids spinning at once and many more positions to fill. Multi drops multipliers that increase the value of the symbol they land on, stacking if they hit the same position more than once.

The jackpots sit inside the Hold and Win round. Landing Mini, Minor, or Major jackpot symbols adds 15x, 30x, or 100x your bet to the tally, while filling every cell with bonus symbols awards the Grand at 2,000x. If you do not fancy waiting, you can buy straight into the bonus. One option costs 100x your stake and guarantees a basic entry, while a pricier 250x option starts you off with all three modifiers active.

Betting Volitality and RTP (Return to Player) in 3 African Drums

3 African Drums runs on a 95.68% RTP setting, which sits a bit under what many players would class as standard, so I treat it as a game for entertainment rather than serious grinding. Volatility is around the medium mark, and the hit rate of roughly one win in five spins keeps the balance ticking over. With bets from 0.25 to 60, it feels better suited to low and mid stakes than real high-roller play.

3 African Drums - Yay or Nay

Judging 3 African Drums on its own, I would call it a decent Hold and Win slot. The gameplay is smooth, modifiers interact in a satisfying way, and the bonus round can pop more often than in some harsher games, especially with that Bonus Buy sitting there for impatient players. Filling two grids with Double while Multi stacks on key coins can throw up some very tidy hits, even if the top figures are not huge.

Look at it next to the rest of the 3 Oaks catalogue and it feels familiar, almost like a reskin of earlier titles with an African coat of paint. The 2,000x Grand and 4,280x max win cap are fine but not life-changing. For me, this slot works when I want straightforward Hold and Win action with a bit of humour in the modifiers and no learning curve. It does the job, just without many surprises.

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