Dancing Drums slot

About the Dancing Drums slot

The design of Dancing Drums is easy to summarise: a simple 243-ways base game, a jackpot pick game that can appear on any spin with a wild, and a free spins round where you choose the shape of the bonus.

Light & Wonder, the Las Vegas company known as Scientific Games until 2022, publishes it. The group also owns Barcrest, maker of Rainbow Riches. See our Light & Wonder slots page for its wider range, or browse our slot reviews for other mobile games.

Two numbers aren’t in the published specification: the maximum win and the jackpot amounts. We don’t guess at either. Both can be checked in the game’s help screen and jackpot display in your app.

Dancing Drums RTP, ways and specification

The two volatility ratings reflect a genuine split between published sources. That is not surprising for a game where you choose the bonus format: picking 3 spins on the biggest grid is a swingier choice than 15 spins on the base grid, so how the game feels depends partly on you. Our volatility glossary entry explains the term.

How the features work: the jackpot pick and the free spins choice

The jackpot pick game

Whenever a wild lands, it can randomly trigger a jackpot pick game. Most wilds won’t start it, because the trigger is random. If the game does start, it runs like this:

1. A set of coins appears on screen.
2. You pick coins one at a time, and each reveals a jackpot symbol.
3. Picking continues until three matching symbols have been revealed.
4. The three matching symbols decide whether you win the Mini, Minor, Major or Grand jackpot.
5. The jackpot is paid and the base game resumes.

Your picks don’t change the odds. The outcome is decided by the game’s random number generator, and picking is simply how the result is revealed. Our jackpot glossary entry explains the different types of slot jackpot.

The free spins choice

Three or more scatters trigger free spins, and you choose one of five options. Four of them trade the number of spins against the size of the grid, and the fifth is a mystery pick that chooses for you. The table in the next section sets them out.

Dancing Drums free spins: which option to pick

Each option makes the grid taller and the round shorter. The ways figure is simple arithmetic: rows multiplied across five reels.

No published figure shows any option returning more than another, and the 96.09% RTP describes the game as a whole. What the choice clearly changes is the shape of the round. Fifteen spins on 243 ways tend to give a steadier result. Three spins on 7,776 ways concentrate everything into a short burst that can finish high or low. Choose by the experience you prefer, not by any idea that one is a better bet.

Dancing Drums RTP and a £20 budget

At 96.09% RTP, the house edge is 3.91%. That is the expected cost per pound staked over a very large number of spins, whatever stake you choose.

With no published max win, we can’t show a ceiling in pounds, but the stake choice still matters. More spins mean more wilds and more chances for the random jackpot trigger and the scatters. Wins are usually re-staked, so your total turnover in a session, and the expected cost, often ends up higher than £20. The house edge glossary page has the full explanation.

Slots cost money to play, and losses are likely over time. Set a limit before you start; our guide to setting deposit limits in a casino app shows how.

Dancing Drums vs 88 Fortunes and other Light & Wonder slots

Dancing Drums sits alongside other Light & Wonder games with a similar Asian theme or a similar jackpot pick. Here is how the closest ones compare.

88 Fortunes is the closest cousin, with a Fu Bat wild that can start a similar coin-picking jackpot game. Phoenix Sun, from a different studio, grows from 243 to 7,776 ways too, but through a wild that opens extra rows rather than a free spins choice. Apps with jackpot-heavy lobbies are listed in our best jackpot slot apps ranking.

Dancing Drums on iPhone and Android

The game runs inside a casino’s app or mobile browser, opened from the lobby. The 5×3 base grid is comfortable on a phone. The taller free spins grids, up to six rows, are where a bigger screen helps most, because the symbols have to shrink to fit.

The specification doesn’t say whether the game supports portrait mode, so try rotating your phone. Our pages on casino apps for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones cover setup and settings, and our guide to casino apps and battery life has general tips for longer sessions.

UK rules for Dancing Drums in casino apps

• Stake caps: £5 per spin for players aged 25 and over, and £2 for those aged 18 to 24.
• Since 31 October 2021: no autoplay, at least 2.5 seconds per spin, no turbo or slam-stop, and no celebration of a return at or below your stake.
• Since 17 January 2025: no playing several games at once, and net spend and time played shown in real time.
• Since a Gambling Commission warning in January 2020, feature buy-ins are not offered to British players, so the free spins and jackpot game are reached only through play.

The 2.5-second minimum caps pace at 1,440 spins an hour. At 25p a spin, that maximum pace means £360 staked in an hour, with an expected cost of about £14.08 at 96.09% RTP. The Commission’s RTS 14 responsible product design standard (opens in a new tab) sets out the design rules, and our page on UK game speed rules explains them in plain English.

If you want a break from all UK-licensed gambling apps at once, GAMSTOP (opens in a new tab) offers free self-exclusion for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years.

Dancing Drums slot review: pros and cons

Dancing Drums suits players who like having a say in how the bonus plays out and enjoy the occasional surprise of a jackpot pick. If you want published ceilings and fixed numbers before you play, other games in our reviews give you more to go on.

Where to play Dancing Drums: apps with welcome offers

Our partner offers don’t name Dancing Drums, and lobbies change, so search for it in the app before you sign up. All three offers are for new customers aged 18+, and terms apply.

• PlayOJO: 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p each on a first deposit of £10 or more, with no wagering and winnings paid as cash. Excludes Northern Ireland.
• Coral: deposit and bet £10 on slots for 100 free spins on selected games at 10p each. They must be accepted within 48 hours and used within 7 days, with no wagering on winnings. Some deposit types, including PayPal and prepaid cards, are excluded.
• Ladbrokes: spend £10 on slots for 50 free spins a day for the first 10 days, up to 500 at 10p on selected games. Claim before 23:59 each day; spins last 7 days; no wagering.

Coral and Ladbrokes are both operated by LC International Limited (Entain), so you may not be able to take new-customer offers at both.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.