The 50 Lions slot machine game is a classic 5 reel and 50 pay line online and land-based slots game released by Australia’s Aristocrat. It has a generic safari theme with symbols of sunsets behind the savannah, traditionally African animals, and a few traditional playing card symbols. You’ll find this game (sometimes for free) in hundreds of brick & mortar casinos and hundreds more online gambling sites.
Aristocrat released 50 Lions slots in 2003 in land-based casinos and online casinos at the same time – not the first game to use that tactic, but among the first. 50 Lions have been among the Australian company’s most popular slot games ever since. This producer has deals with casino operators in 90 different countries around the world, some 240 gambling jurisdictions altogether. The sheer number of people who come across the game is huge, which adds to its popularity.
RATED | CASINO | SIGNUP BONUS | > > > > > |
1 |  |
| |
2 |  |
| |
3 |  |
| |
4 |  |
| |
5 |  |
|
50 Lions Slots and Other Aristocrat Slot Machines
Unfamiliar with Aristocrat?
They’re one of the biggest names in casino game design in Australia, having launched in the 50s producing mechanical slots and other games. Aristocrat has a bunch of “firsts” to their credit, including the world’s first all-electric game, the way too ahead of its time “Moon Money” of 1965. These days, they make a wide range of games, from classic fruit machine style slots to ultra-modern Ways to Win and licensed slots with progressive jackpots.
50 Lions was Aristocrat’s first slot game with 50 pay lines. The name “50 Lions” even sounds like “fifty lines,” especially if you try to say it in your best Aussie accent. It has a mediocre RTP of 94.71% – the game isn’t known for being particularly loose. What attracted attention and continues to draw gamblers in brick & mortar and online casinos are the GAMBLE option (described below), the multiple ways to win on every spin, and the wide range of available bets.
50 Lions Slots Cost to Play
In 50 Lions slots, as in most 50 pay line games and all the ones released by Aristocrat, you pay to activate a set number of the game’s lines. You can activate 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 lines per spin. Each activated line requires a wager, which you can using the game’s bet per line option in the following denominations:
- $0.02
- $0.03
- $0.04
- $0.05
- $0.10
- $0.20
- $0.30
- $0.40
- $0.50
- $1
- $2
That gives players a range of between $0.02 and $100 per spin. However, since most slot players will pay to activate all 50 pay lines, choosing to use the bet per line option to tailor the per-spin wager size to their liking, we should really discuss the cost per full 50 pay line wager. If you choose to activate all the game’s lines, your per-spin bet range will be between $1 and $100.
50 Lions Slot Machine Payouts
Payouts range from 4 to 1,000 credits.
The smallest jackpot in 50 Lions is worth 4 credits. It comes from lining up three of the game’s lotus symbols on an active line. You can also get a 4-credit payout from lining up two zebra or giraffe symbols on an active line. With a bet per line range from $0.02 to $2, this smallest jackpot is worth anywhere from $0.08 to $8.
The game’s largest payout is 1,000 coins, rewarded for lining up the game’s majestic lion’s head symbol across all five reels of any active pay line. Since the bet per line size ranges from $0.02 to $2, that top jackpot is worth between $20 and $2,000.
How to Play 50 Lions Slot Games for Free or Real Money
Start by choosing the number of lines you want to activate and then your bet-per-line cost. You also have an auto-play option which lets you choose to play more than 1 spin at a time, for up to 100 automatic plays. You can stop the auto-play function at any point with a single click.
You’re waiting for symbols to line up on an active line – ideally, more than one set of symbols on more than one line. The lines themselves are described really well in the game’s help menu – fifty of them in just about every arrangement you can imagine.
The symbols, in order of value, are listed below along with their lowest and highest payouts:
- Lion’s Head (10-1,000)
- Zebra (4-500)
- Giraffe (4-500)
- Choir (20-400)
- Sunset (20-400)
- Lotus Flower (Scatter Symbol)
- Ace (20-400)
- King (20-400)
- Queen (10-200)
- Jack (10-200)
- Ten (10-200)
- Nine (10-200)
After every win, the game’s hot pink “GAMBLE” symbol (next to the “PLAY” button) will light up, giving you the option of gambling your winnings for an increased payout.
The 50 Lions Gamble Option
If you press the “GAMBLE” symbol, you’ll be taken to the 50 Lions side game.
You’ll see a playing card face down in the middle of the screen, with some words explaining your options. You can choose to bet that card will be red or black (for a doubling of your jackpot) or you can choose to bet on the suit of the card (which quadruples your triggering payout). If you choose incorrectly, you lose the jackpot that triggered the game.
You can repeat the GAMBLE game up to five times in a row, if you keep winning, but don’t expect an unlimited multiplier. The game’s rules stipulate that the maximum payout is calculated like this:
(game’s top prize – current winnings) / 4
For example, if you’re $100 up and you trigger the GAMBLE game, your maximum payout (no matter how many times you choose correctly) is $475. That’s the game’s max payout ($2,000) minus your current winnings ($100) divided by 4.
Any amount won over that limit is placed in a reserve, meaning you can only use those winnings to top up your gamble amount.
For more details on this side game, check out Aristocrat’s website.
Other 50 Lions Game Details
50 Lions Slots has a free spin feature based on a scatter symbol.
The scatter is a lotus flower symbol, which pays out a small jackpot on the game’s standard pay table, but also leads to a free spins wild symbol game if three of the symbols appear on an active line. These free spin rounds are the standard game but with some added features.
Once you line up enough lotus flower symbols, you’ll play 10 free rounds. Those free spins also add a bonus wild symbol to the last four reels. The diamond symbol doesn’t reward any payouts itself, but it replaces any other symbol to form a winning combination on active pay line.
If you’re lucky enough to line up three more scatter lotus flower symbols during the wild symbol free spins rounds, you’ll play with another five free spins. The free spin rounds can’t be re-triggered more than once.
Take note that you won’t have a chance to change your number of lines played during these free spin rounds, which is more incentive to play all fifty lines in the base game.
50 Lions Slots Overall Rating
The game has plenty of cheerleaders, a big part of the reason bettors play it. It’s fun enough to play for a limited amount of time – it has simple rules and doesn’t require a lot of brain power. The design is getting to be really antiquated, and when you play it after playing a more modern game or a flashy licensed product, it’s going to feel very old-fashioned.
50 Lions has high adaptability because you can play for a few pennies or $100 at a spin. The payouts aren’t fantastic, but the game is not particularly volatile because of that, and if you like small but consistent wins and multipliers, you’ll be happy with Aristocrat’s 50 Lions slot games.
Overall, we give 50 Lions a B+. It’s a fun game but doesn’t have as much replay value as a more modern game with more bonus options and side games and the like.
Conclusion
50 Lions slots are a part of that odd family of slot machines that are popular for reasons that aren’t immediately obvious. After all, the game’s top payout of $2,000 isn’t anything special, the symbols and animations are becoming really dated, and it only offers a single free spin bonus round.
Are enough people really enamored with the GAMBLE feature and a wide bet range to justify such a big fan base?
People like simplicity, and 50 Lions offers that – the pay table is easy enough to understand after a quick glance, and the symbols are easy on the eyes. Bettors also like options, and the GAMBLE game isn’t mandatory, with a noticeably big range of available bets. Fans of poker and card games will like that the bonus game is card-based, even if it is a little bit simplistic.
50 Lions hits the spot for lots of online and land-based slot machine fans. If you’ve never played an Aristocrat slot, this is a good one to begin with. It has most of the features that Australia’s top slot game designer is famous for, and you can play for a relatively small investment.