Donkey Dollars

Donkey Dollars is a jackpot slot from Northern Lights, one of the studios working under Games Global. The jackpots start at a fixed value but can increase during the base game when you land jackpot tokens (carrots), with the largest Grand jackpot potentially ballooning up to 5,000x.

There’s no question that the jackpots are this animal-themed slot’s biggest selling point, but there’s a lot more to the game. I share my experience playing the Donkey Dollars slot for real money, and you can enjoy the game yourself in the demo mode embedded on this page.

Donkey Dollars takes place on a farm. Even though you can hear other animals in the background, the donkey is the only animal that actually appears, standing left of the reels in front of the jackpot wheel and showing up as a wild symbol.

The 5x4 reel matrix also includes decorated J, Q, K, and A low-paying symbols, together with high-paying food symbols, including kale, eggplant, corn, and pumpkin. The game has 20 fixed paylines, and you must match three or more symbols starting from the leftmost reel to form a winning combination.

The B-O-N-U-S apples may appear randomly on top of the reels. One or more apples may fall on the reel below it and turn into a wild. You unlock the free spins game only when you get all five apples to spawn. Meanwhile, the carrot serves as a jackpot token, increasing the value of the corresponding jackpot and providing a random chance to trigger the jackpot wheel.

The game’s control panel is on the right side of the screen. To change your bet, click the coins button and select between $0.20 and $40 per spin. The big spin button is in the middle, with the turbo spin toggle switch next to it, represented by a picture of a lightning bolt.

Above the spin button is an autoplay button through which you can turn on 10, 25, 50, or 100 automated spins. The sound on/off switch is at the bottom, while the burger menu icon at the top opens the paytable. The Buy Free Spins button occupies the top left corner, enabling you to purchase the bonus round for 50x your current bet.

The Donkey Dollars slot has two bonus games: a free spins round and a jackpot wheel.

I enjoyed playing the Donkey Dollars slot in a real money online casino, even though I lost money. Things started well, and I managed to trigger the Jackpot Wheel just ten or so spins into my playthrough while betting $2 per spin. However, I only won the Mini jackpot at its base value of $10.

I was constantly one or two apples short of triggering the free spins game, and since occasional small base game wins weren’t going to cut it, I decided to purchase the free spins round for $100 while choosing the Sticky Wilds option. While I did manage to land a few big winning combinations, it didn’t make up for the cost of the game, and I only won $68 back.

I again purchased the free spins round, this time selecting the Falling Wilds feature, which worked better. I landed eight wilds on my final spin and won $60 from that spin alone, totaling $126 for the entire round.

From then on, I stuck around, hoping to trigger another Jackpot Wheel. I did it eventually but only won the Mini jackpot again, which had increased to $30 at that time. Luck obviously wasn’t on my side, so I decided to call it quits.

The Donkey Dollars slot has a return average of 96.14%, slightly higher than the average. It’s a medium-volatility game with a decent max payout of 5,000x, but only if you’re lucky enough to increase the Grand jackpot value to its maximum.

Donkey Dollars is a fun animal-themed slot with a couple of original mechanics. I like the falling apples that turn into wilds and that the bonus symbols don’t occupy any space on the reels but instead show up independently above the reel set.

I also find jackpot tokens a nice way to keep the players engaged, as they increase the jackpot value over time. In other words, the longer you play, the higher the potential jackpots. The Buy Free Spins feature only costs 50x, which is reasonable considering that I saw many slots price it at 100x or more.

On the other hand, the jackpots themselves could be higher. The Grand one only starts at 1,000x the bet, which is a low maximum payout by any metric.

If you like animal-themed slots but wish to try one with a higher win potential, I suggest you go for Wild Wildebeest Wins by Pragmatic (10,000x), Greedy Fortune Pig by Pragmatic (8,888x), or Trophy Fish by Red Tiger (27,109x).

But before you try any of those, try the Donkey Dollars demo. If you like it and wish to play it for real money, we have more than a few trusted online casinos where you can hunt for its jackpots. Best of luck!