Licensed pokies live or die on whether the theme actually shapes the mechanics, and Jurassic Park is one of the better examples I’ve come across. Built by Microgaming using footage and imagery from the original 1993 film, this is a 243-ways pokie that leans on its dinosaur cast for more than just decoration.
Playing it at the casino, the first thing that stood out to me was the free spins structure. Rather than a single bonus round, you’re given a choice of dinosaur before the spins start, and that choice actually changes how the round plays out. It’s a reasonably old title now, but the design still holds up better than a lot of straightforward five-reel pokies from the same era.
If you want to see how it all fits together before staking anything, you can load the free demo on WinPockets and run through the reels, the paytable and the Free Spins selection screen at no cost.
How to Play Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park runs on 5 reels and 3 rows, using 243 ways to win instead of a fixed payline count. You set your total stake, hit spin, and matching symbols pay out as long as they land on adjacent reels starting from reel one.
There’s no separate coin value and line count to juggle here, which I found made the betting screen quicker to get through than some Microgaming games from the same period. You pick a total bet, spin, and the game handles the rest.
The Wild is the Jurassic Park logo symbol, and it substitutes for every regular paying symbol to help complete combinations. The Amber symbol acts as the Scatter, and it’s the one to watch because it controls access to the Free Spins feature. A separate DNA strand symbol works as a bonus symbol, triggering a pick-style bonus round independently of the Free Spins.
Gameplay & Winning Combinations
With 243 ways instead of fixed paylines, you don’t need matching symbols to line up on a specific row. A win forms whenever the same symbol appears on consecutive reels from left to right, regardless of where it sits vertically on each reel. That effectively gives you more ways to connect a combination than a traditional 20 or 25 payline game, without the reels themselves changing shape.
I found this easier to read once I stopped looking for lines and started paying attention to whole reels instead. If a symbol shows up on all three rows of reels one, two and three, for example, that’s already a meaningful chunk of ways covered. The Wild logo symbol is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the base game, since it can drop into any position and complete combinations the natural symbols wouldn’t otherwise finish.
Symbols
The paytable is built around the film’s cast of dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops, Dilophosaurus and Brachiosaurus make up the higher-value symbols, with the standard playing cards from 9 through to Ace filling the lower end of the pay scale, as is typical for a Microgaming release of this generation.
The Jurassic Park logo is the Wild, substituting for every paying symbol except the Scatter and the bonus symbol. The Amber symbol, showing the trapped mosquito that kicks off the film’s plot, is the Scatter, and landing enough of them anywhere on the reels is what opens up the Free Spins feature. Separately, a DNA strand symbol functions as the bonus trigger for the Lab Bonus pick round.
What I liked here is that the symbols aren’t just reused film stills — the dinosaurs, the Amber and the DNA strand all tie directly into how the bonus features are structured, rather than sitting there purely for theme.
Bonus Features
Free Spins Feature
Landing 3, 4 or 5 Amber Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels triggers the Free Spins feature, with the number of Scatters determining how many free spins you’re awarded. Before the round begins, you’re given a choice between four dinosaurs — Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops and Dilophosaurus — and each one attaches a different Wild-reel behaviour to the free spins that follow, ranging from single reels turning fully wild through to multiple wild reels appearing alongside extra multiplier value.
This is the part of the game I found most interesting. Instead of one generic free spins mode, you’re actively deciding what kind of variance you want going into the round. Picking the dinosaur associated with more wild reels leans toward bigger, less frequent combinations, while the more conservative option feels closer to an extension of base-game play. It’s a genuinely different decision point rather than a cosmetic choice, and it’s the mechanic that gives the pokie most of its identity.
Lab Bonus (DNA Bonus)
Landing the DNA strand bonus symbol enough times triggers a separate pick-style bonus, taking you to a lab screen where you select DNA vials to reveal instant cash prizes. It’s a simpler feature than the Free Spins round, and it runs independently of it, so you’re effectively working toward two different triggers as you spin rather than one.
I appreciated that this feature stays uncomplicated. After the decision-making in the Free Spins selection screen, having a straightforward pick-and-reveal bonus on the side balances things out rather than piling on more choices.
RTP & Volatility
Jurassic Park carries a return to player of 96.65%, sitting comfortably within the range most Australian pokie players would consider standard. That figure reflects the theoretical return over a very large number of spins, not what any individual session should produce, so it’s worth reading as a long-term average rather than a promise.
The volatility sits at medium. In practice, that ties directly into the dinosaur choice in the Free Spins feature — picking the option with more wild reels effectively nudges the round toward higher variance, while the more restrained choice keeps outcomes closer to the base game’s rhythm. I think that’s a smart bit of design, because it means the pokie’s volatility isn’t fixed; it partly depends on how you play the bonus.
Maximum Win
Microgaming hasn’t published an official maximum win multiplier for Jurassic Park in the way most modern releases now headline a specific x-stake ceiling. As an older title, its biggest outcomes are built through the Free Spins feature — specifically the dinosaur options that stack multiple wild reels with multiplier value across the round.
Rather than chasing a single quoted ceiling, I’d treat the win potential here as tied to how the Free Spins round plays out over its full length, with the higher-variance dinosaur picks representing the pokie’s realistic top end.
Theme, Graphics & Sound
The presentation leans hard on the source film, and it works better than I expected for a licensed pokie of this vintage. The dinosaur symbols are detailed rather than generic, the Amber symbol nods directly to the film’s opening plot device, and the DNA strand ties the bonus round back into the park’s core concept instead of feeling bolted on.
The sound design uses cues that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen the film, without leaning entirely on the score to do the work. It’s not a flashy interface — this predates a lot of the animation-heavy pokies now on the market — but the reel symbols are clear and the paytable is easy enough to reference mid-session.
Play Jurassic Park on Mobile
The pokie runs through browser play on mobile, with the layout adjusting to a smaller portrait screen without losing the reel symbols’ clarity. The betting controls and the dinosaur selection screen for Free Spins both translate reasonably well to touch input, which matters given that screen is where you’re making an actual decision rather than just tapping spin.
Our Verdict
Jurassic Park is a solid example of a licensed pokie that actually uses its theme to shape the mechanics rather than just wrapping a generic template in movie artwork. The 243-ways base game is straightforward, and I’d say it’s the Free Spins feature — specifically the choice between four dinosaurs — that gives the game its real identity. That decision point is more meaningful than it first appears, since it’s effectively letting you dial the round’s variance up or down.
At 96.65% RTP and medium volatility, it sits in a comfortable, accessible bracket rather than chasing extreme swings, and the lack of a published max-win multiplier reflects its age more than any lack of ambition in the design. The Lab Bonus is a fine supporting feature, though it’s clearly the secondary attraction next to the Free Spins round.
I’d point the free demo toward players who want a themed pokie with an actual decision to make in the bonus, rather than a pure spin-and-hope setup. If you’re after a simple, no-choices pokie or a headline mega-win ceiling, this one is less likely to hold your attention.
