Forest Dance (XE88): four animals, three colours and a spinning arrow

Forest Dance is one of the brightest screens in the XE88 arcade. A ring of cartoon animal heads circles the edge, a ring of red, green and yellow segments sits inside it, and an arrow in the centre spins round to pick a winner. The old guide listed the four animals: lion, rabbit, panda and monkey. Each appears several times around the ring, in different colours.

The betting grid

Before the arrow spins, the bottom half of the screen turns into a betting grid. There is one column per animal and one row per colour, and every cell shows a multiplier. In the screenshots the figures are:

The multipliers track how often each combination should come up: the lion pays the most, the rabbit the least. A higher number simply means a rarer result.

Placing a bet and spinning

The CHIPS button sets your unit (x100 in the screenshots). Tap the cells you want, and your stake appears in the cell. BAL shows your balance, BET the total on the table and WIN the last payout. CLEAR takes chips off, REBET repeats the last round, and START sets the arrow spinning.

A worked example

The screenshots follow one round through. A bet of 100 goes on the green monkey at x8. The arrow stops on a monkey in the green, and the WIN box shows 800. That is 100 times 8, and the balance goes up from 29,290 to 30,090.

That round is a happy one. Most spins, with chips on one or two cells, simply miss.

Bank, Tie and Player

On the right of the grid are three more cells: BANK x2, TIE x9 and PLAYER x2. A label on the wheel screen switches between PLAYER and TIE, so the side bet appears to be decided alongside the arrow. Our older notes never explained it, so check the in-game help first.

Tips that make sense

• Spreading chips over every animal feels safe but loses a little on most spins.
• The jackpot figure top-left keeps changing; there is no rule on screen for winning it.
• Decide your chip budget before the first spin.

Forest Dance uses the same grid as the Pocket Monster arcade game. Both sit in the XE88 arcade section. To give it a go, play Forest Dance on XE88. 18+ only.