Dragon Wins
While there’s plenty of slot machines that feature dragons, few of them have made these mythical beasts as cute as the ones flapping around the reels of the Dragon Wins video slot from Nextgen Gaming. It features 4 colourful creatures in a cartoon style, who oversee the game and create some of the higher-value winning combinations, while also breathing fire to multiply prizes several times over. Things heat up even more, with free spins, stacked wilds, symbol transformations and scatter payouts and an unusual 5-reel, 40-payline layout that has unequal sized reels.
Those reels are set against a backdrop of stone and the outer ones each contain 3 symbols, the next ones in are 4 symbols high and the middle reel contains 5 symbols. The animated dragons are surrounding the main game, with coloured shields next to each, and behind it all is a simple background image of clouds and a couple of floating islands in the sky, giving it a very other-worldly appearance.
Based in the UK, the Nextgen Gaming slots developer is known for adding unique twists to their games, so punters shouldn’t be surprised to find that Dragon Wins has so many features packed into its gameplay. Like all Nextgen titles, this slot machine has been certified for fair play by independent testing labs, and it’s licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. It’s also been designed from scratch to work across multiple platforms, so gamblers can access it on a desktop PC, or play across smartphones and tablet computers.
Entering the Dragons’ Den
A review of the paytable reveals what each symbol is worth, and while the reels are in an unusual layout, the way that win-lines are created is completely conventional, with spinners needing 3 or more of the same symbol across a payline in an unbroken sequence from the left side. Special wild and scatter symbols help you to get more wins, with the wild also being valued at between 2x and 500x the line stake when it’s across a payline. The scatter can appear in any places to be worth multiples of the total stake, paying out 40x, 200x, or a huge 2000x when it’s in 3, 4, or 5 reel positions at once.
The paytable also explains how many times the line bet equivalent is won for each combination, and smaller prizes are claimed whenever the yellow of blue jewel symbols appear, with wins equal to 2x, 10x, or 25x when seen on 3, 4, or 5 reels. Green or purple gems, and a blue diamond will pay a little more, and then we have the 4 dragons who return the high-paying coin wins.
There’s the purple and the green dragons, each of which is valued at 10x, 20x, or 100x the line bet, while the gold dragon is worth 10x, 25x and 150x, and the top prizes come from the red dragon, with players winning back 20x, 50x, or 250x. Remember those shields next to each dragon? These are win-meters, and each time a dragon creates a winning line, it can breathe fire into its meter. Once a meter is filled, any of 4 bonus rounds will be triggered.
Fiery Features
There’s only 3 free spins in each feature, but the reels are enhanced in different ways depending on which bonus round has been awarded. In the Stacked Dragons game, the red creature will fill several positions on any reel it appears on, making it easier to get high-paying wins, while a special red scatter symbol can retrigger this round if it stops in any 3 or places at once before the 3 spins are done. In the More Dragons round, all dragons turn gold, while any occurrences of any particular gem can also become gold, which should lead to some win-lines of this rewarding beastie. The gold scatter icon can also start this round over again.
The Dragon Reels bonus feature sees all dragons turn green, plus you will see the entire middle 3 reels filled with the green dragon, which is going to lead some high-paying spins if he’s also on reel 1, or the wild symbol is in the right place. Once again, the scatter symbol turns to the same colour and can restart this round if it lands in any 3 or more places at once. If the Expanding Dragons feature begins, they all turn purple and can stretch across entire reels and you won’t be surprised to see that all scatters turn purple, retriggering the round if enough appear in a single Expanding Dragon spin.
The standard blue scatter symbol will take you to the More Wilds free spins round when it’s in any 3 or more places after a spin in the base game. Between 10 and 15 bonus games will play out and after each, randomly selected symbols will transform into extra wilds, hopefully leading to lots more winning lines being seen each time. These spins can also be retriggered, with a new set starting as soon as the current round has ended.
Wagering Options
Free Dragon Wins video slots are provided if you want to just practice, but real cash awards can be claimed for just 0.25 per spin, while a top stake of 125.00 will see prize values increase at the same rate. Autoplay lets you watch as the reels spin for up to 100 times without any input, but keep an eye on the bankroll, as there’s no automatic shut-off.
Here be Dragons!
You would perhaps be surprised at how popular dragons are as the topic for an online casino slot to follow, but they are seen as symbols of good luck in many countries, plus myths and magic themed slots give designers plenty of scope to let their creativity run wild.
The guys and girls at Netxgen must have out in some overtime thinking up the multitude of bonus features for Dragon Wins, but some other online slot machines with a similar theme include Double Dragon, from Bally, 5 Dragons, by Aristocrat, and if you really can’t get enough of them, there’s the 50 Dragons slot machine, also by Aristocrat. It’s got free spins, wild substitutions and those wilds become stacked during the bonus games, plus of course, it’s filled with dragons from reel to reel.
The Verdict on Dragon Wins
Once the unusual reel layout is worked out, the Dragon Wins video slot is a pleasure to play. Even in the base games, there’s lots of attractive symbols appearing and when those dragons complete a line, you are on your way to launching a bonus feature.
It’s the multiple features that really make this slot stand out, and although most of them only grant a limited number of spins, there’s enough enhancements to the symbol mix to ensure that a few wins should be seen before each round ends.
If cute, cartoon dragons appeal, then the gameplay of this slot, that’s found at the many online casinos that use Nextgen software, will certainly make it a game to try out.
You can play this slot game for FREE – HERE
