Players, it is time for us to 'Enter the Dragon Reels… The house of fortune & good luck', courtesy of provider Pragmatic Play and pals Reel Kingdom in the online slot 8 Golden Dragon Challenge. If you've played your fair share of slots, it probably doesn't take a master's degree in cultural studies to figure out from the title that 8 Golden Dragon Challenge is an Asian-themed game heavy on dragons which are an important part of Chinese culture. The number 8 is prominent, too, associated with prosperity, and in 8 Golden Dragon Challenge, it also refers to the number of mini-slots which spin in the bonus round. Confused? Great, let's work it all out together.
8 Golden Dragon Challenge is not exactly a study in subtlety. Some Asian slots, a recent example being Densho from Hacksaw Gaming, go the artistic, tasteful route. Others, like 8 Golden Dragon Challenge, slam all the stuff we're used to seeing in these sorts of games into your face like an overflowing salad bar. We're talking about a gaming grid set into a pagoda-like structure, pink leaf/flowered trees, mountains, coins with squares cut into them, and a classical-sounding soundtrack. In short, if you are in the market for a traditional-looking Asian-themed slot, 8 Golden Dragon Challenge is it.
>Is the number 3 auspicious in Chinese culture? Only asking because 8 Golden Dragon Challenge offers gamblers 3 ways to play. The regular way is by choosing a stake of 10 p/c to $/€250 and going for it. The other way is by switching on the Ante Bet, which jacks up the bet by 50% to have a higher chance of winning the feature, while the final method is to just buy the feature right there and then for 100x the bet. The RTP is more or less the same regardless of choice – 96.01%, or 96.02% when using the Ante Bet, and back to 96.01% when buying the bonus round. Behind the scenes chugs a medium volatile math model.
In the base game, the action is held on a 5x3, 10-payline game grid. Regular line wins pay left to right, beginning from the leftmost side of the matrix. Nine to Ace card ranks make up 8 Golden Dragon Challenge's low pays, firing off payout worth 2 to 10 times the bet when landing a 5-of-a-kind winning line. This increases to 20 to 100 times the bet when five of the blue dragons, green dragons, or red dragons hit along a payline. 8 Golden Dragon Challenge does not supply wild symbols at any time.
>Be on the lookout for the scatter symbol, though, present on reels 1, 3, and 5.
Hitting 3 scatter symbols triggers the Mini Slot Machine Bonus. For the bonus round, the default gaming grid is replaced by a 3x3 play area holding 8 mini slot machines that land only dragon symbols or blanks. Each 3rd of a dragon symbol represents 1 symbol on the mini slot machines.
The bonus is played out in rounds. In each round, active unlocked mini slot machines spin and land a result. Any 3 adjacent dragon symbols from left to right from the leftmost reel on the slot machine awards a cash prize. When mini slot machines land a win, they remain active and go into the next round. Any slot machines that do not land a win are locked. The bonus round ends when all mini slot machines are locked.
If any mini slot machine has a winning combination with a full dragon on a reel, an extra bonus is awarded known as the Envelope Bonus. For each mini slot machine with a winning combination showing a full dragon symbol during the previous part of the bonus round, a multiplier of +1x is added to a total multiplier for the Envelope Bonus, +3x for two full Dragon symbols, and +8x for 3 full Dragon symbols. When the Envelope Bonus starts, 8 envelopes open to show random money amounts that get multiplied by the total multiplier. All amounts are added together and paid. Possible values from the envelopes are 2x, 3x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, or 10x the bet.
>Have to say, having fired up the game, enthusiasm wasn't exciting burning white hot. 8 Golden Dragon Challenge looked like a fairly common, albeit brightly presented, Asian-themed slot of which there is a ton already available for selection. It came across as kinda generic, and the base game is pretty pedestrian, consisting of trying to land line wins, and that's pretty much about it. However, 8 Golden Dragon Challenge did pick up once the Mini Slot Machine Bonus round trundled around, delivering something you don't see every day.
So unique is the Mini Slot Machine Bonus it may well produce rather divided reactions and opinions. While some may be cold to its charm, others may love it, and you can see why that might be so. The round is pacey, blasting values on the mini-slots promptly (or locking them) one by one through the rounds. The prize values they displayed weren't exactly eye-popping, in the review at least, but things can apparently add up. Likely helped along if you can it make all the way to the Envelope Bonus with a decent multiplier, and 8 Golden Dragon Challenge's max win is 8,800x the bet. Not only is this a respectable amount, but Pragmatic Play was also able to squeeze a couple of extra '8s' in there for good measure.
It might not look it at first, but 8 Golden Dragon Challenge manages to add something new to the Asian-inspired list of slot choices. Despite a rather bland base game, it's not too difficult to imagine the Mini Slot Machine Bonus and Envelope Bonus possessing appeal for certain gamblers.
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