Kites are very popular in China and have been for some time. In fact, some say kites were invented in China during the Warring States Period of 475-221 BC by two philosophers called Lu Ban and Mozi. Apparently, they were originally used for military purposes such as measuring distances to help move armies, but today they generally play a much more benign role. For one, they've been used to bring colour to games like Floating Dragon Megaways from Pragmatic Play and partner studio Reel Kingdom. It follows on from Floating Dragon Hold & Spin, a game which has proven popular amongst certain members of the streaming community. Will Floating Dragon Megaways tickle their fancy as well? Toss up a kite and come find out.
The first thing to know about Floating Dragon Megaways and its predecessor is that they are Asian-themed games full of colourful kites, with an big blue-sky background, dragons, bright plant life, and a lady who collects fish money symbols instead of the traditional angler. The lady of the tale sits by the reels doing a seductive look over the shoulder thing, next to a couple of feature buy buttons, where applicable.
One of the differences between this and the previous game is the massively engorged game grid. Where once it was a simple 5x3 panel, Floating Dragon Megaways has a huge grid made up of 6 main reels holding up to 6 symbols each, plus 3 rows of 4 symbols each sitting on top of reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. The topmost row only contains wilds or blanks; the other two upper rows can contain any symbol. The symbols on the top 3 rows are locked or unlocked randomly, and only unlocked symbols can form part of a win. At maximum expansion, this system provides up to 147,456 ways to win.
From a numerical standpoint, there is a lot to appreciate in Floating Dragon Megaways. One is the RTP of 96.7% (though it can be found lower), which applies whether you play the game normally or buy either of the bonus rounds, while volatility is high – rated 5 out of 5. Bet selection varies from 20 p/c to $/€250 per spin.
One way of collecting a bit of moolah in Floating Dragon Megaways is when matching symbols land on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. Pay symbols begin with 10-A card royals and follow with fish money symbols, a face kite, a butterfly kite, a bird kite, and a ship. Landing a full six-of-a-kind winning way pays from 0.5 to 50 times the stake. As mentioned, wild symbols appear on the topmost row, substituting for any regular pay symbol.
Much of the main features are those used in the previous game but tweaked to fit the Megaways version. Here you'll find tumbles, fish money symbols, mystery symbols, free spins, a Hold & Spin Bonus, and feature buys.
After each spin, winning ways are paid, and the symbols involved in them are removed from the board. Symbols then drop down to refill the gaps. If a new win is formed after the refill, another tumble is triggered. Tumbles continue until no new win appears.
Fish money symbols display a random value of 2-5,000x the bet, which can only be won during free spins. In the base game, fish money symbols are removed and tumble as normal, yet in free spins, they are not removed but fall to the bottom of the screen as tumbles occur.
Mystery symbols are present in the base game and free spins. In the base game, all mystery symbols transform into the same pay symbol. In free spins, if the lady symbol is in view and no fish money symbols are, mystery symbols can randomly appear and transform into any other random symbol.
Hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 dragon scatter symbols awards 10, 15, 20, or 25 free spins, respectively. The lady symbol appears during free spins, which collects the values of fish money symbols whenever they are in view at the same time. Lady symbols are also collected whenever they hit. Every time 4 Ladies are collected, +10 free spins are retriggered, and a multiplier is created – multipliers are applied to the fish money symbol collects. The first collection point creates an x2, then an x3, then an x10 multiplier. After that, each retrigger adds +x10 to the multiplier without limit. Multipliers apply to retriggered spins, which play when the previous batch of free spins ends. At random, if there are lady symbols on screen but no fish, fish may be added to the grid.
Coin money symbols appear anywhere except the topmost reel and display values of 1 to 2,000 times the total bet. Landing 3 or more coin symbols trigger the Hold & Spin Bonus. The bonus starts with the triggering coins locked in place while all other symbols vanish. Once underway, 3 respins are awarded, and any new coin symbols lock while resetting respins back to 3. Moreover, diamonds can also land, bearing values of 50 to 2,000x the bet. When spins run out, the value of all symbols in view is awarded. If it is less than 20x the bet, 3 respins are awarded.
Where possible, players have the option of buying the free spins bonus for 100x the bet or the Hold & Spin Bonus for 120x the bet.
If anything, Pragmatic Play has made any already rather busy game even busier. Floating Dragon Megaways is like a rich buffet of all sorts of features, common features, yet there is plenty of them, nonetheless. The original slot achieved a measure of success, so it makes sense that the upgraded version would leave the core gaming intact. This the studio has done, preferring to stretch everything out to fit the considerably sized Megaways game board rather than go nuts overhauling the gameplay.
As to the features, well, there was nothing especially original about them before and nothing especially original about them now. The two central showpieces are tried and true extras that have been seen plenty of times before. One is a basic hold 'n win round devoid of any special symbols – hit money symbols and collect, that's it. Not much else to say about it, while the other main feature borrows heavily from Big Bass Bonanza and others who laid the groundwork for fish money symbol collect style action. One thing about free spins, which might raise an eyebrow or two, though, is the way the multiplier has no upper limit. In the past, it's generally tapped out at x10 and stopped there. If you're thinking the lack of limit should have a positive effect on the max win, you'd be right. Where Floating Dragon could muster up 5,000x, Floating Dragon Megaways pushes the ceiling out to 20,000x the bet. Adding to the intrigue, the max win probability is 1 in 1,496,522, which seems reasonable compared to a lot of the competition.
It's certainly hard to say a bad word about Floating Dragon Megaways' numbers, but the gameplay and vibe won't be for everyone. Suffice to say, if you liked the original, there is a good chance the extra helpings of practically everything in Floating Dragon Megaways should entertain as well.
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