Gold Hit: Dragon Bonanza

Dragon Bonanza Review

The innovative mechanics were well received, so the studio expands the franchise with new releases. This time, we are taken to fight against a mighty dragon for riches in the Dragon Bonanza slot, which has similar gameplay to another game, but offers extra opportunities for players to win.

The studio has always been an expert in terms of designing a game, so Dragon Bonanza looks absolutely superb on the outside. The developers managed to create an immersive fantasy atmosphere with perfectly polished visuals and an epic soundtrack, so the slot feels extremely pleasing to play.

The actions of the Dragon Bonanza slot take place in a kind of dragon’s lair, a cave packed with coins, gold, and shiny gems, which you are about to put your hands on. The dragon himself is sitting on top of the reels, putting them on fire from time to time when you hit wins and bonus features. It plays out across an unorthodox 5-reel setup, producing a staggering 4,608 ways to play on each spin. What’s interesting is that the reels hold a different number of symbols - reels 1 and 2 have four rows, reels 3 and 4 have six rows, and the rightmost 5th reel has 8 rows.

Playable on any device, Dragon Bonanza comes with a betting range of £0.1 to £130 per spin, so there are enough options for both high-rollers and lower-stake punters. Unlike in previous games, this one sports a medium level of volatility, so it means wins should occur more often. However, the maximum win value is yet officially unknown, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we get more info. As for RTP, several different settings are available, with 95.5% being the default one.

As we head over to the paytable, we see 11 regular symbols that are divided into two categories. On the lower side, the pay symbols start with classic A-9 card ranks. The higher symbols, in turn, are cups, fangs, crowns, dragon eggs, and the dragon himself. All symbols pay from 3-of-a-kind and more, and 5-of-a-kind wins are worth from 0.8x to 5x your bet. Wild symbols are also available. They can appear on all reels and act as substitutes for any of the regulars, helping you to achieve payouts.

Dragon Bonanza Slot Features

As the title implies, the slot revolves around the mechanics. In addition to regular symbols, there are a bunch of special symbols included, namely three different coins:

• Cash Prize Coin - displays a random cash value of 0.5x - 10x the bet.
• Multiplier Coin - displays a random multiplier value of up to 5x. Multiplies all cash values and jackpots on the same reel.
• Mystery Prize Coin - awards a random jackpot when collected.

Whenever a coin symbol appears on the reels, it locks in place for the next three spins, and when another coin appears in the same reel, the counter gets reset. The coins remain held until no new bonus symbols land in the same reel during 3 consecutive spins or until they are collected.

To collect the prizes, you need to fill the reel entirely with bonus symbols. If there’s a Mystery Prize Coin on the collected reel, a wheel appears and spins to determine the awarded jackpot prize, which can be one of the following:

• Mini jackpot - 20x the stake (14.29x with Bonus Bet).
• Minor jackpot - 50x the stake (35.71x with Bonus Bet).
• Major jackpot - 100x the stake (71.43x with Bonus Bet).
• Mega jackpot - 500x the stake (357.14x with Bonus Bet).

Look out for Scatter symbols, which are available on all of the reels. When 3, 4, or 5 hit simultaneously, players receive 10, 12, or 15 Free Spins respectively. The bonus game operates in a similar way to the base game, and the main difference is that all coin symbols turn sticky for the duration of the feature and are held until the free games end.

Moreover, when a reel is filled entirely with coins during the free spins, a bonus wheel is triggered to increase the prize values on that reel. You get one spin of the wheel to determine the multiplier value that will be applied to the reel, which can be anything between 2x and 10x.

What is unique to Dragon Bonanza when compared to its older brothers is the Feature Bet option, which gives players an opportunity to boost the odds of activating the bonus. When on, your bet is increased by 40%, but the chances of triggering the free spins are twice as high.

Review Summary

Well, we always love when slot developers come up with new exciting gaming mechanics, bringing new gaming experiences to the players. We as much appreciate the concept, but it has hardly evolved within three different releases, providing pretty much the same gameplay. While another edition sported new Collect symbols that offered bigger winning opportunities, this one returned back to the roots and has nothing new to offer except for a side bet. It’s still an enjoyable game, yet there’s nothing new for players to be found but the new dragons-inspired wrapping.

Pros	Cons
Top-notch design	RTP ranges
Exciting mechanics	Offers nothing new but a Feature Bet
Free Spins with lucrative perks
Four different jackpots