Grand Dragon Slot Machine Review
Ainsworth interactive are busy bringing their live slot titles online, and the Asian themed Grand Dragon is a worthy candidate for this transition. There are plenty of slots online with a generic Asian look and feel to them – though very few are as rich or vivid in their colouring and shading as this one. It is not just about the lavish production. Fans of Ainsworth slots will already know that the core of these games is their solid game-play. Add to this great production and you have a combination which slot fans worldwide need to check out. This game has a free spins game which has a 2nd bonus game within it.
Many of the symbols on Grand Dragon are the clichéd Asian slot classics like the golden carp, dragon and gold coin. What you will find is that these have been given a new make-over by some very talented graphic designers. The level of detail, especially for the dragon and the Phoenix in the bonus round is impressive. In fact everything about this slot’s graphics is a level above your average online game. Sounds include the galloping clicks which were originally made famous by Aristocrat. There are tunes when you win. These are rich too, with bass notes and melodies (of sorts), and not just the computer bleeps of old. There is the occasional gong sound too, another Asian themed slot cliché.
This game just has the one bonus game, which starts with 10 free spins. Within this there is a ‘Phoenix respin’, which involves stacked wilds – this can result in some of the bigger wins.
Setup and Play for Grand Dragon
You can play this slot with 3 line configurations, 1, 10 or 25. The stacked wilds in the bonus game means that I would personally always choose the 25 lines to maximize the potential winning combinations there. You can bet from just 1c per line, all the way up to $12.50c, making the biggest spin amount $312.50c. There is an option to gamble wins on the turn of a playing card, and also an auto-play option.
Regular wins are smaller than on some slots. This is balanced by the possibility of a large number of wins in one go, especially during the bonus feature. Of the regular symbols, the golden carp (with baby) has the biggest prize of 1000 coins for 5 on a line. Next comes the green patterned jewel, which is worth 300, then the gold coin (200), lantern (150) and the playing cards ace down to nine make up the smaller wins.
Special symbols are headed by the nicely decorated Golden dragon. This is the wild symbol, and will often appear stacked on the reels. The dragon substitutes for any of the regular symbols, tough not the scatter (or the phoenix in the bonus game). That scatter is a yin yang symbol, which pays up to 100x your total spin amount for 5 anywhere on the reels. 3 of these will trigger the bonus game – which starts with 10 free spins.
Grand Dragon Bonus Game
The free spins feature has two interesting twists compared to the main play on the reels. First of all, the number of lines is doubled. If you started with the max 25 lines, you’ll be playing 50 win lines for the duration of the free spins. Second, there is a sub-game involving the Phoenix symbol.
This is an amazingly decorated swirling pattern, and will land on reels 1 and 5 only. If you get both then a bigger Phoenix appears over the reels, to show that you have a special respin. The reels then spin again, only this time reels one and 5 are covered in Dragons – which are wild. This gives you a shot at some very big wins, especially those times you get some dragons in the centre 3 reels as well.
Finally, you can retrigger the bonus game for 5 more spins by getting 3 more of the Yin Yang scatters anywhere on the reels.
Grand Dragon – Conclusion
As Asian themed slots go you will be hard pushed to find games as graphically rich and detailed as this one. As with all the more recent Ainsworth titles, the solid game-play is the main appeal. There is no break out pick-em type games to distract you or crazy on-reel behaviour. The free spins round has been made a lot more interesting with the Phoenix respin included. I like the way that the win lines are doubled too. This makes even more of a difference those times you hit some stacked wilds.
If you enjoy Asian-themed casino games, this is one of the best online slots available, so be sure to try this great game to see what it's all about.
