It seems like a strange coincidence that I find myself reviewing Reel Kingdom’s 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot immediately after checking out another Japan-inspired slot that I praised for its interesting and unique visual style. I say this because this game is quite the opposite – it’s a very typical Far Eastern machine with those fake-looking letters that Japanese people wouldn’t even recognise, along with enough dragons to make Merlin proud. In my opinion, this isn’t the most interesting-looking game, but it does offer 10 fixed paylines, a 96.01% RTP, and a maximum jackpot prize of 8,000x the player’s stake.
The first feature of note listed on the paytable is described as a “Mini slot machine bonus”, triggered by hitting three scatter symbols. This will replace the normal reels with eight 3×3 miniature slots with alternative reel strips featuring only dragons and blank spaces. It’s quite a complicated feature considering that it’s supposed to be a “mini-slot”, so be sure to check out the detailed section regarding this bonus later in our review. There’s also a secondary bonus dubbed the ‘Envelope Feature’, but this can only be won on the back of the Mini Slot. For the more impatient players, the 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot also includes a bonus bet option and a bonus buy facility.
Are you ready to walk through the Torii gates and steal some gold from the magical dragons? If so, I’d probably recommend going to see your doctor! Oh, but when you get back, do be sure to check out our free 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot demo! It’s available to play below:
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 10 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 250 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 8,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.01% |
| Our Rating | 5.0 |
8 Golden Dragon Challenge Casino Bonuses
8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot Demo
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8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Dragons. Some people believe that these creatures genuinely existed at some time during the past, whereas most will tell you that they are nothing but legend. What’s not in doubt, however, is that they show up all the time in online slots – usually sitting on huge hordes of gold! Take a look at Dragon’s Cache, for example, or how about PG Soft’s Dragon Hatch? Our review library actually includes a total of 87 different games that feature dragons in some way, and if I’m honest, then 8 Golden Dragon Challenge certainly is not the best looking out of the bunch. The game does have a few good things going for it though, particularly when it comes to the paytable – let’s take a look.
The red dragons are the most valuable symbols you can hit when playing the 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot, with a maximum payout of 100x the current stake for a complete payline of five of a kind. The green dragon is worth half as much at 50x for all five symbols, whilst the poor blue guy has the questionable honour of being the least valuable dragon at just 20x the total bet for a full line of five. Those payouts aren’t too bad at all, especially when you consider that they can also appear in stacks. Unfortunately, that’s all you get as far as high pays are concerned – the only other symbols on the paytable are the royals, which have payouts ranging between 2x the bet for five nines, all the way up to 10x for five aces.
There’s a huge number of bets available in Reel Kingdom’s 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot – the minimum/maximum limits of €0.10 and €250.00 per spin are guaranteed to satisfy players of all kinds, but what’s really great here is the granular level of control you have in between those limits; you can pretty much bet however much you like, which is always great to see.
8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot Base Game
The basic gameplay on offer here is traditional video slot through and through – like most of the classics, 8 Golden Dragon Challenge has ten paylines which span a five-reel, three-row playfield. The three coloured dragon symbols all award prizes for just two matching symbols starting from the left, whilst the royals require at least three symbols to return a win.
Ante Bet
If you want to play more bonus rounds – and, let’s face it, who doesn’t? – then, you can enable the ante bet option during play. This does increase the cost of each spin by 50%, and it’s not specified exactly how much better the odds of triggering a bonus actually are. There’s a tiny increase in RTP when enabling the option, but I’d probably recommend playing with this turned on regardless, as long as your bankroll permits.
8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot Bonus Features
The base game of 8 Golden Dragon Challenge doesn’t feature much in the way of special features or modifiers, but the Mini Slot Machine Bonus does have a good degree of depth to keep things interesting. You’ll need to hit all three possible scatters to trigger this mode, which are present on reels one, three, and five.
Mini Slot Machine Bonus
The title of this game – 8 Golden Dragon Challenge – refers to the eight miniature slots present in this aspect of the machine. These mini-slots feature alternative reel strips containing only a special three-high dragon symbol and plenty of dreaded blank positions.
The bonus is played in multiple stages – all eight mini slots will spin in tandem, and if three adjacent dragon symbols appear on any of these, you’ll be paid 1x the total bet. Mini slots that return a winning combination will continue spinning, whilst a dead spin on any machine will lock up that set of reels for the remainder of the bonus. If any mini slot lands an entire three-high dragon symbol during the bonus, you’ll also get to play the envelope bonus once all eight machines have become locked.
Envelope Bonus
For every mini slot with a winning combination featuring a full dragon symbol, a multiplier of 1x will be added to your global multiplier for the envelope bonus. If you were lucky enough to hit wins featuring two or three full dragons, your global multiplier will be boosted by 3x or 8x, respectively, instead.
With your multiplier established, the game will present you with eight envelopes featuring random amounts of money. The prizes in these envelopes can be worth up to 10x the total bet, and the value of the envelope you select will then have your global multiplied applied to it.
This should be the most generous aspect of the game – I have to assume this is where the 8,000x jackpot can be won, although I struggled to win more than around 100x my bet during the time that I was testing the game. I guess I was probably just unlucky, but this does highlight the high volatility of the 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot.
Bonus Buy
If you would prefer to skip the base game and just play the mini-slot bonus, you can do so by paying 100x the current stake.
Pros
- Respectable maximum prize of 8,000x the total bet.
- The mini slot game is interesting and unique.
- The payouts attached to the dragons are relatively high.
Cons
- Only three high-paying symbols.
- The base game lacks features, which is disappointing if you can’t use the bonus buy facility.
Final Thoughts
This game has a few good things going for it – you can win a decent prize during the base game if you line up a good number of red dragons, and the mini-slot bonus is also a little different. However, that's not really enough to interest me, and whilst some players might enjoy the 8 Golden Dragon Challenge slot, this is one that I'll ultimately be giving a miss.
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