Member Reviews

NextGen always strives to break the mould, pushing the boundaries of game design novelty. That is once again manifested in their brand-new slot machine – Dragon Wins, that will spark your inner child, provide you with an opportunity to team with a friendly bunch of fire-breathing creatures, and let you step into the realm of fantasy and imagination.

The colourful release features 5 reels and 40 paylines, as well as multiple Bonus features, including Dragon Spins enhanced with stacked symbols, More Dragons, Dragon Reels, Expanding Dragons, and two Free Spins features with three wild reels.

The childish theme and cartoon-style graphics will not be to all tastes, but, nonetheless, the gameplay itself revolving around the two Free Spins modes is what will attract many punters, offering loads of entertainment and lucrative prizes. However, we wish the variance was a bit higher, as, despite the amount and diversity of features, we could hardly score more than 30x the stake.

DEVELOPER

NextGen Gaming is an online gaming supplier that has literally lived up its name, building up the future of the casino industry.

The company is present on the market for nearly two decades, and since its foundation in 1999, it has never ceased to surprise us by constantly bringing captivating and innovative themes, attractive design, and magnificent artwork, presenting us with an environment we want to re-visit over and over again.

HOW TO PLAY IT

Speaking of visuals, Dragon Wins slot features cartoon-style graphics, with the reels being set against the vast blue sky, to accentuate the dreamy air of the fantasy-themed game. The stone plaque reels are what will instantly capture your attention, with an unconventional 3x4x5x4x3 grid format.

The dragon icons are far from being a breakthrough, and, in all honesty, we have already seen a couple of titles centred around colourful dragons. Yet, if you are fond of light-hearted themes and wish to experience the fantasy world, at least for a brief moment, then the NextGen release will be right up your alley.

Gameplay wise, this is a low to medium variance offering, where you can expect a fair number of dead spins before your lucky streak takes over, which is disappointing, given the number of special features on offer. The two Free Spins modes is where the hefty payouts can come from, especially with those three wild reels that can potentially provide you with up to 1,200x the stake on each free spin. For us, though, that score still remains in the realm of theory.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Dragon Wins slot machine is brimming with Bonus features. First off, in all four corners of the reel set, you will notice four animated dragons with a meter. All you have to do to make the meter rise is create a winning combo featuring the dragon that corresponds to one of the meters.

Once you manage to fill it up, you will launch the Dragon Spins feature that will award three Dragon Spins, each enhanced with their own special power. Filling the Red Dragon meter will grant three free spins with the red dragon symbols spinning stacked on all reels.

More Dragons/Gold Dragons will see all dragon icons turning into gold dragons. In addition, gemstones can also transform into gold fire-breathers. Dragon Reels/Green Dragons will give you three free spins with all dragon symbols turning into green dragons, whereas the reels 2, 3, and 4, will change to dragon reels.

Purple Dragons/Expanding Dragons will award three spins with all dragon symbols transforming into purple dragons that can expand to cover an entire reel. Keep in mind that during all Dragon Spins features, you can see three or more Scatters that can re-trigger the spins.

The main draw of the game are Scatters, which are no doubt the most lucrative symbols on the grid, awarding 2,000 coins for landing five of them on the reels. Hitting three, four, or five of them will trigger one of the two Free Spins features. The More Wilds Free Games feature will present you with between 10 and 15 free spins and, on each spin, selected icons will be morphed into Wilds. Should you land additional three or more Scatters, you will re-trigger the free spins.

The Wild Reels Free Games feature awards between 5 and 10 free spins. On each spin, up to three reels may change to wild reels. If you manage to land at least three Scatters during this feature, you will re-trigger the round, and win up to 20 free games.

MAXIMUM PAYOUTS

Judging by our personal experience, dragon-sized wins are somewhat tough to come by, however, we must admit that we did have fun hunting for them.

The hefty payouts are reserved for the two Free Spins features, especially the Wild Reels Free Spins round that is doubtlessly the most lucrative one, and, if you are lucky enough to get three wild reels on any free spins, you can hope for up to 1,200x your bet.

SUMMARY

Dragon Wins has definitely an imaginative and ingenious mechanic, and NextGen once again proved their willingness to think outside the box, despite the fact that the theme may seem a bit childish.

On the other hand, the pretty low variance of the game is what we particularly disapprove of, and, in spite of the fact that the slot has a fair number of Bonus features, they could rarely contribute to more than 30x the bet, at least in our experience.