Grand Dragon Online Slots

Ainsworth Interactive is in the process of launching their live slot games online, and Grand Dragon, which has an Asian theme, is a good choice for this move. While many online slots have a generic Asian appearance and vibe, very few have as rich and vibrant of coloring and shading as this one. It goes beyond the ostentatious output. Ainsworth slot machine fans are already aware that these games’ strong gameplay is its essential component. Slot enthusiasts around should check out this combination when added to this excellent production. There is a second bonus game included in the free spins portion of this game.

Grand Dragon has a number of the overused Asian slot machine icons, such as the dragon, golden coin, and golden carp. You’ll discover that some quite skilled graphic designers have given these a makeover. Impressive attention to detail, particularly with regard to the dragon and Phoenix in the bonus round. The graphics on this slot machine are actually far superior to those on other online games. Sounds include the galloping clicks that Aristocrat first made famous. When you win, there are songs. These are also rich, featuring melodies (of a sort) and bass notes, rather than just the dated computer beeps. Another cliche associated with slots with an Asian theme is the sporadic gong sound.

There is only one bonus game in this game, and it begins with ten free spins. There is a “Phoenix respin” with stacked wilds in this, which has the potential to yield some of the larger 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.