5 Lions Gold Slot
Software | Pragmatic Play |
Slot theme | Riches |
Reel | 5 |
Paylines | 243 |
Progressive | No |
Reviewed & updated:
21.12.2024 By gambling expert
Richard B.
5 Lions Gold Slot Review
South African players may remember an earlier game by Pragmatic Play, 5 Lions, which gained huge success in many online casinos due to its extremely attractive paytable and despite the small size of a jackpot prize of only x10 the total stake. From now on they may play a newer and better version of the original slot machine, the 5 Lions Gold game, a 5-reel slot offering dedicated visitors of online casinos 243 ways to win and 3 weighty jackpots the largest of which is as heavy as x2,000 the total bet and may add to the balance of the luckiest player as much as $180,000 at the max bet. Above all, 5 Lions Gold produce joy of playing the game because of amazing design, heart-touching soundtrack and as many as two fantastic bonus features integrated into the gameplay. These features unlock at random. Players are not limited in their choices and options when it goes about playing 5 Lions Gold. This sophisticated and beautifully designed game performs impeccably well on desktops and mobile devices of any modern brand. Whatever preferences players have in terms of bet currency, the slot machine is ready to accept fiat money or bitcoin. Players from South Africa can enjoy the game and channel their effort into pursuing the opportunity to win as much as x7,000 the bet, as the supplier declares.Symbols and paytable
To play the game, players are asked to place a bet. There are two options for adjusting the bet, either by way of changing the total bet amount or adjusting the number of coins and a coin value. It is up to players what method to select, both are equally effective and produce the same outcomes. In any case, availability of both methods (just like it is done in many other slot machines by Pragmatic Play) increases user-friendliness of 5 Lions Gold.
The range of betting is fairly broad, from $0.18 to $90 per spin, so the game is interesting for all categories of players including high rollers and players on a budget. A bet is placed entirely on a spin as soon as the slot has no lines and employs ways to win instead. The mechanics of ways and the math behind winnings are explained below.
The game is tightly stuffed with regular and bonus symbols and even more so: the fact is that not only symbols and ways produce wins but also reels themselves work as sort of bonus triggers.
Regular icons are six playing cards from 9 to A and six classic Chinese symbols of wealth and luck including Turtles, Koi Carps and Frogs, all of amazingly detailed visual design. Playing cards pay low, between a few cents to x2 the stake. Other regular icons pay better, from x0.5 to x7 the stake. But the real scale of payout is understood only upon the analysis of math behind the paytable and 243 ways to win.
243-ways model explained
Regular icons pay an award when at least 2 adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel host matching icons (in case of playing cards it is 3 reels, also counting from the leftmost one). These combinations are referred to as ways to win and there are as many as 243 ways to win in the 5 Lions Gold slot.
To showcase the earning capacity, let us calculate a win for a theoretical combination of 12 Koi Carps, with 3 Carps sitting on each reel 1–4. This is a four-icon combo awarding x1.3 the stake, not much to speak of. It appears in 3x3x3x3=81 ways so the total win amounts to 81×1.2=x105.3 the stake or as much as $9,477 at the max bet. This is how 243 ways to win transforms tiny multipliers into huge payouts, up to x7,000 the stake which is an extremely attractive loot worth playing the online casino game for real money.
Special symbols in 5 Lions Gold
To make it easier and more lucrative, wild symbols appear on reels 2, 3 and 4. They look like traditional Chinese lions and do the job of traditional wilds: substitute for any regular icon in any combination. Wilds though cannot substitute for scatters popping up also on reels 2, 3 and 4 to unlock free spins.
Caishen, a Chinese god of wealth, is also a feature symbol acting in a genuinely mysterious but unfailingly profitable way. Caishen appears randomly during the base play or in the course of free spins and awards one of bonus features.
Reels also play a special role in this online casino game, going beyond what regular reels do in any normal slot machine. Every spin, a random reel (or reels) can turn golden and when there are enough golden reels, a fantastic bonus feature gets underway.
Golden Reels Jackpot bonus
This is a nice and simple mechanism designed to reward the most loyal players with jackpot prizes. The game offers 3 of them including Minor, Major and Grand, at x15, x150 and x2,000 the total bet, respectively ($1,350 to $180,000 at max).
The feature awards these massive prizes at random: it does not take any action or a qualified bet on the player’s part; only luck and Caishen’s mercy count. Every spin, 1 to 5 reels turn golden. Nothing happens though when there are only 1 or 2 golden reels; but when 3+ of them become golden, Minor, Major or Grand jackpots are released to the lucky punter. The Golden Reel Jackpot bonus can start off during the main game or free spins.
Jackpots are also drawn in a special bonus game controlled by Caishen. This means that the slot machine offers two chances to hit the best prizes.
Free spins
The feature triggers when 3 scatters hit any positions on reels 2, 3 or 4. It is designed to let online casino players more control over the game. Risks and possible wins are determined by a player, not imposed on them at a whim of a random number generator. Options to choose from are:
- 6 free spins with x15, x30 and x40 wild multipliers;
- 10 FS, x10, x15, x30
- 13 FS, x8, x10, x15
- 15 FS, x5, x8, x10
- 20 FS, x3, x5, x8
- 25 FS, x2, x3, x5 and
- Mystery choice generating a random number of free spins and multipliers.
Caishen Random Award
Caishen emerges on the reels in any mode and totally out of the blue, players do not need to achieve any combination to invite the god. He comes and determines the award a player deserves, the Free Spins bonus feature or a Jackpot Bonus Game, therefore the Caishen Random Award is the second situation that a player may win a prize of x15, x150 or x2,000 the stake when having fun in an online casino.
Caishen offers 9 golden coins with jackpot names printed on the facedown side. The task is to pick 3 matching coins, i.e. 3 coins with identical names (Minor, Major or Grand). The game keeps running until 3 matching coins are revealed, so a player is guaranteed to receive 1 of 3 jackpot prizes at the end.
Summary
The 5 Lions Gold video slot by Pragmatic Play is a 5×3 slot machine offering 243 ways to win. The slot accepts bets (in fiat money or bitcoin) from $0.18 to $90 per spin and pays up to x7,000 the stake at best. The game draws 3 jackpots of x15, x150 and x2,000 the total stake in the course of two bonus features including retriggerable free spins played with wild multipliers of x2 to x40.