Dolphin Hot 1

Dolphin Hot 1 Slot Review

A Greek temple sits half-drowned in a calm lilac sea, its stone columns glowing turquoise under sunset clouds, a small flame burning on the roof above the reels. Dolphin Hot 1 is exactly what that flame suggests: a game where almost nothing pays properly until the very last moment, and one spin decides whether the whole session was worth it.

ReelPlay have built this one around sticky symbols and patience. It runs on a 5×4 grid with 40 paylines, at 96.1% RTP and high volatility, with a maximum win of 4,605x the bet. The studio’s better-known 10K Ways titles, like 10000 Wonders 10K Ways and Atlantis 10K Ways, spread their wins across thousands of ways; here everything narrows to a single closing spin.

Base Game & Features

The setting is a strong, gentle ocean theme: creatures of the deep drifting past a submerged Greek temple under an endless blue. It’s glossy, softly lit, and it doesn’t get in the way of the maths, which is where this game keeps its promises.

Bets run from 0.20 to 40 per spin, with 40 fixed paylines paying left to right. Only the highest win counts on each line, and wins on different lines add together. All wins are multiples of the line bet, and malfunction voids everything – the standard protections, doing standard work.

The dolphin is the wild, and it’s a 2x wild: any win that includes it pays double. The multiplier doesn’t stack if more than one wild lands, and the wild substitutes for whatever symbol produces the biggest possible win. It never substitutes for the pearl BONUS symbol.

Symbol pays for five, four and three of a kind:

• Top character symbol: 37.5x, 3.75x, 1.25x
• Second character symbol: 17.5x, 2x, 0.75x
• Third character symbol: 7.5x, 1.5x, 0.5x
• Fourth character symbol: 7.5x, 1.5x, 0.5x
• Fifth character symbol: 5x, 1.25x, 0.5x
• Sixth character symbol: 5x, 1.25x, 0.5x
• Low symbol one: 3.75x, 0.75x, 0.25x
• Low symbol two: 3.75x, 0.75x, 0.25x
• Low symbol three: 3.75x, 0.75x, 0.25x
• Low symbol four: 3.75x, 0.75x, 0.25x

The top symbol is a considerable outlier: at 37.5x for five, it pays more than twice what the second symbol manages and ten times any of the royals. Filling a payline with the same character, which is exactly what the free spins round sets out to do, is where the real money on this grid lives.

Two BONUS pearls anywhere trigger the Mystery Respin; three or more trigger Free Spins. The respin holds the two reels carrying the pearls and re-spins the other three once, at the triggering bet.

The respin comes in two flavours. In a Bonus Chance Respin the pearls stay as they are, giving the remaining three reels a shot at landing the third pearl. In a Wild Respin they transform into wilds for the respin, which puts a pair of 2x wilds on held reels while the rest chase a win. Free Spins can be triggered on a respin, but the respin itself can’t retrigger.

Dolphin Hot 1 Free Spins & Hot 1 Spin

Three or more BONUS symbols, at the end of a base spin or a respin, award seven free spins. The triggering pearls turn sticky and stay locked to their positions for the rest of the feature. From there the round runs as a sequence:

1. All sticky symbols start as the lowest character symbol, and all five reels spin.
2. Any new BONUS symbol that lands turns sticky and awards an extra spin, played immediately.
3. Once a spin passes without a new pearl, every sticky symbol transforms up to the next character symbol.
4. The sequence repeats through to the top paying character symbol.
5. The final free spin is the Hot 1.

Free Spins play at the triggering bet throughout. It’s a feature that rewards pearls arriving late as much as early, since every new sticky symbol extends the round and locks in a bigger transformation. A pearl landing on spin six does exactly the same job as a pearl landing on spin one.

The steady climb matters because the sticky symbols only ever move up. A five-of-a-kind win early in the round, when the whole collection is still the lowest character, pays a fraction of what the same grid pays two transformations later. There’s no way back down the ladder once a step is taken.

The Hot 1 Spin

The Hot 1 is the last free spin, and every sticky symbol on the grid becomes the wild for it. That can put multiple 2x wilds across the reels with the entire collection in play – though, as ever, the multipliers don’t stack. New BONUS symbols landing on the Hot 1 turn sticky and award another Hot 1 spin, so the finale can run more than once.

That closing spin is the whole point of the game. Everything before it exists to fill the reels with sticky symbols and hand them to the wild at the end.

Buy Bonus

The Buy Bonus costs 75x the bet and runs at 96.2% RTP, a shade above the base game. The bought spin triggers Free Spins with between three and five BONUS symbols, and the round then plays out under the standard rules, Hot 1 included. Buying at the top stake therefore puts 3,000 on a single entry ticket.

Because the bought spin guarantees at least three starting pearls, the feature opens with three sticky symbols already on the grid. A five-symbol start does the same job as two lucky respins in the base game, minus the waiting.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

Most of a session on Dolphin Hot 1 is spent treading water. You’re spinning for pearls, the wins in between are small, and the temple just sits there looking serene. The single reason to choose it is what all that treading is for: a finale that turns everything you’ve collected loose at once.

That finale is also the game’s biggest strength. Because the sticky collection only climbs, a round that runs long isn’t just longer – it’s worth more, every step of it, and the Hot 1 gives the whole build a genuine payoff. The weakness is that nothing before the feature comes close. Two thirds of spins pay nothing, and the base game’s one trick, the 2x wild, can’t carry an hour on its own.

So it’s for players who like a feature that grows, and for anyone who has enjoyed an earlier Hot 1 game and wants the shape again. If you want action on every spin, this ocean is too calm for you. For the patient ones, that last spin off the temple steps is a lovely thing to wait for.

Dolphin Hot 1 FAQs

• How do you trigger Free Spins in Dolphin Hot 1?

  Three or more BONUS symbols anywhere award seven free spins, whether they land on a base spin or at the end of a Mystery Respin. The triggering pearls become sticky symbols straight away.
• What is the Hot 1 spin in Dolphin Hot 1?

  The Hot 1 is the final free spin. All sticky symbols transform into the wild symbol for that spin, and any new BONUS symbols that land award an additional Hot 1 spin.
• What does the wild do in Dolphin Hot 1?

  The dolphin wild substitutes for all symbols except the BONUS symbol, and any win that includes it pays double. The 2x multiplier doesn’t stack if more than one wild is present.
• How much does the Buy Bonus cost in Dolphin Hot 1?

  It’s priced at 75x the stake and runs at 96.2% RTP. The bought spin triggers Free Spins with between three and five BONUS symbols.
• Can the Mystery Respin retrigger in Dolphin Hot 1?

  No. The respin is a single re-spin of the three reels not holding BONUS symbols, and it can’t be retriggered. Free Spins can be triggered on a respin, though.
• What is the RTP of Dolphin Hot 1?

  96.1%.
• What is the maximum win on Dolphin Hot 1?

  The maximum win is 4,605x the bet.
• Is Dolphin Hot 1 high volatility?

  Yes. It’s a high volatility game with a hit frequency of 34%.