Dragon Ways Multiplier Slot Review
A Chinese fortune slot framed by a green glazed roof and red lacquered pillars usually means one thing: a game going through the motions. Dragon Ways Multiplier does something better with the setting than most.
Inspired have built their round around a survival contest rather than a spin count, and it changes how every free spin feels. You’ll find the studio’s hand in slots like Jin Chan Cash, Big Bonus and Animal Antics.
The claim rests on the numbers as much as the design. It runs on a 5×3 grid with up to 243 ways to win, a 95.9% RTP and mid-to-high volatility, and the base paytable is modest by modern standards.
Everything that makes the game interesting lives in its free spins round, where lives and a rising multiplier do the work a flat spin count usually does badly.
Up to 243 Ways Across the Reels
Wins don’t use paylines here. Any three, four or five matching symbols across adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one, form a win. Each award is multiplied by the number of matching symbols on each reel in the combination, which is where the “up to 243” comes from: a full screen of one symbol counts every position.
In practice that means a five-of-a-kind made of two symbols on reel one, three on reel two and one each on reels three, four and five pays as a single combination scaled by every position it covers. It’s a mechanic that rewards stacked reels, and it’s the reason a modest-looking paytable can still produce chunky base game hits when the tiles cooperate.
Only the highest award is paid per combination, and wins on different combinations are added together. The paying symbols are drawn from the same ornate palette as the frame, from gold ingots down to the card royals.
- Gold ingot with coin decoration: 2x, 4x and 20x the total bet for three, four and five
- Green dragon turtle: 1.2x, 2.4x and 6x
- Drum: 1x, 2x and 4x
- Red fan: 0.8x, 1.6x and 3x
- Gold coins with red triangle: 0.6x, 1.2x and 2x
- Gold ingot: 0.6x, 1.2x and 2x
- Red Chinese character: 0.1x, 0.4x and 1x
- K: 0.1x, 0.4x and 1x
- Q: 0.1x, 0.4x and 1x
- J: 0.1x, 0.4x and 1x
Those values are multiples of the total bet, so the top symbol’s five-of-a-kind is the largest fixed prize the paytable offers. It’s a modest ladder by modern standards, with a steep drop from the ingot down to the royals.
That shape tells you where the game expects the real money to come from: the feature round, not the base symbols.
The Wild is a phoenix tile that substitutes for everything except the Bonus symbol, and it only appears on reels two, three, four and five. Its absence from reel one is standard ways-game practice, since a wild on the first reel would complete too many combinations on its own.
What it can’t stand in for is the lion, so no number of phoenixes will ever open the feature door.
Visually, the reels sit inside the pavilion frame on a pale stone plinth, bright and glossy against a dark green backdrop. The symbols carry the theme through: the dragon turtle, the drum and the fan all belong to the same world as the architecture around them.
Re-Life Spins
The trigger is the lion Bonus symbol: land three or more anywhere in view and the round starts. Those lions only appear in the base game, so there’s no retriggering the feature from inside it. Land them or don’t; the feature has one door.
The round is a free spins game with an increasing multiplier, and it runs on a lives system rather than a fixed spin count. The essentials look like this:
- A lives counter tracks the lives remaining in the round
- Each life carries its own free spin
- The multiplier increases as the round goes on, with the display showing an x10 label
- When the last life is spent, the Lifesaver Spin takes over
That structure gives the feature a shape most free spins rounds don’t have. Rather than a flat number of spins with a static boost, each stage matters because losing a life costs spins you’re still holding.
The longer the round runs, the higher the multiplier climbs, so survival is worth more than any single early win.
It also changes how a round feels as it ages. Early spins are cheap and low-stakes, when the multiplier is small and lives are plentiful.
Late spins are the opposite: fewer of them left, a bigger multiplier riding on each one, and every losing spin cutting the round closer to its end.
The lion Bonus symbols appear stacked in ones and twos across the reels in the base game, sitting alongside the regular symbols rather than replacing them. They pay nothing on their own; their only job is the trigger.
The Lifesaver Spin
When the round reaches its last life free spin, the Lifesaver Spin kicks in. Reel three turns entirely wild for that spin. It’s a one-shot rescue mechanic, and because reel three sits in the middle of the win path, every ways-to-win combination running left to right has to pass through it.
The timing is the whole point. The last spin is also the one carrying the round’s fully built multiplier, so the wild reel lands at the moment the payout potential is at its highest.
A five-of-a-kind through a wild middle reel at peak multiplier is what the entire feature is built to serve up, and the game saves that shot for what would otherwise be the round’s last breath.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
Most of Dragon Ways Multiplier is a wait, but it’s an honest one: the lions land or they don’t, and until they do the gold ingot’s 20x is the only thing on the table. What makes the wait worth holding is the round at the end of it.
The lives system is the game’s real strength. Free spins that burn down one life at a time, with the multiplier climbing throughout, give the round stakes a flat spin count never manages. The Lifesaver Spin saves a fully wild middle reel for the exact spin the multiplier peaks.
The weakness is everything outside that round. The base paytable is thin and there’s no retrigger, so a short run of lives can leave you with very little to show for a long wait.
It suits players who enjoy a round that builds rather than one that hands out spins and hopes, and it will leave anyone chasing big base game hits cold. For a patient session inside a very pretty pavilion, it’s a door worth pushing open.
Dragon Ways Multiplier FAQs
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What is the RTP of Dragon Ways Multiplier?
Dragon Ways Multiplier runs at 95.9% RTP. -
Is Dragon Ways Multiplier high volatility?
It sits in the mid-to-high range, so expect longer gaps between wins with a mix of smaller payouts and bigger feature rounds. -
How many paylines does Dragon Ways Multiplier have?
There are no paylines. The game plays with up to 243 ways to win, paying left to right across adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel, with awards multiplied by the number of matching symbols per reel. -
Who makes Dragon Ways Multiplier?
Dragon Ways Multiplier is made by Inspired. -
When is Dragon Ways Multiplier released?
Dragon Ways Multiplier’s release date is 24 April 2020. -
How do you trigger Re-Life Spins in Dragon Ways Multiplier?
Landing three or more lion Bonus symbols anywhere in view starts the Re-Life Spins round. Bonus symbols only appear in the base game, so the feature can’t be retriggered from within itself. -
What does the Lifesaver Spin do?
On the last life free spin, reel three turns completely wild. Because every winning way runs through the middle of the grid, this gives the final spin the round’s best shot at a big combination. -
Which reels does the wild appear on in Dragon Ways Multiplier?
The phoenix wild only appears on reels two, three, four and five, and it substitutes for every symbol except the lion Bonus. That means it can complete wins but never trigger the feature.
