Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon

Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon Slot Review

A golden dragon coils down the left of the screen, one clawed foot resting on a glowing white pearl, while candle flames burn along the eaves of a red-lacquered pagoda. Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon hides a near-worthless paytable behind all that gilt, and it doesn’t care who notices. The best line pay in the game is 2.5x your bet; the real money sits in the pearls and the jackpot meters beside the reels, and everything else is decoration. Light & Wonder have built it on a 5×4 grid with 40 paylines, all in play every spin, at 96% RTP.

It’s a straight-faced take on one of gambling’s oldest good-luck themes, and for a studio whose catalogue here leans on Raging Rhino Rampage and Rainbow Riches Megaways, the restraint is the interesting part. The gilt is doing most of the talking.

Base Game & Features

The reels sit at 5×4 with 40 paylines, and all 40 must be played. There’s no bet-to-coverage decision to make; the only choice is stake size. Winning combinations pay left to right, and only the highest combination on each line counts.

The symbol set is classic Chinese fortune. Firecrackers sit at the top of the paytable, followed by a dragon, with a coin and gold ingot pile, a turtle and a money tree filling the middle tier. The royals, A K Q J and 10, make up the bottom.

Pays are multiples of the total bet:

• Firecrackers – 3 pays 0.5x, 4 pays 1.25x, 5 pays 2.5x
• Dragon – 3 pays 0.25x, 4 pays 0.5x, 5 pays 0.75x
• Coin/Gold Ingot Pile – 3 pays 0.15x, 4 pays 0.25x, 5 pays 0.5x
• Turtle – 3 pays 0.15x, 4 pays 0.25x, 5 pays 0.5x
• Money Tree – 3 pays 0.15x, 4 pays 0.25x, 5 pays 0.5x
• A – 3 pays 0.1x, 4 pays 0.15x, 5 pays 0.25x
• K – 3 pays 0.1x, 4 pays 0.15x, 5 pays 0.25x
• Q – 3 pays 0.1x, 4 pays 0.15x, 5 pays 0.25x
• J – 3 pays 0.1x, 4 pays 0.15x, 5 pays 0.25x
• 10 – 3 pays 0.1x, 4 pays 0.15x, 5 pays 0.25x

It’s a flat paytable. The top symbol returns 2.5x for a full line, so the base game isn’t where the money lives. Even the firecrackers only clear their stake on a four-of-a-kind.

Notice how close the tiers sit. A five-of-a-kind firecracker win, the best line pay in the game, is worth less than a two-of-a-kind in plenty of other slots. One full line of royals returns 0.25x, which doesn’t cover the spin that produced it. Line wins here are pocket change by design.

The real business of this slot happens through the pearl symbols. Each pearl carries its own credit value, and landing enough of them in one spin sets off the feature. Alongside the reels, a stack of carved gold plaques holds the jackpot displays, and those meters are tied directly to what the pearls can pay.

Pearls don’t form winning lines and don’t need to. They’re counted, not matched: land six or more anywhere on the grid in a single spin and the feature round begins, regardless of which paylines they crossed.

Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon Bonus Features

There are two features, and they don’t mix. The Lion Link Feature runs on pearls and jackpot meters; the Free Games Bonus runs on locked Bonus symbols. Neither symbol appears in the other’s round.

Lion Link Feature

The round starts when six or more pearl symbols land during the base game. Three spins are awarded, and every pearl that triggered the feature locks in place for the rest of the round. Those locked values are already won; the question is only how much more joins them.

The spin counter works on a reset basis. Any pearl that lands during the feature also locks, and the remaining spins go back up to three. A run of consecutive pearls keeps the round alive indefinitely; three consecutive empty spins end it.

Fill every position on the grid and the GRAND jackpot is awarded outright, with no further spins played. That’s the round’s ceiling and its chase.

Once the spins run out, the value shown on each pearl is paid. Pearls carrying a jackpot label pay the value held in the matching meter instead:

• GRAND – awarded only for filling every position on the grid
• MEGA – pays the value held in the MEGA meter
• MAJOR – pays the value held in the MAJOR meter
• MINOR – pays the value held in the MINOR meter
• MINI – pays the value held in the MINI meter

Two restrictions close the rules out. Line pays aren’t evaluated during the feature, and it can’t be retriggered. Bonus symbols don’t appear either, so the round belongs entirely to the pearls.

Free Games Bonus

Three scattered Bonus symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 award the Free Games Bonus. The trigger pays 2x the total bet and awards eight free games.

During the bonus, Bonus becomes locked. Every Bonus that lands on screen is held for the remainder of the round, so the collection grows game by game. On each free game, all Bonus symbols on screen open to reveal paying symbols, which then take part in line wins like any other symbol.

The build is what gives the round its shape. Early free games reveal from whatever landed on the trigger, while later ones play out with a reel set carrying every locked Bonus from the games before. Eight games isn’t a long round, but the collection only moves in one direction.

Pearl and Bonus symbols don’t land during Free Games, which keeps the two features cleanly apart. The bonus runs its eight games, pays what the reveals built, and hands the reels back.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Playing this is mostly waiting. You spin a gorgeous courtyard, watch candles flicker, and hold out for six pearls – that’s the whole pull of it, and the dragon with its claw on the pearl is a fair picture of where the money actually sits.

The strength is the Lion Link Feature’s reset counter: three spins that refill on every new pearl means a round can keep breathing long after it looked dead, and the four jackpot meters give even a modest grid a shot at something real. The weakness is everything between rounds. A paytable topping out at 2.5x makes the base game feel like a corridor you walk down to get somewhere else.

This is one for players who enjoy the hold-and-collect grind and don’t need the reels themselves to pay. Anyone who wants regular line wins and stacked symbols doing the work will find the courtyard pretty but quiet. For the patient, the pearls are worth the wait.

Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon FAQs

• What is the RTP of Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon?

  The RTP is 96%, which is around the industry average.
• How many paylines does Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon have?

  There are 40 paylines, and all of them must be played on every spin.
• What is the grid size of Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon?

  It’s a 5×4 grid – five reels and four rows.
• How do you trigger the Lion Link Feature?

  Land six or more pearl symbols during the base game. The triggering pearls lock in place and three spins are awarded, resetting to three whenever another pearl lands.
• Can the Lion Link Feature be retriggered?

  No. The feature can’t be retriggered during the round itself, though the spin counter does reset to three each time a new pearl lands.
• What happens if every position fills with pearls?

  The GRAND jackpot is awarded immediately and no further spins are played.
• How do you trigger the Free Games Bonus?

  Land three scattered Bonus symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4. That starts the eight free games, and the scatter win doubles your total bet as an immediate award.
• Who makes Lion Link Wealth of the Dragon?

  Light & Wonder.