The Dog House Demo
The Dog House Slot Review
Pragmatic Play serves up an abundance of canine adventures in their latest release, The Dog House!
Dogs may be considered ‘man’s best friend’, but these 4 lovable pups are to become everyone’s new pals in The Dog House, although the title may suggest this game is more for the gentlemen, if you catch our drift.
Prepare to play ball with the game’s 5×3 reel format, 20 fixed pay lines, and Multiplier Wilds, boosted by an exciting Free Spins mode. As you begin to dig holes in the game’s features and mechanics, you can unearth up to 6,750x your bet in max win potential.
In The Dog House, we find ourselves in the back garden of a sleek, suburban residence, revealing a trimmed lawn, clear skies, and a variety of pleasant insects (of the flying variety). This is further complemented by the warm and sunny soundtrack, with the occasional calls of nature.
This particular slot finds a home for itself among a variety of animal-infused slot releases, but the real question is, will it scratch and bite harder than those in the same category? Let’s find out.
Base Game & Features
The Dog House is the latest 5-reel, 3-row release from Pragmatic Play, featuring 20 fixed pay lines and a healthy selection of bet sizes. Wins are guaranteed when 3-5 identical symbols appear on reels 1-5, starting from reel 1.
The highest-paying symbol falls to a Rottweiler, followed by a Shih Tzu, Pug, and Sausage dog. Alternatively, low-paying symbols consist of A, K, Q, J, & 10 card suits, all of which reveal a fixed payout between 0.1x and 37.5x your bet.
In addition, the game has Wild & Scatter symbols available on the reels, awarding the following outcomes:
- Wilds: Substitute for all paytable symbols except Scatters. Upon landing, each Wild symbol reveals a random Multiplier of x2 or x3, which applies to all winning combinations it is a part of.
- Scatters: Is responsible for triggering the Free Spins mode.
The Dog House Free Spins
In the base game, Scatter symbols can appear on reels 1, 3, and 5. When this happens during a spin, the Free Spins mode is instantly triggered, awarding a fixed payout of 5x your bet.
Before the Free Spins mode starts, a special 3×3 grid appears, which spins to reveal the number of Free Spins, with each cell displaying 1, 2, or 3 Free Spins. Once complete, the total number of Free Spins is added together and applied, up to a maximum of 27.
During the Free Spins mode, all Multiplier Wilds that appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 will remain persistent throughout spins. The current Multiplier of each visible Wild symbol will remain the same throughout the Free Spins mode.
Multiplier Wilds will award their current value to all winning combinations that pass through them during this time. Please note that Scatter symbols are not present during this mode; therefore, the Free Spins mode cannot be retriggered.
Our Honest Verdict
Sometimes, the most basic of features and mechanics are naturally the most compelling in a game, which seems to be the case in The Dog House, courtesy of Pragmatic Play. Even if you’re not a big dog lover, it’s hard not to fall in love with the 4 docile pups that pop up on the reels.
The tranquil lifestyle of the suburban neighbourhood shines through in the game’s sleepy functions. The Multiplier Wilds feature can create enhanced winning payouts on the reels, across the limited pay lines.
This feature is more beneficial when multiple Wild symbols appear within the same spin, which occurred more often than we thought it would. Alternatively, this feature can be especially rewarding during the Free Spins mode, where each Multiplier Wild makes a permanent appearance on reels 2-4.
Although the Scatter symbols are limited to reels 1, 3, and 5, Pragmatic Play gives players a fair opportunity to win up to 27 Free Spins via the Bonus Wheel before the feature begins.
During Free Spins, each Wild symbol and its visible Multiplier remain on the reels until the end of the feature. During testing, we found it quite challenging to hit more than 3 Multiplier Wilds, but that’s not to say it can’t be done.
Due to the round being very ‘hit and miss’, we’re certain it will frustrate even the most patient of players, especially if you receive a rather low number of Free Spins and there’s no way of retriggering the feature, either.
Strangely, though, it is quite an addictive feature, and one that can lead to big payouts, especially when connecting the highest-paying (Rottweiler) symbol, but it’s limited to a 6,750x your bet win potential.
As a whole, we believe The Dog House will become a firm favourite for Pragmatic Play fans and dog lovers alike. The low-impact Multiplier Wilds feature is both exciting and challenging, but it is one that never gets old.
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
