Southern Fortune Lion Slots
Designed to look like a 3-reel slot machine in a land-based casino, the Southern Fortune Lion video slot from GamingSoft has some classic style, a popular Chinese-inspired theme and a few interesting bonus features that can be triggered when the right symbols stop across the single payline. It’s a fairly simple game that doesn’t bombard you with lots of distractions, but instead allows serious punters to focus on the important matter of landing reliable winning spins.
The simplicity extends to the subtle patterned surroundings to the reels, which is in a nice red shade, while a strip-light effect to the edges of the game are just enough to add a bit of style and movement without overdoing things. Symbols are well-presented and include many of the icons that are so widely used across Chinese themed slot machines, such as firecrackers, cymbals, ceremonial drums and of course, a lion.
Spinners can start landing real cash wins with a stake of only 0.30, an amount that can be steadily raised to suit the bankroll to a high limit of 90.00 per spin, although free Southern Fortune Lion video slots can be found, which could be useful for getting some practice in. There’s a further option to double or triple bets, which you will need to take if you want to trigger a free spins bonus game, but even without it, there’s a good return to player ratio. Other bet options include setting the reels off on Auto-spin for any number of times, although there’s no way to pre-set win or loss limits, so you will still need to keep an eye on the bankroll.
Seeking out a Lion’s Fortune
As there’s only a single win-line, the aim is to land 3 of a symbol kind across the reels, although a useful wild symbol will help create extra prize-winning spins, while scatter awards can be paid out at any bet levels.
There are only 4 main symbols landing across the reels of Southern Fortune Lion, making this an easy slot machine to play. The smallest wins will be paid when the firecracker lands right across the single payline, with 500 coins awarded, while the cymbals return wins of 1,000, a laughing man pays out 2,500 and at the top of the pile, we see the ceremonial dragon itself, who is worth a small fortune of 5,000 coins.
These are relatively high values, reflecting the fact that winning spins are not as common as players may be used to, although there’s a consolation prize of 300 coins when any mix of the laughing guy, cymbals and firecrackers stop across the payline.
Wild Win Multiplier Symbol
The best wins occur when the green drum symbol lands in place, as not only are there awards of 25,000 coins to claim, it’s also a wild symbol. If 2 of any symbol appear across the payline it would normally not lead to a win, but if the wild is the other symbol, it will substitute, and players get paid out accordingly.
It’s even better than that however, as a single wild on the line will double the base value of the prize and having 2 wilds in place will quadruple the amount that the remaining symbol would be worth, so a single dragon and 2 wilds for example pays out 20,000.
It won’t be able to substitute for the scatter symbol however, as this is needed to trigger a bonus game.
Scatter Awards and Bonus Games
A red diamond-shaped symbol, with Chinese writing on it is the scatter, and when this stops on just 2 reels, it’s worth a prize of 100x, while full lines will see wins of 500x paid out. If players are at the maximum 3x bet value, instead of the coin payouts, it will launch a bonus game, where free spins with higher winning potential can be enjoyed.
The bonus round can’t be retriggered, so once done, players are returned to the main reels.
Our View of Southern Fortune Lion
The mane attraction of this particular lion is the overall design, with relatively few online casino slot machines combining the 3-reel and single-payline format with a Chinese theme. It’s not unique however, so anyone who likes this type of game can try others such as Happy New Year from Microgaming, or Rising Sun from Saucify.
We like the simple gameplay of the Southern Fortune Lion video slot, where all that’s needed is for symbols to land on a single line for a win, but it’s a high-volatility game that pays out a lesser number of wins at higher average values, which may not suit those who like lots of winning spins, even if the wins are smaller.
The graphics are what you would expect with a 3-reel slot, so not exactly state of the art, but certainly colourful enough, and the smooth animations add a certain realism to proceedings. If you are after a slot game with a popular theme, easy gameplay and a couple of nice bonuses, then this one is worth trying out, although it isn’t mobile-optimised, so you’ll only be playing it on a PC or laptop.
