Sensitive upgrade
Malta-based iGaming giant Pragmatic Play has cranked up its beloved canine slot The Dog House without losing any of the original’s happy suburban charm.
the same fun, irrepressible vibe
The usual suspects including rottweiler, shi-tzu, and pug return in The Big Dog House along with familiar symbols including collars, bones, ruby-encrusted paw bonus roundels, the 5×3 grid, and the same fun, irrepressible vibe.
Even the RTP needle of the sequel hovers in parity to its predecessors’ 96.51% with the same 20 paylines, wins forming left to right, and standard cards doubling as lower-value symbols.
Both carry kindred Wild features such as the dog house symbol, which again carries 2x or 3x multipliers, with familiar gameplay focus on building big wins by stacking-up multiplier Wilds in the free spins round.
But the smaller dog house grid on the sequel leads to the major differences, with Pragmatic designers reducing the space in order to erect a signpost where the new Buy Features, Super Bet, and Ante Bet options appear on the menu.
And that’s where the major changes start.
Changes a-paw
The new betting menu on The Big Dog House offers four Ante Bet options from $4 to $12, on top of the minimum $0.20 to max $240 you can wager on each spin, which gives players better modifier chances. The $4 buy-in brings a 24x higher chance to trigger free spins with the Biggie modifier, while the max $12 Ante Bet buy-in brings a 24x higher chance to trigger free spins with both Biggie and Ghost Out modifiers.
Ghost Wilds, meanwhile, are a tense, new risk/tension-adding element in The Big Dog House and pop up during free spins on reel 5, where they substitute for all symbols, carry a 2x or 3x multiplier, and remove one random sticky Wild per hit.
The Biggie modifiers on The Big Dog House makes the Wilds expand more or across the full reel, while Ghost Out modifiers remove the treacherous bonus-killing Ghost Wilds entirely.
what modern players want for the big, visually thrilling hits
The Super Bet feature also comes with four Super Spin options ranging from $10 to $400 on top of your original stake. The lowest sum gives players a guaranteed Expanded Wild, the highest a guaranteed 3×3 Colossal Wild, which potentially can trigger even in the base game, and is what modern players want for the big, visually thrilling hits.
While casual players will find the new features daunting compared to the original, high rollers have multiple options to cut to the chase with Buy Options, including paying $1,000 for Biggie Ghost Out free spins, which produce Expanded and Colossal Wilds only, and not a Ghost Wild in sight.
Thrills added, magic stays
As such, added strategic depth, high-value free spin betting options right from the base round, and bonus buys mean high-rollers have a better chance of chasing down The Big Dog House’s max win potential of 15,000x (compared to the original’s 6,750x), especially considering the volatility leans to medium over the original’s high rating.
Ultimately, The Big Dog House offers a clear upgrade without losing the fun and accessible doggy theme and sticky wild fantasy, and instead cranks up the scale, choice, and volatility control for today’s players who demand extra features and higher rewards. A worthy sequel to a much-loved franchise original.
