Play Chinese New Year for Free

While the Chinese New Year is largely relevant to denizens of that sprawling nation, the Chinese New Year slot should appeal to a broad set of online gamers, particularly those who enjoys such features as wilds and scatters. More on those later.

For now, let’s talk about the betting range. In this title, the coin bet range stretches from 0.25 to 50, and a maximum of 20 coins can be wagered per line. As such, the betting range goes from 0.25 – if you’re playing on one line – to 1,000, if playing all 20. Plenty of juice for low rollers and high rollers alike.

The lay-out of this slot is pretty simple. There are 5 reels and 3 rows and the grid appears against a backdrop showing Chinese lanterns and various letters of the Chinese alphabet. Above the reels, there are running tallies which show the current, up-to-date values associated with the three main jackpots in the game: the Mini, the Midi and the Mega. Meanwhile, below the grid, there is a dashboard containing buttons for Bet Max, Spin, Auto and Gamble. You can also click into the pay-table, and adjust your stake and number of paylines using the + and - icons.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, but in Chinese New Year, a number of animals from the Chinese horoscope populate the reels. They include Shar-Pei dogs, chickens, pigs, boars, rams, horses, monkeys and snakes. As is the case with 95% of video slots, wins pay left to right on adjacent reels, except in the case of the scatter, which pays anywhere.

The regular symbols pay amounts ranging from 15 to 120 for between three and five symbols, and none offer pay-outs for matching combinations of two symbols. The three progressive jackpots are won by landing 3+ brown pig icons. To be honest, it’s fairly difficult to tell which animals are represented by some of the cartoonish symbols, but the best-paying regular icon – which looks like a cow – pays 30 for three, 60 for four and 120 for five. The cat (tiger?) pays 20 for three, 50 for four and 100 for five. And so on down the line.

As stated, there are both wild and scatter symbols to look out for in Chinese New Year. Wild cards, of course, act as surrogates for other symbols and help you form matching combinations. In CNY, the wild, represented by a boar, does not replace the snake scatter or the Chinaman bonus icon. However, it grants multipliers of x2, x5 or x10 for any win it is a part of.

Three or more snake scatters, meanwhile, results in a number of free spins being granted. The exact number is determined by which squares you choose in the next screen: the grid contains 15 and you’ll need to guess your way across the grid. Not only that, but there’ll also be an exclusive ‘super’ wild-enhanced reel set during the subsequent free ones. Essentially this means the wilds will lock in place for the duration of the free spins round.

As well as wild and scatter symbols, the game features a mini feature, which promises wins of between x2 and x10,000. Yes, x10,000 the line-stake which triggered the feature. To play the mini-game, you’ll need to find three or more Chinaman icons on an active payline. The second screen shows a prize wheel featuring animals from the Chinese calendar. The big wheel is then spun, and you will be awarded a multiplier which is determined by which animal the arrow lands on.

Chinese New Year is a fine game from OpenBet. There’s something quite trippy about the cartoonish symbols, but that’s always a good thing, isn’t it? The gameplay, meanwhile, is solid, while the lure of a progressive jackpot – or three of them – is irresistible.