Play North South Lions for Free

The lion dance is one of the most iconic performances of Chinese culture, with dancers in decorative lion costumes performing during many celebrations, including Chinese New Year. We know what you might be thinking: since when were there lions in China? Well, we were a bit stumped by this as well so we did a bit of in-depth research i.e. we did a quick internet search. As it turns out, our suspicions were confirmed and, indeed, the lion has never been a native animal of Chinese lands. However, many people believe that the origin of the traditional Chinese lion dance actually originated from countries such as India and Persia, suggesting that the dance was created by myth-like tales told by merchants travelling from Africa along the ancient Silk Road.

In all honesty, the lions of this traditional Chinese custom are very unlike the actual lions of the African savannah. In fact, many of the lion costumes used in the lion dance are influenced by regional customs and ancient myths from Chinese culture, hence the north and south element of this game's title. The northern lion dance typically involves a male and female lion with red and gold shaggy hair which actually resemble Pekingese dogs than they do lions while the southern lion dance uses a horned lion costume that resembles the mythological beast known as Nian. Both of these lions appear on the reels of the slot machine along with the drums, cymbals and gongs that provide the music to the performance.

This medium volatility video slot strikes a good balance between the frequency of the wins and the size of the prizes available. While punters may not come across a successful combination on every spin, there are some decent payouts on the paytable to make it worthwhile, with a top line bet multiplier worth 1,200x when five south lions appear on a payline, followed by five north lions which will pay back 1,000x the value of the line bet.

The game gives spinners the chance to play with any number of paylines between 1 and 30, although it does pay to play with the maximum amount since the game features a scatter symbol. This Laughing Buddha scatter icon will award total bet multiplier prizes worth up to 50x whenever three or more appear on the reels. So, if you play the game with the maximum possible bet of 300 credits, you will be able to win the game's top base game jackpot which is worth 15,000 coins. The minimum bet with all paylines in play is 1.50 credits.

This online slot comes with all of the usual bonus elements, including scattered wins and wild symbols that substitute for other icons. On top of that, players can activate a round of free spins in which two special wild icons are added to the reels. Every time one of the special wilds combine to make a winning sequence, the value of the win will be doubled. What's more, this x2 wild multiplier will increase by one after every five free spins up to the maximum of x8.

Before the free games feature begins, spinners must choose one of the two lion symbols and the feature will start spinning for free for an unlimited number of spins. Whenever the unselected lion appears on reel 3, the feature will go into “Spin Countdown Mode” for five free spins. If the selected lion then appears on reel 3, the feature will go back into “Unlimited Spin Mode”. The feature ends whenever the 5 free spins of “Spin Countdown Mode” are completed or 80 free spins have been played.

The Chinese lion dance may be a mysterious custom to us Westerners, but the performance is far from being unheard of in the world of slot machines. In fact, players can discover many oriental themed games which feature elements of the traditional dance, such as Lion Festival by Blueprint Gaming and Fortune Lions by GameArt. There is also Dancing Dragon Spring Festival by Playson software which focuses on the fiery dragon dance performance of Chinese New Year.

North South Lions is progressive jackpot slot machine that features some interesting elements from ancient and modern Chinese culture. The reels are stunning to look at and they portray all of the integral elements of the traditional dance with great aplomb. On top of that, the game's 15,000-coin jackpot in the main game and its progressive jackpot potential makes for some very exciting gameplay.