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Ying Cai Shen Slot Machine

Retro slots have a special place in the heart of the majority of gamblers who have watched slots online develop from single payline fruit machines, to unique games that provide adventure, crazy themes, and fast-paced action. Sensing the fondness for nostalgic slot games, many developers have taken inspiration out of the classic slots handbook, and are now ensuring that a steady stream of traditional pokie games join the latest releases amongst the best slots in online casinos.

Few styles are more widely available in play in the classic style than oriental themed slot games, with one of the most recent online slots to take on the challenge of besting the modern slots online with a retro style, being Ying Cai Shen by Skywind. The retro slot is designed in the much-loved 5 reels, 3 rows format, using a 9 payline that will take many players back to the style of the oldies but goodies.

A Colourful Classic

Ying Cai Shen isn’t quite a complete back to basics online slot, expanding on the original designs to offer excitement as well as simplistic gameplay. The 9 payline still offers up a varied way to win on the reels, unlike those hardcore retro re-makes that stick to the classic single payline, that isn’t a hit with every retro fan. The free Ying Cai Shen slot offers up plenty of colour, with the vibrant orange backdrop ditching the normal Skywind theming, in favour of keeping all the major themed action on the reels, much like many of the classics.

The symbols in Ying Cai Shen are kept quite minimalistic, with a rather large nod to the classic pokies with 5 colourful card symbols included alongside the 4 base game themed symbols, and lone bonus symbol. Featuring different iconic oriental images, including a fish, golden bowl full of gems, a Chinese man, and two toddlers, the theme is nicely displayed at the higher end of the pay table.

The Secret to Success

The single bonus symbol has been the recipient of much of the most interesting software by Skywind, adding some much-needed excitement into the free Ying Cai Shen slots gameplay. As a wild symbol, the golden bordered bonus is able to take the spot of any other symbol on the reels during standard gameplay, making for a very handy symbol to have around to complete some of the high-paying win lines. Taking a small step away from the classic free online slots, the wild is also able to trigger the free spins game feature, an addition many punters will enjoy.

While the wild is the only bonus symbol, it is not the only symbol capable of giving out bonus payouts. Three of the wilds on a win line will start the 8 free spins, but will also trigger the extra element of the bonus, turning one of the other symbols into a scatter symbol. The scatter symbols will then work in the classic way, providing payouts that are calculated on a players total bet, rather than their individual line bets, a feature that will last throughout the free spins.

A Lucky New Spin

Many of the top oriental themed slots feature multiple symbols for luck, from cabbages and cats, to Chinese knots and fish. While oriental slots are quite accustomed to providing a little extra luck, there are plenty of recent casino slot machines where it is just as easy to get lucky on an action-packed spin. Treasures of Tombs Hidden Gold is an adventure slot designed by Playson, with a similarly retro reel set to that in Ying Cai Shen. Neon card symbols and secret relics feature in the exciting pay table, and with a good return-to-player percentage of 95.08%, there is more than one way to get lucky in this slot.

Featuring an ancient history theme, the brilliant graphics in Helena by Novomatic will be a winner for any players after a visually appealing spin. The slot offers up a high volatility, like the rating in Ying Cai Shen, and comes with 10 free spins and a 10 payline, to add a little variance to the experience in Ying Cai Shen.

Not Quite up to the Festivities

One of the best aspects of Ying Cai Shen, is the appeal it holds to players who like to mix up their bets, enabling punters to play for free, or real cash, and place bets up to the impressive high limit of 900 coins. At the lower end of the spectrum, players can play for real money from as little as 0.45 coins for every payline, a great range for players to explore.

However, oriental slot machines have featured in online casinos for almost as long as there has been online slot machines, giving Skywind some pretty stiff competition. While the potential for a good slot is definitely there, just a few of the elements in Ying Cai Shen let it down at the last hurdle. The game features are good, despite the limited number of bonus symbols, and the designing is nice, but the card symbols are just a little too over-powering against the slightly subtle theming. As a retro spin, Ying Cai Shen is pretty good, but as a modern set of reels, the gameplay is a little lacking.