Play China Delicious for Free

The thing about China and Chinese ‘stuff’ is that it’s supposed to be quite sensory. The colours in everything from dragons to lanterns, the smells and aromas of a restaurant, the iconic make-up of a geisha. In this part at least, China Delicious really does its job pretty well.

The symbols on the reels are all well-known (albeit also stereotypical) pictures of what we in the West perceive to be Chinese life. Granted, this won’t be accurate, but nevertheless you have a decorative dragon, bowls of noodles and fortune cookies, the hostess with her parasol and white-washed foundation, chopsticks and lanterns. All of them are easy to identify, although perhaps some of the food could have a little more differentiation in terms of picture and shades used. Still, that’s a relatively small gripe.

Chinese food appears pretty simple- everyone can cook a stir fry, for example. Underneath that image, though, is something a lot more complex. Hence no other country really being able to master the cuisine.

China Delicious seems to have taken some inspiration from that idea. Yes, the graphics and imagery are all pretty straightforward, but once you start preparing to play you realise that’s not really the case. First, you’ll need to choose on your coin size – this dictates both how much you wager at a time, and how much you stand to win as a result. Like any bet, put down more, and you might get more out the other end.

The final thing to be aware of is that you have up to 25 lines to pick from and bet on. You can adjust this by clicking - or + on the Lines tab at the bottom of the screen. If you simply want to go for the maximum allowed bet, there’s a handy Max Bet button that players can hit and have the whole process done automatically. Then it’s time to spin.

Once China delicious is up and cooking you’ll notice that the whole game runs pretty smoothly, and is much more slick than many older games of its kind. Ultimately, the idea is to match up three or more of the aforementioned symbols- but don’t think those are the only ingredients in the pantry.

You can also earn Free Spins from Scatter symbols, and Wild ‘cards’ will appear in the form of a vase and porcelain. These can be substituted for anything else on the reels to make up a matching three, four or five symbols, except Scatter and Bonuses. The Bonus will unlock an additional bonus round, which is a lot of fun- we won’t spoilt the surprise- but more importantly gives you even more chances to win.

It’s a foregone conclusion that you’re always going to enjoy some chow mein, but how much you enjoy it always depends on the quality of the ingredients. The same can be said for five reel online gambling – it’s all in the details, as one machine is fundamentally the same as the next when it comes down to the overall idea- matching symbols on paylines.

China Delicious is a good slant on the common food theme, and one that’s less obvious than burgers or pizzerias – two places we’ve all dined and gambled in enough already. As a middle of the range game in terms of potential winnings, paylines and bonus features, it’s ahead of many competitors, but isn’t blowing anyone away.