Introduction to Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice
Dragon’s Gate - Bonus Choice is a casino slot from Pragmatic Play that blends the calmness of lotus flowers with that of Koi fish transforming into dragons. Yet again, Pragmatic Play delivers another 3 Pot mechanic-styled game, but forgoes the actual pots and instead uses colored Koi fish swimming up a waterfall to a golden temple. In terms of gameplay, it’s all pretty straightforward, as the game really only has two main features, being the Free Spins and Respins bonus games. These bonus games are triggered at the same time through the 3 Pot mechanic, with the Koi Modifiers awarding similar bonuses to both bonus games, such as an additional playing grid, additional spins, or Symbol Upgrades. This leads the gameplay loop to be centered around hunting bonus game triggers, and then choosing your favorite feature to play with, and then continuing to do that for the rest of your hunt to the max win of 10,000X the bet.
Experience mythological transformations into Free Spins and Coin Respins, where dragons come with modifiers to keep the spins rolling. If you want to give the game a try for yourself, then don’t miss out on the Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice demo.
Theme, Gameplay, & Payouts
Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice is a video slot by Pragmatic Play with 5 Reels, 3 Rows, and 50 Paylines. You can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.2 and a Max.bet of 240. Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice comes with a higher-than-average RTP of 96.50%, a hit frequency of 24.03%, and medium volatility, but take note that there are other versions of the game with lower RTPs at 95.5% and 94.5%. Coupled with this, the max win sits at 10,000X the bet, but with a max win probability at 1 in 13,923,698 spins, along with a Free Spins frequency at 1 in 111 spins and a Jackpot frequency of 1 in 246 spins.
When you enter the game, you find yourself at the bottom of a waterfall, which leads up to a shining temple. In Chinese mythology, it is said that any Koi fish that is able to swim up a waterfall will transform into a dragon, which is also the case here, but there’s more to it, as that’s also how you will be rewarded with the various Modifiers. Outside of visuals and theme, the game has a very typical Chinese-themed soundtrack, coupled with non-stop splashing of fish. You can play the game on most desktops, mobiles, and notepads.
The lower-paying symbols are J, Q, K, and A. Creating a win with 5 of the same symbols will pay out 0.5X to 1X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are a handful of rocks, bulrush plants, a branch with coins, a lotus, and a woman. Landing a win with 5 of the same symbols pays out 1X to 2X the bet. The Special Symbols are the various Koi Bonus Coin Symbols, which will trigger the bonus games with different modifiers, Wilds, and Coin Symbols, but more on those in the Feature section.
Special Features & Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Dragon’s Gate - Bonus Choice?
You can win up to 10,000X the bet.
What features are available in the slot Dragon’s Choice - Bonus Choice?
The features are Wild Symbols, Koi Coin Symbols, Free Spins, Respins, and Feature Buy.
Wild Symbols
Wild Symbols help form winning combinations by being able to substitute for all symbols except Koi Coin Symbols and Money Symbols.
Koi Coin Symbols
There are 3 types of Koi Bonus Coin Symbols, which can appear on the reels, which will get collected by their color corresponding reel, and can randomly trigger the Bonus Game with its respective bonus. When triggering the Bonus Game, you are given the choice between the Free Spins or Respins feature. The Koi Coin Symbols also carry a random cash value, which can’t be awarded in the base game. Landing 4 or 5 Koi Coin Symbols will guarantee the Bonus Game activation with 1, 2, or 3 of the Koi Modifiers.
Free Spins
Can be chosen after triggering the Bonus Game by the Koi Coin Symbols, and starts with 5 Free Spins. The 3 Koi Modifiers are, and work, as follows:
Red Balance = The bonus game is played on two 5x3 playing grids.
Yellow Prosperity = During the bonus game, random Frames appear in random positions, transforming any symbol in the frame into a Wild Symbol.
Blue Vitality = Adds Blue Coin Symbols to the reels, and by landing 2, 3, 4, or 5 of them, you will be awarded 2, 5, 10, or 20 additional spins, respectively.
Respins
The Respins feature can be chosen after triggering the Bonus Game by the Koi Coin Symbols, and is played on a specific playing grid with blanks and Money Symbols. Money Symbols can land with Cash Prize values ranging from 0.6X to 30X, or the Mini (10X), Minor (20X), or Major (150X) Jackpot Prize. The bonus game is played with 3 spins that reset each time a Money Symbol lands and sticks to the playing grid. The Koid Modifiers for the Respin feature are as follows:
Red Balance = The bonus game is played on two 5x3 playing grids.
Yellow Prosperity = During the bonus game, random Frames appear in random positions, and any Money Symbol present inside the Frame have their values upgraded by a random amount.
Blue Vitality = The bonus games start with 4 Respins instead, and each Money Symbol that hits resets the Spin Counter to 4.
The bonus game ends either when the Spin Counter hits 0 or all positions have been filled. If it’s the latter, then you will be awarded the Grand Jackpot, worth 5,000X the bet.
Feature Buy
Through the Feature Buy, you can instantly trigger the Bonus Game for a price based on the current bet.
50X = Awards the Bonus Game picker with the Yellow Prosperity Modifier active.
Final Thoughts on Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice
The 3 Pot mechanic is growing increasingly popular, and we keep seeing more releases with it. Not too long before the release of this game, we saw Pragmatic Play release Triple Pot Plinko - Hercules, which mixed together the 3 Pot bonuses into a Plinko bonus game. Now with Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice, you’re instead giving the choice between a Free Spins or Respins bonus game, hence the title, and it works fine enough in practice. Visually, the game isn’t really anything to write home about, as it leans into an old-school aesthetic that was more prevalent a decade ago and might even make the game feel outdated on release. But visuals aren’t all, and we’re actually here for the gameplay, so let’s talk about it in more depth.
For a game based around two bonus games, one of them being a regular Free Spins feature, the paytable in the game is surprisingly weak, with its highest paying normal symbol having a payout of 2X the bet. However, one thing we do have to point out is that this game is showered in Wild Symbols, more so than most other games out there, and that’s how most of your bigger payouts, especially in the Free Spins feature, will be built up. Because of this, the Coin Respins, at times, feel like the more consistent feature, with Coin Symbols offering better payouts than most paylines, plus Jackpot prizes on top. Neither of these features exactly feels new, and neither do the Koi Modifier bonuses, and then add on top the rather bare base game, and you have a bit of a disappointing release. However, we do want to say that we think the bonus games play well, and can be quite volatile thanks to the modifiers, but, as said, we also think you can find a similar release elsewhere, which makes Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice's biggest crime being that it just feels rather forgettable.
Dragon's Gate - Bonus Choice is a slot that attempts to split the 3 Pot mechanic into two bonus games, but lacks originality.
