Lanterns & Lions Hold & Win

If there's one place, you're sure to see plenty of lanterns and lions, it's China, and that's the theme of this online slot from iSoftBet. Lanterns & Lions: Hold & Win is a China-themed game with Caishen, the god of wealth and fortune, taking centre stage. But this benevolent deity seems keen to share his cash, with a chance to win the top payout on this slot worth up to x8888.

There are some themes that are popular, and Oriental-themed games fall into this category. Red Tiger, in particular, has an abundance of Chinese slots, but they can be found at almost every studio. As the god of fortune and wealth, it's perhaps not too surprising to see Caishen putting in a regular appearance too. Several online slots feature the Chinese god, such as Caishen Coming, Caishen Wins, and Lucky Caishen. The title of this slot may allude to lanterns and lions, but you can be confident that Caishen is front and centre in this game too.

The gameplay on this slot takes place on a 5x3 grid which includes up to 25 fixed paylines. The betting range runs from 0.25 to 100.00, giving pretty good coverage for all levels. Volatility is medium, so you won't be seeing huge prizes rolling in too often, but there should be a fairly steady trickle of potential payouts landing on the reels.

The theme of the game is evident with a single glance when entering a traditional temple to begin play. With pagodas in the background and the auspicious colours of red and gold, the goal is to get on Caishen's good side. It's the right start as this temple is where dancing lions and golden lanterns are set up to please the god - but time will tell just how generous he is feeling!

The card royals are the low pays and have an adapted style to fit in with the Chinese theme. The high pays are more extravagant with firecrackers, golden coins, a turtle and the golden cat.

The wild symbol in this slot is Caishen himself, visiting the reels to help make more matches by substituting for any of the regular symbols.

There's more available than just Caishen's generosity as a wild, because if three scatters land, it'll unlock the Dancing Lions Feature Pick bonus. This will randomly award the player either the Hold and Win or Free Spins feature.

If it is the latter, the player will receive between 25 and 100 wild symbols during the free spins, giving them a better chance of collecting a prize. The wilds in this bonus round are expanding, so they will cover all positions on reels 2-5. If three scatters land, it will retrigger the feature, giving the same number of free spins again.

The Hold and Win feature can either be awarded via the Dancing Lions Feature Pick or by landing five or more lanterns in the base game. This gives the player three respins, with the lanterns becoming a sticky symbol. Every time they land more, they also become sticky, and the number of respins resets to three. The round is over when the player either fills up the reels or runs out of respins.

During the Hold and Win feature, the lanterns will either have potential cash values which the player will get to keep, or they will have a jackpot symbol. This could either be the Mini, Minor or Major jackpots which can potentially be worth x30, x100 and x500, respectively. If the entire grid fills up, the player will automatically qualify for the potential Grand jackpot of up to x1000.

However, the chance of winning the top prize in the game is random - and the player will need to keep their eye on the red envelope in the top right-hand corner of the main game. This will shake at periodic intervals, and sometimes a potential prize may fall out. This could be x8, x88, x888 or a chance to win the potential top prize of up to x8888.

With Lanterns & Lions: Hold & Win from iSoftBet, there's a range of different features that can help you win. Volatility is medium, so it's pretty tricky to trigger the potential top payout, but it's a fun theme and beautifully designed with enough different bonuses to keep all players thoroughly entertained. Play this game at Gala Bingo.