50 Dragons Slot Machine

Chinese mysticism and mythology have heavily influenced the arts and cultures of eastern Asia for thousands of years. Dragons figure prominently in Asian cultures and they are often associatedwith pearls, wealth, wisdom, and good fortune.

Many stories are told of how ancient peasants, kings, and warriors encountered dragons and changed their lives, sometimes the world, through their adventures. Modern scholars believe that dragonssymbolize clouds or great forces of nature and that the pearl symbol is somehow connected to the moon. In some legends, people who find pearls often experience great luck or good fortune due tothe magical nature of the pearls.

In some stories adventurous men or women capture magical pearls from gods or powerful spirits, bringing their treasures back to the mortal world, where they enjoy wealth and good fortune for therest of their lives.

The Tiger is the king of all beasts in Chinese culture, representing strength and powerful energy.  The Tiger is also closely associated with the Chinese god of wealth, Tsai Shen Yeh. TheWhite, Black, Blue, and Red Tigers rule the seasons and elements. The Yellow Tiger, symbolizing the sun, rules the other tigers.

The Rooster is part of the Chinese zodiac but it is often confused with the Fenghuang, a mythical bird that in western culture is usually called “the Chinese Phoenix”. The parts of theFenghuang’s body represent aspects of the universe but it is believed to only appear in lands that experience complete peace and prosperity.

The ancient Chinese word “yu”, meaning fish, is a homophone (a word with the same sounds as another) for the word meaning “abundance” or “affluence”. Hence, fish are associated withwealth in Chinese symbology.

The Chinese word “fu”, meaning bat, is a homophone for the word meaning “good fortune”. Bats are thus symbolic of happiness and joy in Chinese culture. When five bats are representedtogether they called “the Five Blessings”, representing long life, health, happiness, love of virtue, and a peaceful death.

In 2005 Aristocrat Leisure Limited released the “50 Dragons” slot game combining all these symbols. The game’s theoretical return to player of 94.71%, while not spectacular, nonetheless assuresplayers of many small prizes. The game has been popular with slots enthusiasts ever since. Aristocrat began porting its land-based casino games to online gaming servers in 2011 and “50 Dragons”was made available online for the first time in 2012. The game differs only slightly from the original land-based game. The rest of this article reviews the online version of the game.

50 Dragons is a 5 reel, 3 row video slot game with 50 pay lines. The game pays all prizes from left to right, except for Scatter wins.  All prizes are multiplied by amount bet per line. The game’s visual theme is based on gold jewelry fashioned in the form of mythical or symbolic creatures from Chinese mythology and folklore. The jeweled design mixes an idealized rubygemstone with intricate gold mountings.

The game’s Wild symbol is a White Pearl, which substitutes for all other symbols except the Scatter symbol. The White Pearl is embedded in an intricate gold mounting shaped like a dragon’s paw.This symbol only appears on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. When it forms part of a winning combination the White Pearl sparkles with magical energy and the solid gold face of a dragon briefly appears inthe pearl’s translucent surface.

The Gold Ingot is the Scatter symbol. The Ingot only appears on reels 1, 2, and 3 and pays 4 times Total Bet when three symbols appear. They also trigger the Free Spins bonus game, which isdescribed below.

• The Golden Dragon symbol is the game’s highest value symbol and the only one that is fully animated when it pays a prize. The dragon roars and moves its head when it forms part of a winningcombination. The Golden Dragon pays 1000 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 200 times bet per line for 4 of a kind, 40 times bet per line for 3 of a kind, and 10 times bet per line for 2 of akind.
• The Golden Rooster and Golden Tiger symbols both pay 500 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 150 times bet per line for 4 of a kind, 40 times bet per line for 3 of a kind, and 4 times bet perline for 2 of a kind.
• The Golden Fish and Golden Bat pay 400 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 100 times bet per line for 4 of a kind, and 20 times bet per for 3 of a kind.
• The remaining six symbols in the game are drawn from the traditional “playing card” symbols.
• The “A” is adorned with a small green emerald. The “K” is adorned with a small golden crown. Both symbols pay 400 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 50 times bet per line for 4 of a kind,and 20 times bet per line for 3 of a kind.
• The “Q” is adorned with a small thin golden crown and the “J” is adorned with a small red and gold shield. Both symbols pay 200 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 30 times bet per line for 4of a kind, and 10 times bet per line for 10 of a kind.
• The “10” and “9” have no embellishments and they both pay 200 times bet per line for 5 of a kind, 20 times bet per line for 4 of a kind, and 10 times bet per line for 3 of a kind.

The game displays all messages to the player in gold lettering above the playing reels area. Messages may explain how some of the game features work or they may simply prompt the player to “Playnow”. Sometimes the messages include encouraging advice or words of congratulations for wins.

There are 25 colored, numbered buttons lining each side of the playing reels area. Clicking on any of these colored, numbered buttons activates all the pay lines up to that button’s number anddeactivates all higher pay lines. The buttons also serve as anchor points for colored lines that highlight the winning combinations that appear as a result of each spin.

The remaining game controls are positioned below the playing reels area. From left to right they are:

• The “Balance” window, which displays how much credit or money you have available to bet with
• The blue “Rules” button immediately below the “Balance” window; click on this button to bring up the pay tables interface
• The “Lines” widget, which controls how many pay lines are active; this is an alternative control to the colored buttons above; use the Minus and Plus buttons to scroll up and down through thevalues, which include 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50
• The “Bet Per Line” widget, which adjusts the coin value of your wager; use the Minus and Plus buttons to scroll through the available values, which include 0.02, 0.04, 0.10, 0.20, 0.40, 0.50,1.00, 2.00, and 4.00
• The “Total Bet” display window, which multiplies your Bet Per Line times number of active pay lines; this is how much you wager on each spin
• The “Musical Note” button just below the “Total Bet” window; this toggles the game’s sounds on and off
• The “Win” display window which shows how much you won on the last game
• The blue “Max Bet” button sets active pay lines to 50 and bet per line to 4.00; your Total Bet at this combination will be $200
• The red “Gamble” button immediately below the “Max Bet” button is only active immediately after any spin where you win a prize; use this button to enter a special feature game described below
• The green “Spin” button initiates a single paid game and becomes a red “Stop” button after a brief delay; use the “Stop” feature to skip past the animated spinning of the reels (but this doesnot alter the outcome of the game)
• The small green “Auto” button is immediately below the “Spin” button; click on this to bring up a special dialog where you use a slider bar to choose how many games you want to playautomatically; use the “Last Settings” button (when it is active) to play the same number of spins as you did on your last set of auto spins; the auto spins use the current settings for activepay lines and bet per line; click on the “Start” button to initiate the auto spins.

The auto spins continue until you exit the game, interrupt the spins by clicking on the red “Stop” button, win a bonus game, or your available balance drops below the amount of the Total Bet. When an auto spin pays a prize the game cycles through the pay line animations; the large red “Stop” button changes to a lavender “Continue” button so you can bypass the animations andcontinue the auto spins game.

When three Gold Ingots appear on reels 1, 2, and 3 the Free Spins bonus game begins. You are awarded 10 free spins.

An extra White Pearl is added to reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 during the Free Spins bonus, increasing your chances of winning prizes.

It is possible to win 5 more free spins if the three Gold Ingots appear during the Free Spins bonus. Only one set of extra spins can be won per bonus game.

After any spin in the basic game if you win a prize the red “Gamble” button becomes active and remains so until you spin again. You can use this button to increase your win in an all-or-nothinggame.

When you click on the button a special playing screen replaces the 5 reels. You are presented with a face down playing card.

To the left of the card are three buttons: “Red”, a Red Heart, and a Red Diamond (representing the two red suits in a standard deck of playing cards).

To the right of the face down card are three more buttons: “Black”, a Black Club, and a Black Spade (representing the two black suits in the deck).

The “Gamble Amount” displayed above the face down card is the total amount you just won on your spin; you are gambling ALL of this money.

To the left you will see “Suit Gamble to win” above an amount equal to four times your gamble amount. To the right you will see “Red / Black Gamble to win” above an amount equal to two times yourgamble amount.

“50 Dragons” does not offer much in the way of innovation. It is similar to the earlier ground-breaking “50 Lions” game and is a precursor to the later “100 Dragons” game.  However, despitethe game’s simplistic sound effects and incidental music (about average for 2005) “50 Dragons” represents a substantial investment in Asian gambling psychology through its careful selection ofsymbols. This game may not be targeting high rollers but it addresses fundamental cultural motifs found throughout China and other parts of Asia where Chinese culture has a strong presence, suchas Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

Even Australia, where Leisure Limited is headquartered, has a significant Chinese population; hence, the game’s theme and stylistic appeal are clearly chosen for strong marketing reasons.

To the western gambler the symbols are merely interesting, attractive golden designs. They would make nice rings, medallions, and brooches. But clearly the overwhelming associations with goodfortune and lifelong luck, as well as good energy, suggest these symbols are meant to evoke powerful feelings in the Asian gambling marketplace.

There is nothing wrong with that approach. In fact, every slot machine game that appeals to western gamblers plays on positive emotions, whether it is through memories of favorite TV shows orappreciation of pop music stars. But if this game doesn’t evoke strong interest in you, perhaps the reason is a cultural one.

The gamble feature is popular among slot players and you find it in many games, but you might as well call it the “hand your money over to the casino” feature because the more you use thisfeature the lower your theoretical return becomes. You really do have a better chance just playing the basic slot game. That’s only significant for this game because it makes clever use ofsymbols associated with wealth and good fortune. The subliminal message may be a little stronger for some regions of the world.