Dragon Pearls review

Theme and Storyline

Dragon Pearls in the real world are a type of luxury tea. The young leaves are rolled and packed together to form a small ball which unfolds in the water as it brews. The slot machine Dragon Pearls takes a more literal interpretation of the term and gives you reels packed with stylised versions of Chinese imagery.

There are plenty of coins with square holes in the centre, golden trees and frogs, a Yin-Yang Wild symbols and of course dragons.

It is colourful and interesting, and a nice angle on the common slot theme of the pseudo-sinitic.

Graphics, Sounds and Animations

The graphics feel very modern. There is little 3D to it, but it feels high def and very smooth. The symbols have the excellent quality of being detailed without being busy, and care was taken in making sure the gold and red colour scheme did not come off as too tacky.

The music is sufficiently ambient and varied that the constant looping of it will not drive you insane as some slot music can. This music is accompanied by a very simple sound design that is effective, but almost invisible.

Gameplay

The main game for Dragon Pearls is a five reel slot with three rows and twenty-five winlines.

Although there is no gamble feature, there are a series of interesting bonuses (outlined below). These bonuses elevate the game from simple ‘click and win’ gameplay to something a little more exciting.

Wilds, Bonuses and Free Spins

The Wild substitutes for any symbol except the Pearl symbol.

Three or more Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels will trigger a free spin bonus as well as paying out a prize.

The Free Spin bonus nets you 8 free spins. You can then win a further 8 spins if you hit another three Scatters during the spins. During the Free Spins the low value Ace to Nine symbols are removed from the game.

Six or more Pearls will trigger the Bonus game. Any Pearls you hit in the Bonus game and the trigger spin are locked in place. You start with three spins on the counter, and the counter resets to three every time you hit a Pearl. Every Pearl has a random number or word on it. At the end of the Bonus the numbers are added up to make up your payout.

If a Pearl has the word Mini or Major on it, you win the corresponding jackpot. If you fill up the entire set of reels with Pearls, you win the Grand Jackpot.

Bet Sizes, RTP and Variance

The return to player of this game is not provided by the publisher. This is somewhat concerning, and we rarely recommend a slot if the return to player is not clear.

The site we tested offered a range of best that went from $/£/€0.25 per spin, up to a maximum per spin of $/£/€60.00.This is a little tighter than some, but should still cover all by the very lowest and highest of bankrolls.

The volatility of this game is medium to high. This is not perfect, as we prefer high volatility slots, but it certainly is not so low that we would count this slot out.

Conclusion

Dragon Pearls is a lovely slot, that works pretty well for what it is.

The jackpots in particular may appeal to a certain type of player. Unfortunately, though, its positive attributes are not quite enough to get a recommendation from us, mostly due to the lack of return to player info.

There is a reason this is not one of the bigger names in slots.