Dragon Dance Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Dragon Dance Review

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is rich in symbolism. The dragon, lanterns, musicians and fireworks that characterize this event make it one of the most recognizable of all celebrations. Dragon Dance is Microgaming’s take on the classic Chinese new year party, which judging by the number of games on the market that have this theme, is an occasion that resonates with a significant percentage of slot players.

Microgaming’s vast portfolio of slots includes titles that showcase some of the best graphics seen in the online gaming industry. Dragon Dance is not one of those games though. Overall, the game art is very average, and this makes for a rather dull representation of what, in real life, is a hugely vibrant occasion. With the exception of the dragon itself, which is the top symbol, the high symbols fall short in the eye candy stakes. The card suite low symbols are particularly uninspired.

While Microgaming may have underdelivered with the game graphics in this 5 x 3, 243 ways slot, in Hyperspins and Free Spins, Dragon Dance packs two great features that have the potential to save the day. Hyperspins is a respin feature that enables you to spin individual reels as a cost determined by the winning potential on offer. It can be used to great effect to complete wins or, if you’ve landed two Scatters, to try and land a third one to trigger Free Spins. Free Spins comes with the exciting prospect of a 3x multiplier on all wins. Together, the game mechanics deliver a medium volatility experience that provides more than enough entertainment to compensate for the sub-par game graphics.

The game has an RTP of 96.52%.

Game symbols

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What are the bonus features?

Dragon Dance comes with two features - the Hyperspins Respin Feature in the Base Game, and Free Spins.

Hyperspins Respin Feature

Perhaps it’s a little cheeky of Microgaming to refer to Hyperspins as a ‘feature’, because in slot parlance, features aren’t usually something you pay for - and with the Hyperspins respin feature, paying is exactly what you do. Also, features generally deliver wins, and Hyperspins doesn’t make any promises in that regard. Rather, it provides an opportunity to create wins, at a cost. So, whether this is a feature or a mechanism is debatable, but what is certain is that it adds a whole lot of value to the gameplay experience. The ability to exert some control over outcomes, while not entirely new, is still a relatively novel concept in slots, and it makes for a unique experience. Certainly, the Hyperspins Respin Feature is a powerful tool that has the potential to deliver rich rewards, and this makes it worth investing in, even if not every application results in a winning outcome.

Free Spins

3, 4 or 5 Scatters trigger the Free Spins feature, with 15 spins. Win Multipliers are popular in slots for a reason: their presence guarantees maximum excitement, and of course the potential for terrific wins. What would be an average win in the Dragon Dance’s Base Game becomes a whole lot more significant in Free Spins, thanks to the 3x multiplier that is applied to all wins during the feature.

The Free Spins feature promises sufficient winning potential to make it worth paying for, so if you land two Scatters in the Base Game, try respinning a reel to squeeze out the third Scatter that gets you into the feature. Along with the pulling power of the 3x win multiplier, Free Spins also offers retrigger potential. Land 3 or more Scatters while the feature is in progress, and you’ll receive another 15 Free Spins.

How to play

Dragon Dance is an easy game to get a feel for. The only aspect that takes some getting used to is the Hyperspins respin feature. Here are some basic pointers to get you going.

• Before starting your session, you should have an idea how long you’d like to play for, and how much you’re prepared to spend. These considerations will help you choose a suitable bet size.
• The game offers a minimum bet of 0.25 credits and a maximum of 125 credits, so whether you’re on a modest budget or playing for high stakes, you’re catered for.

  

  

  To adjust your bet size, simply click Bet on the console, or the coins icon to the right of the reels, to open the Bet Selection box. The box has buttons that allow you to quickly choose from 7 popular bet sizes. If your preferred wager isn’t reflected on any of the buttons, use the Bet Size slider to set your ideal amount. If you’re in it to win it, click the Max Bet button.
• It’s no secret that most slot players don’t spend a long time studying paytables, if indeed they visit them at all. We recommend that you buck this trend, and take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the symbols and game rules. To access the paytable, click the button to the left of the reels, and then click the Information button. Dragon Dance has a dynamic paytable, where the symbol payout values update when you change your wager.

  

  This is always a nice touch in slots.
• As you’d expect, the dragon is the top paying symbol, awarding 160x your stake for 5 of a kind, followed by the ram and the Scatter. Somewhat unusually, all 3 of these symbols award payouts (albeit modest ones) if you land only 2 of them. The couple with fans, the drummer and the lady with cymbals are the medium-value symbols, while the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 and 9 are the lows.
• Dragon Dance is a 243 Ways game. This means that you have 243 ways to win, all of which require that you land 3 or more matching symbols anywhere on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel.
• You can hit the big Spin button on each spin, or hit the arrow directly above it to open the Autoplay box, offering from 10 to 100 spins. To activate Quick Spin, click the lightning bolt below the Spin button.
• Note the Respin button above each reel. The Hyperspins respin feature isn’t common in slots, but you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Be sure to peruse the associated cost at the foot of the reel you’re thinking about respinning, because the cost isn’t fixed. Rather, it is determined by the winning potential. Thrilling as the feature is, it doesn’t come cheap. Don’t get carried away respinning the same reel again and again, because you’ll deplete your budget very quickly.
• Aside from completing wins, the Hyperspins respin feature can be used to trigger Free Spins. If you get two Scatters, try respinning a reel to land a third. Of course, you can also trigger Free Spins in the usual way, by landing 3 or more Scatters on the Reels.
• If you intend to use Hyperspins while Autoplay is on, stay alert because you need to move quickly to get your respin in before the next Autoplay spin starts.
• During Free Spins, all your wins will be multiplied 3x. And if you land 3 or more Scatters during the feature, another 15 Free Spins are awarded.

Where to Play Dragon Dance?

By now, you must surely be wondering whether you can get the best out of the Hyperspins respin feature. You’re probably also thinking about that 3x multiplier on all your Free Spins wins. Dragon Dance isn’t going to play itself, so why the delay. Whether you want to try the demo first, or play for real money from the get go, Slot Catalog has you covered.

Play for real money

By now, you must surely be wondering whether you can get the best out of the Hyperspins respin feature. You’re probably also thinking about that 3x multiplier on all your Free Spins wins.

Dragon Dance isn’t going to play itself, so why the delay. Whether you want to try the demo first, or play for real money from the get go, Slot Catalog has you covered.

Play free demo version

If you haven’t tried a slot with a respin feature before, you’ll probably want to dip your toe in the water with some free play before you invest any of your hard earned cash. The good news is that you can play the Dragon Dance demo for free on Slot Catalog.

The 200 Spins Dragon Dance Experience

Usually, we turn on Autoplay when conducting the 200 spin test we put all the games we review through. This time, we need to approach it a little differently, because Hyperspins is a feature that requires engagement. So, we decide to try respinning whenever the potential exists for us to capitalize from doing so. Of course, as we’ll tell you every time, 200 spins isn’t enough to deliver results of statistical significance. The purpose of this test is merely to get a little taste of what Dragon Dance has to offer. Let’s go!

We set our bet size to 1 credit, for no reason other than the fact that this makes it easy to understand our wins as multiples of our stake. On our very first spin, we land four 9’s. Ok, so let’s check out this Hyperspins thing. We respin a reel at a cost of 2.49 credits, and bingo - we land a 9. For engineering our own 5 of a Kind win, we’re rewarded with a payout of 4x our original stake.

We get some pretty good wins in the base game. The most notable are one of 10x our stake, and a pair of 5 of a kind wins on consecutive spins - unfortunately with the two lowest symbols, so we only win 4x our stake for each. When we land 2 Scatters, it’s time to try Hyperspins again. It’s going to cost us a hefty 3.23 per spin, so we decide on a maximum of 5 respins. On the 5th respin, we land a third Scatter!

The 3x multiplier in Free Spins is a thing of joy. Every time we score a win with low symbols, we get a pleasant surprise as it delivers three times as much as we expected. We exit the feature with just over 40x our triggering stake. Not bad.

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The Hyperspins feature adds another dimension to gameplay. It is a thrill to be able to engineer your own results. Of course, you also need to know when to stop. On three occasions, we land two Scatters, but fail to land a 3rd over the course of 5 respins. We resist the temptation to keep trying, and move on. The next time we land two Scatters, we respin again, and this time we get that elusive Scatter straight away. Disappointingly, however, we only win a measly 10x our stake during the feature. Not good.

After 183 spins, we trigger Free Spins again - this time by landing 4 Scatters, rather than using Hyperspins to force the issue. This visit to Free Spins proves a whole lot more rewarding, a flurry of 5 of a Kind wins seeing us exiting the feature with almost 90x our triggering stake. Very good!

When our 200 spin test comes to an end, our balance is 9 credits lower than what we started with. While Hyperspins undoubtedly accounted for a big chunk of our budget consumption, it also delivered plenty of entertainment, and got us into Free Spins twice. Unfortunately, we didn’t get an opportunity to use it to complete a 5 of a Kind win with the top symbol, but in that scenario it would certainly be very rewarding. While using Hyperspins to influence outcomes comes at a price, overall, this respin feature adds great value to the Dragon Dance experience.

Review Summary

If Dragon Dance was lined up alongside a selection of other Chinese New Year themed slots, you’d almost certainly choose one of the other games before this one. There are lots of games out there that represent this theme more successfully than Dragon Dance. As they say though, you should never judge a book by its cover, and it’s the game’s mechanisms and features that make it worth recommending.

Dragon Dance has been around since 2016, but is still very popular with players. The Hyperspins respin feature has a lot to do with this. It’s very satisfying to exert some influence in random slot play, and while it does get pricey, it can also be highly rewarding. If you’re having trouble landing 3 Scatters, Hyperspins can be used to deliver that third one. Just remember that you’re paying for the privilege of using it!

The 3x Multiplier on all wins makes the game’s Free Spins feature a delight. While not every visit to Free Spins will necessarily be lucrative, in our experience the feature is generally very rewarding - and can become very rewarding indeed if you succeed in retriggering it.

Pros

• Hyperspins feature creates a great Base Game experience
• 3x Multiplier on all wins during Free Spins

Cons

• The Hyperspins feature is expensive
• Wilds don’t award pays

If you appreciate Dragon Dance you should also try:

If Dragon Dance does it for you, there are some other slots out there that you’re bound to enjoy as well.

If you enjoy the 243 ways, medium volatility, 96.52 RTP, Base Game respin feature and Free Spins with 3x Multiplier in Dragon Dance, look no further than Bikini Party, another 2016 release from Microgaming. The game shares all of these attributes with Dragon Dance. The only difference is that rather than taking place at a Chinese New Year street party, we find ourselves on a pristine beach, where five sun bronzed babes, Kitty, Daisy, Sunny, Honey and Kiki, are ready to demonstrate their beach volleyball skills.

Sticking with Microgaming titles and party themes, Karaoke Party is also worth checking out. 2016 must have been Microgaming’s year of the Free Spins feature offering 15 spins with a 3x Multiplier on all wins, because would you believe it, you’ll find this in Karaoke Party too. Unlike Dragon Dance and Bikini Party, however, this game isn’t packing a respin feature, it offers high rather than medium volatility gameplay, and 9 paylines rather than 243 ways to win.

Perhaps it’s the game’s theme, rather than its features, that draws you to Dragon Dance. If so, you need to check out 88 Fortunes from Scientific Games. This game is a long-established player favourite in land-based casinos, and has been available in online format since 2016. It gets its name from the minimum and maximum bet sizes it caters for: 0.88 and 88 credits. The gameplay experience is more immersive, and the graphics of a higher standard, than what Dragon Dance provides. It is a 243 Ways game, offering high volatility action, a Free Spins feature with no low symbols in play, and the big drawcard - Jackpots!