Tales from the Far East tell the captivating story of the Imperial Dragon appearing before a poor farmer’s wife who was laying sleeping beside a pond as he made his way home with the clouds darkening as lightning flashed and the sound of thunder roared out as the huge scaled dragon loomed over her, only for her to give birth a few months later to a baby boy who would go on to become Emperor Gaozu who was the first ruler of the Han dynasty.
Imperial Dragon is one of the most popular Blueprint Gaming slots games, and in the last few months, it’s become widely popular with video slot players around the world, thanks to its inclusion in many YouTube, and Twitch streamers channels, thanks to the unique “Pie Gamble” – more on that later. The game itself is an Oriental, Chinese-themed title, and features 5-reels, and 20 fixed.
Of course, we have already reviewed numerous online slots which have been inspired by dragons such as the 50 Dragons slot from Aristocrat and the Dragon Dance slot from Microgaming, but will the Imperial Dragon slot machine from Blueprint Gaming stand above the rest? Let’s find out…
Imperial Dragon has a structure of 5 reels with 3 rows and 20 fixed paylines with stakes of 20p up to £100 per spin allowed. While the return to player percentage is average at 95.53% and there aren’t the usual number of bonus features that we have come to expect from Blueprint Gaming slots, Imperial Dragon boasts base game wins of up to 20,000x your line bet, a two-tier gamble feature where you can win cash prizes or special spins, plus the Golden Dragon Bonus feature where you’ll experience a fiery free spins mode that never fails to deliver epic wins!
Imperial Dragon
Get €250 + 120 Free Spins
Striking Symbols
As you’d expect from an online slot based on the Far East, the symbols featuring on the reels are rather striking. The Imperial Dragon leads the way as the most valuable of all in a dramatic pose as flames flare in the background with this delivering up to 20,000x your line bet and it is also the Wild symbol, with the other special symbol being a golden dragon coin which is the Scatter.
There is also a large dragon statue positioned outside a temple, a stunning view of the temple itself, lanterns, fans and Ace to 10 icons which are the lowest valued of all – nothing new there then!
Fiery Free Spins
Witnessing three or more of the golden dragon Scatter symbols on the reels at once will activate the Golden Dragon Bonus feature where the number of free spins that you have won will be determined by the number of Scatters that you trigger the feature with as three reward you with 15 free spins, four earn you 20 free spins and five deliver you with a jaw-dropping 50 free spins.
Throughout the free spins feature you can also collect Scatter symbols to access bonus reels which have different perks depending on how many Scatters you manage to accumulate.
Twelve Scatters will see the second reel transformed into a Stacked Wild, 18 Scatters and an Expanding Wild will take command of the third reel while the Queen, Jack and 10 icons will be removed from the reels, while 24 Scatter symbols sees even more Expanding Wilds on the reels with all playing card icons removed to ensure it’s only high-valued winning combinations you’ll be experiencing!
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Gamble for Cash and Imperial Spins
Below the reels, you’ll notice that there is a gamble button which can be set to ‘gamble off’, ‘gamble 1x total bet’ or ‘gamble 5x total bet’ with this being a great way to show the dragon just how brave you are by risking your winnings to win even more.
If you opt to turn the gamble feature off you simply won’t be offered the choice to gamble after winning combinations, however if you have it set to ‘1x total bet’ you will be offered the choice for wins worth more than 1x your stake and the same applies for the ‘5x total bet’ option. Once a large enough win occurs and you decide to gamble you will be taken to a gamble ladder where you can win cash prizes or Imperial Spins (up to 100), but be careful as you could lose and see the dragon gobble them up instead!
Dragon Drama
Slots based on dragons are always dramatic with striking symbols and fiery action on the reels and Imperial Dragon from Blueprint Gaming is certainly no exception. It may not boast the variety of features we normally see from their titles but the gamble feature and the incredible Golden Dragon Bonus feature more than make up for this – especially if you collect lots of Scatter symbols!
Votes
It’s difficult to find a good Chinese themed slot game nowadays, because there’s just so many of them! It’s arguably the most popular slot theme out there. But every now and then software developers try their best to deliver a gaming experience that stands out from the rest. We can’t really say that the design of Imperial Dragon by Blueprint Gaming is in any way different from the majority of other Asian slots. But we would like to point out the refreshing graphics quality. In addition, some of the symbols are really quite mesmerizing and boast a great deal of fine detail. Such is mainly the dragon symbol, of course, as it is the game’s highlight. As for the other symbols, they feature the lower value playing card icons A, K, Q, J and 10. They don’t exactly match the theme, though. We also really like the backdrop that offers a pleasant morning outlook on some old Chinese town. The color scheme and haziness would suggest that it’s early morning perhaps. In addition, the sound of wind chimes makes for an equally pleasant touch.
The layout in Imperial Dragon is quite traditional and features the common grid of 5 reels and 3 rows. In addition, it also features a total number of 20 paylines. However, those are fixed and will not be subject to adjustment. As far as controls do go, you will find your betting amount just below the reels. The arrow buttons will allow you to set your value of choice. Thus, bets here can range from 20c per single spin up to a maximum of $100 per spin. And as we pointed out earlier the symbols here include the lower value playing card icons. They are A, K, Q, J and 10. But rising further in value are the handheld fan and gold coins. Even more valuable are the red lantern symbols, as well as the temple and the guardian lion statue.Last but not least, we also pointed out earlier that the most beautiful symbol on these reels is the Imperial Dragon. Aside from being so picturesque, it’s also this game’s Wild and most lucrative symbol at that. If you can manage to stack up five of these on a payline, you’ll hit the jackpot of 20,000 times your line bet. Logically, this means that Wild can also appear in any position on the reels. But more importantly, it can also replace any of the other symbols and, thus, help you create better winning combos. And in addition to that, it can also expand to cover whole reels. There is, however, one symbol that the Wild cannot replace and that is the Golden Dragon Bonus symbol.
Now, the Golden Dragon Bonus symbol doesn’t offer any particular payouts of its own. However, it can trigger this game’s single bonus feature – the freespins round. Just like the Wild symbol, the Bonus symbol can appear in any position on the reels. But in order for you to benefit from it, you will need to land at least 3 or more of it during the same spin. This will subsequently trigger the Multi-Arena Freespins feature. If you land 3 Bonus symbols, you will receive 15 freespins, whereas 4 of those will give you 20 freespins. And last but not least, 5 Bonus symbols will give you a whopping 50 freespins. But that’s not all. As you play the feature, you will notice Golden Dragon symbols on the reels. You will collect these and they will go into the panel, just below the reels.Once you have collected the minimum of 12 Golden Dragons, an additional set of reels will appear with expanding Wilds. Gather 18 of them, and you will benefit from a third set with expanding Wilds and without the symbols 10, J and Q. Finally, 24 Golden Dragons will ensure a fourth set of reels with all of the above and the symbols K and A gone, too. And if you like, you can also take advantage of the Gamble feature during the base game. You will have to enable the option before you start spinning the reels, though. It will give you the opportunity to double your prize up to several times. It may look complicated at first, but it’s really just a simple ladder game. There are two levels and you can receive both cash prizes, as well as up to 100 Imperial Spins.