Gong Xi Fa Cai Slot

This is a 5-reel 50-payline video slot that features two progressive and two personal jackpots. As the title suggests, the slot deals with a Chinese theme, which is masterfully conveyed by using some zodiac animals on the screen. You will highly appreciate random win multipliers of x2 to x5 and a free spin bonus with only valuable symbols left on the reels. You may also like a Dynamic Symbol Replacement feature that creates stacks of symbols and leads to decent wins. The top non-progressive win in the slot is $15,000.

Do you know how Chinese congratulate each other with the Chinese New Year? They say “Gong Xi Fa Cai”. This is an authentic greeting that literally means “Congratulations on getting more fortune”. Beside the reels standing a man with a golden cup full of golden coins and every time you get a bonus multiplier on the first reel, he animates and more coins drop into this seemingly bottomless cup. In other aspects, the game design is fairly simple and fails to impress that much. At the same time, the adherence to a Chinese theme is clear due to ornamented frames around the buttons, an abstract pink background pictures and lots of Oriental symbols.

Symbols, bets and payouts

IGT applies here a 5×3 layout with 50 paylines but the slot plays with the minimum of 75 coins because there is a mandatory feature bet that is deducted from the player’s balance automatically. There is only one option that the player can set, a coin value. A mobile user should click on the Green area to the left of the reels to open Settings, while desktop users will see a standard interface below the reels. A coin value is regulated from $1 to $20, so the minimum and maximum bets are $75 and $1500 a spin.

Symbols on the paytable include playing cards of face values from 10 to A (x5 to x50) and four animals that are part of Chinese zodiac or relate to the Chinese culture. These include Lion (x100 at max), a pair of Fish (x125), Phoenix (x200) and Dragon (x550). The values indicated in brackets are for five of a kind gathered on an active payline. Since an ultimate cash payout is calculated as a paytable value multiplied by a coin value, the top three prizes produced by non-feature pics are $11,000, $4000 and $2500.

Bonus multipliers

Animal symbols that land on the first reels may feature win multipliers of x2, x3 or x5 on top of the main symbols (Lion, Dragon, etc.). If the related animal completes a combination, the multiplier applies to that win. Hitting for example five dragons at the maximum stake will generate a prize equal to $55,000, should a multiplier of x5 appear on the first dragon pic.

Wild symbol

A wild symbol is represented by the word “Wild”. Alongside its substitution function, it is also the highest prize payer in the game. Hitting 3, 4 or 5 of them on a payline will add x25, x150 or x600 to your current bankroll.

Free spins

If a gambler is asked a question about what his favorite game mode is, he will most probably mention free spins as the first option. Free spins are really the most sought-after part of any slot because it delivers winnings without having to pay anything for them. In Gong Xi Fa Cai, free spins come with a surprising twist that increases expected payouts.

To enter the bonus, the player needs to hit 3 bonus hieroglyph symbols on reels 1, 3 and 5. Eight retriggerable free spins are awarded immediately and the feature begins. There are two important modifications introduced for the feature:

1) The paytable is richer than in base game. For example, five wilds pay x750 instead of x650 in base game, five Phoenixes pay x350 instead of x200, and so on

2) There are no playing cards during free spins – only the most valuable symbols (Lion, Dragon, Phoenix and Fish) are available.

How to win a jackpot?

The slot has four jackpots. The four jackpot meters are always visible above the reels. If you look at them attentively, you will see that Mini (lowest) and Minor (a bit higher than Mini) increase in value every time you place a real-money bet. This is because they are personal jackpots. Many gamblers would be surprised to see the term “personal” in relation to a jackpot but this is the way IGT uses it. They are called so because their progress depends on your bets only – the more you wager, the bigger portion of your bet goes to feed both the personal jackpots. The two higher jackpots are Major and Maxi (highest of the four), and they are pooled progressives accumulated across an entire network of online casinos that offer this game to their visitors.

Every time a win multiplier sub-symbol appears on the first reel as specified in the Bonus Multipliers paragraph above, you have a slight chance of getting a jackpot feature unlocked. In the Lucky Fortune Progressive Picker bonus, you should select from red envelopes that would reveal one of four gems, each corresponding to a specific jackpot. You should keep picking until three matching icons are collected, at which point you win a related jackpot.

Summary

Gong Xi Fa Cai is a 5-reel slot themed around Chinese culture. It has four jackpots, two of which are shared progressives and two are personal jackpots that depend on your betting activity. There is a wild symbol, random win multipliers x2 to x5 and free spins with only high-valued icons landing. Bet sizes vary from $75 to $1500.