Game: Wu Dragon
Manufacturer: IGT
Advantage play potential: Medium
What Makes it Special: Bordered symbols turn wild, along with the surrounding spaces, when hit with a meteor. Extra bet lets you retain borders until they explode.
Recently, Mohegan Sun was a debut casino for a new slot machine cabinet by IGT, and on it a new game, Wu Dragon. As it turns out, the game is a near-clone of Star Goddess, another IGT game that features a Portal Lock feature, as this one does.
They’re not quite identical, so let’s walk through the game.
Understanding the Game
Like Star Goddess, the game is a 26-line game on a 5×4 reel set. The base game is 60 credits increments, while a More/Better bet, the Portal Lock, is available in 100 credit increments.
On any spin, between 1 and 20 fire wheels can interact with the reel set – any space they land turns wild. If they land on a space where a portal appears, then that space, and all of the spaces around it, including diagonally, will turn wild. This is very similar to Ocean Magic and how the bubble overlaps the Ocean Magic symbol.
The Portal Lock bet will hold the portal symbols if they are not turned wild, until one is turned wild. They will continue to collect until a fire wheel lands on a space where a portal is locked or lands on a given spin.
The portal and the surrounding symbols will turn wild like normal, but any other portals will also turn wild, increasing the chances of a big win, and hence the additional bet requirements. When the portals turn wild, they unlock and go away.
Like many other IGT games, the locked portal symbols are linked to the bet level, and each bet level has its own set of persistent state reels.
This game also has two progressives, like Star Goddess, and in this case called the Minor and Grand. You can win either progressive at any bet level, but the higher the wager, the better the chances.
Free Spins Bonus
Three or more Bonus symbols will give you a free spins bonus. The number of spins is determined by the number of bonus symbols, and this is where the game differs from Star Goddess as you get more games on 4 or 5 bonus symbols:
- 3 bonus symbols: 10 free games
- 4 bonus symbols: 20 free games
- 5 bonus symbols: 50 free games
The bet level you were betting is maintained in the bonus, including the Portal Lock bet. However, reel 3 is always portal symbols in every spin, to help improve the chances of a fire wheel hit, bringing wilds (and hopefully line pays) in the bonus.
Free games cannot be retriggered.
Understanding the Advantage
More portals locked in place is a larger advantage, as the odds are higher a fire wheel will hit one, and the pays will likely be higher given the additional wilds that will show up when it hits. You can also potentially find portals locked on each of the bet levels.
Of course, until the fire wheel actually hits, you don’t get anything, and if it takes awhile that can quickly erode any opportunity to come out ahead.
Watch and Learn
As the game had just debuted at the time we found it, there aren’t any videos out there, including from IGT, but we’ll update the post as this evolves.
