Our rating:
Developer: Pragmatic Play
Release date: 18th Sep 2023
8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot - Screenshot
RTP: 96.01%
Max Payout: 8,800x stake
Volatility: Medium-High
Min Bet: 0.10
Max Bet: 375.00
Reels: 5
Paylines: 10
Theme: Oriental
Jackpot: No

8 Golden Dragon Challenge

Paul Clare
Reviewed by Paul Clare Last updated:

Pragmatic Play’s 8 Golden Dragon Challenge follows in a long line of traditional Chinese culture-themed slots. As commonplace as this theme might be, the game itself does boast a couple of interesting bonus features in the form of the Mini Slot Machines and the Envelope Bonus, not to mention a max win of 8,800x. Will it cause a slot machine cultural revolution, though?

Full review continued below ↓

Play 8 Golden Dragon Challenge at these slot sites

Jump straight into the action and play 8 Golden Dragon Challenge now at the following fully licenced UK slot sites. These slot sites have been thoroughly audited and reviewed by the team here at Slot Gods to ensure they offer an exceptional user experience, are trustworthy, safe, secure, and boast the best selection of online slots in their portfolio including 8 Golden Dragon Challenge...

Our Rating

“A fun, simple slot with a lucky oriental edge.”

3.6 out of 5

Features
7/10
Design
7/10
Gameplay
7/10
Win potential
7.5/10

8 Golden Dragon Challenge Screenshots

  • 8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot - Screenshot 1
  • 8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot - Screenshot 2
  • 8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot - Screenshot 3
  • 8 Golden Dragon Challenge Slot - Screenshot 4

8 Golden Dragon Challenge Features

The action takes place on a 5x3 slot that has 10 paylines, and all standard winning combinations start from the leftmost reel. 9 to Ace are the game’s low pays and 5-of-a-kinds are worth between 2x to 10x the bet. The different coloured dragons are the high-pay symbols. In ascending order of value, they go blue, green then red. Landing 5 of these matching symbols will pocket you between 20x and 100x times the bet. 

Mini Slot Machine Bonus

There are no Wilds in this game, but there are Golden Dragon Scatters. They fall on reels 1, 3 and 5, and you’ll need 3 of them to do so in order to move to the Mini Slot Machine Bonus Round. This is where the standard 5x3 game area is replaced by a 3x3 one, consisting of 8 mini 3x3 slot machines and an Envelope Multiplier occupying the middle square. The round plays out mini slot machine by mini slot machine. In each one, you need to land at least a 3rd of a whole Golden Dragon symbol on each of the 3 reels to win—there are no other pay symbols. Once your win for that mini slot is calculated, the next mini slot spins, and so on. If one of your mini slots doesn’t yield anything, it becomes locked out for the remainder of the round, as in, it won’t respin. The round continues until all of the 8 mini slots have been locked out. 

Envelope Bonus

There is also an extra bonus round within the bonus round! During the standard bonus, if you fill a reel with a complete Golden Dragon symbol that’s part of a winning combination, when the standard bonus round finishes, you’ll move on to the Envelope Bonus with a starting multiplier of 1x. If 2 full Dragons drop, a 3x multiplier will be added to the total Envelope Multiplier. For 3 full Dragons you get a multiplier of 8x added. 

When the Envelope Bonus round finally starts, you’ll see 8 Red Envelopes, like those exchanged on Chinese New Year. When they open, they display multipliers of 2x, 3x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x or 10x the bet. These amounts are then multiplied by whatever you’ve accumulated in the Envelope Multiplier. 

Players outside the UK can increase their bet by 50% to increase their chances of accessing the bonus round, or they can multiply their bet by 100x in order to guarantee access to it.

8 Golden Dragon Challenge - Mini Slot Machine Bonus

Mini Slot Machine Bonus

Land 3 Golden Dragon Scatter symbols and be spirited away to the Mini Slot Machine Bonus round, where instead of 1 slot machine to spin, you’ve got 8! Land 3rds of Golden Dragon symbols to win.

8 Golden Dragon Challenge - Envelope Bonus

Envelope Bonus

If a complete Golden Dragon symbol is part of a winning combination, you’ll enter the Envelope Bonus round. Whatever multiplier you’ve accumulated during the Mini Slots Bonus will be applied to all the bet multipliers you find in this round’s 8 Red envelopes.

8 Golden Dragon Challenge Review

There are a lot of slots with oriental themes out there. Where the likes of Densho from Hacksaw Gaming took a more high-brow, complex approach, Pragmatic Play has decided to keep things simple. 8 Golden Dragon Challenge is a standard 5x3 slot that’s more like a trip down your local all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet than a stroll along the Great Wall of China. 

Design

8 Golden Dragon Challenge isn’t the most creative slot in a visual sense. It’s bright and has smooth animations; however, there’s very little variety with respect to the design of the symbols. Everything’s very uniform. The music is as you’d imagine, given the setting—whimsical, traditional and Chinese.  

Game Play

I have to say I found the standard game a little tedious, though that might be down to the presentation. The lack of action might also have been down to the fact that there are no Wilds in this game! The Mini Slot Machine Bonus, however, was a breath of fresh air, and I found it quite fun. Things get even more exciting if you’re lucky enough to enter the bonus round within the bonus round, where there are red envelopes dishing out multipliers all over the place.

Win Potential

8,800x is a decent max win, especially when you consider the big stake range options. The standard RTP of 96.01% is just about right and there’s medium-high volatility to enjoy/endure. 

My Verdict

If simplicity is what you’re looking for, 8 Golden Dragon Challenge is definitely for you. Despite the originality of the bonus games, everything’s very easy to play. With regards to the presentation, I think a lot more effort could have been made, though, especially given the host of more aesthetically appealing oriental-themed slots out there. Still, given the max win and max bet, the game could potentially produce some top payouts.

Play 8 Golden Dragon Challenge at these slot sites

Jump straight into the action and play 8 Golden Dragon Challenge now at the following fully licenced UK slot sites. These slot sites have been thoroughly audited and reviewed by the team here at Slot Gods to ensure they offer an exceptional user experience, are trustworthy, safe, secure, and boast the best selection of online slots in their portfolio including 8 Golden Dragon Challenge...