House of the Dragon Slot

I’m going to be honest from the off here and say that House of the Dragon was one of those slot games I really wanted to dislike before I’d even seen it. That’s odd for me, as I generally love Aristocrat games.

My hopes of a satisfying disdain had nothing to do with slots, though, and everything to do with Game of Thrones. I liked Game of Thrones (the TV show, and the slot game is okay as well, I suppose). In fact, I liked it so much that I was genuinely irritated when it ended.

House of the Dragon, in case you are unaware, is the TV prequel of Game of Thrones. You might think that would make me excited to watch it, but all it’s ever done is remind me that Game of Thrones finished, which makes it a source of nothing but annoyance.

However, one day I was walking through El Cortez in Las Vegas and there House of the Dragon was. It was shiny and new, with incredible graphics and six glistening, colourful, shining dragon eggs. About ten minutes later, I had to admit that at least something good had come from the end of Game of Thrones.

What was it, though, that captured me so much about the House of the Dragon land-based slot game? Read on to find out.

As I briefly mentioned, the design of the game is incredibly eye-catching. Aristocrat have presented it in an enormous new cabinet, the revolutionary King Max cabinet to be exact. In the top part of it, there are various graphics from the TV show on a kind of rotation. At the bottom of it there is a 5x3 slot grid.

In the middle, though, are six dragon eggs, each of a different colour and showing various degrees of perceived progression. They are what catch your eye, primarily because they are so vibrant.

However, there is also something subconscious going on when you see those eggs if you’re a slots player. On some level, perhaps some kind of inner degenerate level, you are thinking, ‘Six eggs? Six? I am not sure I have seen six progressive pots before. Three, yes. One, all the time. Too often, actually. Man, I am sick of pot games. Hang on, six? S-i-x? Does that mean there are six bonus features?!’

So, suffice to say it’s an attention grabber, which isn’t easy to create nowadays on a casino floor, given the competition.

Atmosphere wise, I imagine it is very similar to the TV show (which I still refuse to watch). It plays the show’s music gently in the background and it’s kind of dark and moody with dramatic thuds when the reels land.

It’s very cinematic, actually, which is definitely what you’d expect from a modern slot licensed from a hit high-budget TV show.

You’re looking for eggs. That’s the top and bottom of it. At first, you think the eggs are landing quite randomly, but after a while, you realise that each reel matches one coloured egg, so they land quite methodically.

Each time an egg lands, you have a chance to trigger the corresponding feature. If multiple eggs land on the same spin, you have a chance to trigger multiple features.

If you are very lucky, the golden egg will pop. If it does, that will award you all five features at once. It’s never happened for me, but it must be pretty epic when it happens.

And that is generally it. There is nothing especially fancy about the gameplay. That is something that Aristocrat generally does really well. They keep the gameplay simple and the bonus features exciting. House of the Dragon hits those two points absolutely perfectly.

At a glance:

• Grid: 5x3 
• Paylines: 50
• Bet Levels: $0.75-$50
• Progressive Jackpots: Yes, features a linked Grand Progressive jackpot
• Bonus Features: 5 – Mega Prize, Boost Prize, Double All, Award All, Instant Win, plus Golden Egg feature
• RTP: Around 96% (exact % varies by jurisdiction and casino setup)
• Volatility: High

If there is one thing you can sense when you are playing House of the Dragon, it is potential. That comes naturally when there are five bonus features, I think.

However, while I have also had an occasional good line pay on the game, it does feel like it’s kind of all about the bonuses. That’s fine, but it’s just something to be aware of.

Orange – Mega Prize: When the orange egg lands in the bonus, it will award a mega prize value. That value will be determined at the start of the bonus by a mean-looking fire-breathing dragon.

Purple – Boost Prize: The purple eggs boost the value of the awards you have already landed in the Dragon Link style Hold & Spin via a cool sword graphic.

Green – Double All: A green egg in the feature will multiply all collected values by two.

Blue – Award All: A blue egg combines all currently collected credit prizes onto one Cash-on-Reel position

Red – Instant win: Slightly misleading, because normally you’d expect an All Aboard style award of all values on the screen, but the blue kind of does that. The red, then, randomly selects only some of the values to award. You will receive those awards again, though, at the end of the bonus.

It must be said that the real payout potential and excitement in House of the Dragon is in popping (breaking, cracking, hatching?) multiple eggs at once. Imagine, for example, your mega-prize being doubled or combined with an award all.

There are no free games in House of the Dragon, but I guess that’s fine since Aristocrat has given us five bonus features instead. That means there is no scatter symbol either. I don’t think the game suffers remotely for not having free games personally.

It does have progressives, though. Two true progressives in terms of the Grand Jackpot that is linked to the bank of machines in which it sits, and a Major that is unique to the specific machine you’re playing. There are also Mini and Minor jackpot awards to be won.

One of the best reasons to play land-based casino slots rather than online is the perks you can earn. For one, depending on where you’re playing, you will almost certainly be offered a free drink. So keep an eye out for the waitress.

Always make sure you play with your player reward’s card inserted into the machine too so you can earn comps like free hotel stays, freeplay, and resort credit.

House of the Dragon is a great game. I give Aristocrat kudos because it’s not always easy to make a game based on a TV show. Often, they seem to be a lot more style than substance, with designers relying on the popularity of the show to get people playing rather than the gameplay itself.

House of the Dragon avoids that pitfall masterfully. In fact, you could take away all the branding, replace it with generic symbols and graphics instead, and it would still be a great game to play.

Once you add all the atmosphere and visuals from the TV show on top, you have something really quite special.

Five bonus features in a land-based game is not very common either, so it has some real novelty value there as well.