Thai Dragon Slot
Asian themed slots are ten a penny, but normally they’re fixated on ancient China or Japan. It’s not often that Thailand gets a look in, so it’s nice to see GameArt tackling this oft overlooked nation. In electing to do so, they’ve opened the reels to the prospect of elephants, Thai temples and other classic symbols that are tailormade for slots.
Thailand is a nation known for its bright colours, mouth-watering aromas and sweet and spicy flavours. GameArt can’t exactly import the latter two sensations into a slot – we don’t have that technology yet – but they can certainly incorporate the rich visuals that are synonymous with Thailand, and they’ve made a good stab of it.
Thai Surprise
GameArt have wisely elected to focus on the traditional Thailand in Thai Dragon rather than the thronged streets which comprise the nation we know today. 10 paylines and 5 reels make this another diddy slot from GameArt, one where there’s not a whole lot to take in. This is the sort of game you can just fire into without a moment’s thought. It’s simple, but it works. With a line bet that can be set between 0.01 and 0.5, like all of this developer’s slots, the most you can wager is 5 per spin.
There’s no ability to control the number of active paylines, but given that there are only 10 in the first place, there’s probably no reason why you should want to. You can enable autospin though, for as much as 500 spins if you like. That’s the one benefit about these low value slots from GameArt; it’s possible to play them for ages without burning through your bankroll. There’s also an option to disable the gamble feature, but given that Thai Dragon isn’t exactly brimming over with features, you’d be advised to leave this turned on.
Crouching Thai-ger, Hidden Dragon
We haven’t mentioned the dragons yet that lend the game its name. There’s a golden one incorporated into the slot’s logo and another rearing its head behind the reels. On the reels, the dragon plays the role of wild, and it’s quite a magnificent beast, with green and gold scales and piercing blue eyes. Aside from the generic playing card symbols, Thai Dragon’s symbols are quite a spectacle.
There’s a gilded elephant, a golden shield, a lotus flower and a red-eyed statue that is worth 1,250 for five. That just leaves scatter, a traditional Thai dwelling which will trigger the bonus feature, awarding 12 free spins. You’ll also receive a multiplier of 3x, 4x or 5x depending on how many symbols triggered the feature.
Asian Invasion
During free spins, watch out for the dragon invading the reels. If the surfaces anywhere on reels 2-4, the creature will expand to fill the whole reel, turning it wild. The dragon will remain in situ until free spins have been concluded, substituting for all other symbols except for scatter. It’s also possible to retrigger free spins should you land three or more scatters again. Like all GameArt slots, Thai Dragon also carries a card gamble feature that can be selected five times in a row, doubling your money each time you correctly predict the colour of the next card.
Thai Something Similar
Although not as crowded as the market for Chinese themed slots, there are nevertheless a few other Thai slots out there. One of these is Barcrest’s Thai Flower. It’s a 15-payline slot where you can win up to 10 free spins so isn’t a million miles away from Thai Dragon. Other contenders include Thai Thai, a 10 payline slot from Cayetano with lacklustre graphics, plus Thai Sunrise and Thai Princess, the latter by Blueprint.
Try Thai
Thai Dragon isn’t the best effort from GameArt, but it’s a capable slot nonetheless. The graphics, while not exactly stunning, are pretty convincing, and are certainly better than those to be found on many other Thai themed slots. The audio is disappointing, but this isn’t a big deal in fairness. With some attractive symbols and some major wins to be derived once you activate free spins, Thai Dragon is worth persisting with if you’ve got the patience.
