Play Lucky Strike for Free

The layout is so different, it’s almost tricky to know where to start. You won’t have seen many designs like this. The red and gold colours dominate. The gold is a big part of the 3 reels at the very centre of the game. It is what separates each reel, as well as having a thicker golden rim on the outside. The background is a gorgeous shade of red with intricate little designs of a lighter red shade.

The name of the game is in both Chinese and English, continuing to reflect the pride in heritage the makers have in Asia. Next to this is the Lucky Jackpot, again in two languages. On the left hand side are the 11 combinations that you get prizes for. On the right hand side there are two boxes describing bonuses.

There are no paytables, instructions or diagrams for the paylines, but because of the way the layout has been done, they aren’t needed. It’s super easy to change your betting line from between 1 and 8, and with the denominations of 0.01. 0.02. 0.05, 0.10. 0.25, 0.50, 1.25, 2.50, 5.0 and 10.0. If you’re feeling lucky you can hit Max Bet for a bet worth 80.0.

You can decide to take it easy by using Auto Play, which has 5 settings ranging from 5 to 100, or even play without limit. The option of Fast Spin is useful for this, though there is no mute button if you tire of the sounds.

But where the game stands out even more is in the actual gameplay. There are 3 reels and 8 paylines which is unusual in itself for a lot of games. But what is most distinctive is the ways the reels spin. Not only do they not spin left to right but they actually spin as individual boxes in a peculiar sequence. You won’t have seen anything like it.

At much closer inspection you find that the selection does keep to the same order, so it isn’t random, but it will certainly feel like it.

While there isn’t a background noise, there are conventional sounds with a happier tone when there’s a win. When that win happens it neatly lights up the lines on the scoreboard, with the amount you’ve won and which line it was with also showing up. It’s all very nicely low key, in keeping with the style of the game.  It does become a little more flamboyant if you win the top amount. Big Win comes up on the screen, with the money being counted until the amount is calculated. Gold coins also fall down.

As displayed on the left hand box, the top symbol is the lucky horseshoe. It is worth 500 credits for 3 of a kind, with the second symbol being worth 200 and third 100. It goes down to 10 for the Golden symbol of Ying. The only symbol worth anything for less than 3 is the red box filled with golden objects, which gives credits for getting both 1 and 2. While the symbols are all incredibly decorative and elegant, if you are unfamiliar with Asian culture you will struggle to name them or know their purpose.

Normally you check the paytable for the bonuses but then this isn’t your conventional game. Though Yins are only worth 10 credits, they do have more power when you get one of them in each corner. If that happens you get a bonus game, which features some very calming Oriental music.

You choose out of 6 yins, with high amounts of credits until you select the one that says Collect.

If you are playing 1-7 lines, there are different levels of jackpot if you get the Scatter. The very intricately designed horse symbol gives 5 different payouts, ranging from 5 credits for 5 of them, to 5,000 credits if you get 9. And you probably thought horses couldn’t get any nicer.

This game really has been intricately designed, including the layout and icons. This originality extends to the gameplay, with the reels being very cleverly timed.

The lack of varied bonus games does provide some limitations, but with Lucky Strike there’s so much to enjoy and it mostly strike gold.