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House of Dragons Slot Review
House of Dragons is a Chinese-themed video slot from Microgaming that packs a surprising amount into a relatively compact package. Built on a 5-reel, 3-row grid with 20 fixed paylines, it draws on ancient Chinese imagery - golden dragons, paper lanterns, ornate red columns and an archer wielding a bow - to create a visual identity that feels considered rather than generic. Released in 2015, it remains a fixture across ProgressPlay casinos for good reason: the dual-wild setup and an archery bonus round give it a mechanical hook that keeps sessions from feeling flat.
The RTP sits at around 94.84%, which is broadly in line with Microgaming's mid-tier catalogue from this era. Volatility is on the lower side, meaning wins tend to come fairly regularly without the long droughts common in high-variance titles - but the ceiling is correspondingly lower too. Bets run from 0.20 per spin up to 100 per spin, so the range suits casual players and those who prefer to move with a bit more weight behind each spin.
Symbols and Paytable
The symbol set is clean and well-differentiated. At the bottom of the pay table sit the standard card values - 10 through Ace - while the mid-tier slots are taken by a paper lantern and a pierced lucky coin, the latter paying up to 300x your bet for five on a line. Both carry reasonable hit rates and fill in the frequent smaller wins that keep your balance ticking over during quieter spells.
The top of the paytable belongs to two distinct wild symbols, which is where House of Dragons genuinely distinguishes itself from the crowd. The Emperor portrait acts as a wild that substitutes for all regular symbols and pays up to 5,000x the line bet for five on a line. The Golden Dragon wild goes further: it substitutes in the same way but pays up to 10,000x and doubles the value of any winning combination it forms part of. That doubling mechanic is not just window dressing - land the Golden Dragon in a strong paying line and the multiplier can push payouts well beyond what the base paytable suggests. Neither wild substitutes for scatters or the bonus symbol, and they do not substitute for each other.
The scatter is a Chinese fan that pays cash prizes regardless of position on the reels. Three fans award a payout based on your total bet, scaling up with four and five. It does not trigger free spins - there are none in this game - but the cash hit from the fan lands without any additional input required.
Bonus Game
Three or more archer bonus symbols appearing anywhere on the reels trigger the Archery mini-game. This is a target-shooting sequence where you aim at a series of targets, each carrying a multiplier ranging from 0x to 4x. Your bonus win is built from the multipliers you hit across the sequence, and the total is applied to the amount that triggered the bonus round.
The catch is the 0x target. Hit one and your bonus total resets to zero for that round - the archery game is an all-or-nothing structure where a single miss can wipe what you have built up. This gives the bonus a genuine risk element that separates it from the straightforward pick-em rounds common in slots of this type. Whether that reads as entertaining or frustrating depends on your appetite for variance within an otherwise lower-volatility game. The bonus does not trigger constantly, but when it arrives the stakes of each arrow feel real.
There is no free spins feature, no cascading reels and no bonus buy option. House of Dragons keeps its feature set tight - the dual wilds in the base game do a lot of work, and the archery round provides the main event when it lands.
Verdict
House of Dragons is a well-crafted Microgaming slot that earns its longevity through a dual-wild setup that genuinely changes what the base game can deliver. The Golden Dragon wild with its 10,000x ceiling and win-doubling effect means the base game is never just marking time between bonus rounds. The archery mini-game adds a layer of suspense that lands differently from the typical free spins trigger. The absence of free spins will be a deal-breaker for some players - it is a common expectation in modern slots - but for those who prefer a game that does something distinctive with its core mechanics rather than defaulting to spin-count bonuses, House of Dragons holds up well. A solid pick on ProgressPlay casinos for players who favour steady hit rates with occasional big-swing potential from the dragon wild.
Where to Play House of Dragons
These online casinos carry Microgaming games including House of Dragons. Read our Donbet review or browse all casino reviews.
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