Viking & Dragon Slot
Online casino games developer Novomatic have come a long way in recent years, moving away from traditional fruit machine style slots, to far more advanced video slot games, and Viking & Dragon is a great example of the high standard that has now become common from this Austrian company. Filled with 3D images of hammers, spear, helmets and of course, a Viking, this online slot machine comes with enough extras to help you pillage the casinos of their riches, by giving you free spins with multipliers, wild substitutions and the chance to gamble winnings over and over.
Vikings seem to pop up in lots of slot games, while dragons are a particularly hot (sorry), topic, but it’s not often they share space in the same game. The Viking stars on the reels, while our friendly dragon is confined to a single image at the top of the game screen, where he or she guards a mountain of gold coins and a big treasure chest. Rolling hills appear behind the reels, for a crisp, uncluttered design which suits the theme.
While Vikings had a reputation for being fearsome warriors, they were actually a fairly sophisticated lot, at least when they weren’t busy murdering people, and the red-bearded character we see in the Viking & Dragon video slot only looks a little bit fearsome as he grins at players from the reels. Like all Novomatic games, this is a fair and reliable slot with a high return to player percentage, so he certainly won’t be looking to plunder from your bankroll.
Paytable Unlocks the Norse Code
A review of the paytable is a useful way of seeing what each symbol is worth and how the bonus features work. Traditional playing card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A are brightly coloured icons that will return the lower value wins when they land across any of the 25 paylines of this 5-reel slot machine, and you will need at least 3 of a kind to appear in an unbroken sequence from the left side, while a range of Viking-related picture symbols pay the higher prizes.
These include the armour and helmet that our Viking friend wears into battle, along with his trusty spear and a decorative hammer which pays up to 100x the line stake when it’s across all reels. The Viking is the top symbol however, and when he’s on just reels 1 and 2 across a payline you win a small prize, while full runs of 5 Vikings pays 200x the line stake, plus you get a short animation when he’s in a winning combo.
Even the payouts from the Viking pale in comparison to what you can claim when the shield symbol stops across a line, as it pays prizes ranging from 12x to 600x the line stake, depending on how many appear, plus this is a wild symbol that will be able to act as any other, apart from the treasure chest. If you have a break in a run of symbols and the wild is in the right place, it will substitute, and you still get a win-line, and it’s also able to extend lines further across to the right side, leading to higher-value combinations. Extra wild symbols can be added at random after any spin, with between 3 and 15 more placed on the reels
A Boxful of Bonuses
The treasure chest is a bonus scatter symbol that won’t need to be in any particular places and is worth 40x, 100x, or 500x the line stake when seen in 3, 4, or 5 positions at once. Once these awards have been paid out, you are also treated to 8, 12, or 20 free spins. The rightmost chest symbol that triggered the round could also reveal a win multiplier of between 2x and 5x that will apply to any prizes won for the duration of the free games.
If the treasure chest appears at any point during these spins, you could be granted an extra 2, 3, 4, or 5 bonus spins, with no upper limit to how many are awarded, turning this treasure chest into a box packed full of value.
Taking a Gamble with Winnings
Like all slots in the Novomatic range, Viking & Dragon lets you gamble wins up a certain limit. It’s an optional round in which you double the prize by correctly timing a click as a playing card flashes between red and black, although getting it wrong loses the gamble.
But it can be a fun way to turn a small win into a big reward and it’s a true 50/50 gamble feature that’s quite popular with punters.
Betting Options
You can try out free Viking & Dragon video slots at any Novomatic-powered online casinos, but to get real cash prizes, you’ll need just 0.20 per spin, and there’s a high return to player ratio. The stakes can be raised to 1000.00’s for high rollers, so it’s suitable for all bankrolls.
A simple Auto function sets the reels off on their own for as long as you want, and you can also activate a fun soundtrack that imitates the sounds of spinning reels and makes celebratory noises when you land a winning line.
Valhalla Video Slots
There’s a number of other Viking themed slot games available across the internet, including the hilarious Vikings Go Berzerk, that comes from Nordic developer Yggdrasil. Alongside the stunning 3D graphics and animations, there’s a rich variety of cartoon characters, who award free spins when their rage reaches fever-pitch, plus there’s wild symbols and treasure chest bonuses to collect along the journey in their longship.
For a more sober look at the theme, Williams Interactive have their Viking Vanguard slot machine, where wolves, crows, moody warriors and runes will create the winning lines, while a dragons’ eye wild symbol transforms into an expanded view of the beast in a free spins game.
Final Thoughts on Viking & Dragon
While we would have liked to have seen a bit more of the dragon in this game, it’s still a good-looking release from Novomatic, that comes with some interesting bonus features and great winning potential. It’s fully mobile optimised and compatible with most smartphones and tablet computers, with no loss of quality or gameplay when you access it on the smaller screens.
Like all Novomatic games, it’s been fully approved for fair play by independent testing labs, and is licensed for use across much of the world, so wherever you are and whatever device you like to play on, the Viking & Dragon video slot is yours to enjoy.
