Chunjie Slot Review

See in the Chinese New Year in style with this spectacular video slot from Endorphina. Chunjie is a 5-reel slot with 38 paylines and a top jackpot prize worth 71,440 credits. As such, this medium variance slot machine might just help players celebrate the new year will plenty of prosperity and fortune!

As far as extra gameplay features go, this oriental themed slot machine will help punters on their quest to riches by offering a range of free games, during which spinners can choose a bonus wild multiplier up to 88x. There is even a possibility that the slot’s wild icon will boost base game wins with by 88x and, if not, spinners will be able to take matters into their own hands with a double-or-nothing card based gamble game.

Let the Festivities Begin

In case you’re not quite up to scratch with your Chinese language skills, the word “Chunjie” translates into English as “Spring Festival”. This obviously refers to the prolonged celebrations in China that begin with the Chinese New Year, offering families around China and beyond to get together to celebrate new beginnings, new prospects and renewed fortunes. But, in order to see in a successful new year, revellers need to partake in some age-old traditions such as the dragon dance which wards away unwanted spirits. Another tradition is for single women to write their numbers on a mandarin orange before throwing it into a river or lake for single men to pick up and eat. If the orange tastes sweet then it means that there is a potential love interest to be had!

These traditions are reflected on the symbols of the slot machine, with icons that depict decorated dragon heads and mandarin oranges as well as golden sycee ornaments, koi carp, firecrackers and lucky golden coins. Between them, these images symbolise strength, prosperity, fortune and cleansing – an ideal concoction for seeing in a new year! These icons are all depicted in top-notch definition with some simple animations to bring them to life whenever they form a winning sequence on a payline.

Fortune Comes to Those Who Spin

With 38 paylines on offer, punters might be led to believe that this Chinese-themed slot machine is very generous with its payouts. On the contrary, the game has a middle-of-the-road volatility level, meaning that spinners will have to practise a bit of patience before the prizes start to come their way. That said, when winning combinations are struck, it is likely that multiple paylines will be triggered at once, ensuring that the overall size of the prize is worth the wait.

The biggest prize on offer in Chunjie is actually offered by the game’s scatter symbol – the dragon icon. This means that players simply need to find five dragons in any reel position to be awarded with a total bet multiplier of 188x. This does mean that it is worthwhile playing with all 38 paylines to ensure that the game’s biggest potential payout is worth 71,440 credits. The minimum bet with all lines in play is 38 game credits while the maximum overall stake is a hefty 380 game credits.

88 Is the Magic Number

The value of the line bet prizes in the paytable might not get punters all that excited – even higher paying icons will only award 88x the line bet value when five appear in a payline pattern. Fortunately, the game does offer a way to boost those underwhelming returns thanks to its wild multiplier icon. This icon appears in the base game and it will substitute for any icon that isn’t the dragon scatter. Plus, when the wild helps to form a win, it has the potential to randomly multiply the normal prize value by x2, x3, x5, x8, x18 or x88.

Players can also choose to play with guaranteed wild multipliers for a number of free games whenever three or more scatters appear. There is an option to play 20 free spins with multipliers worth x5 or x18, 10 free spins with multipliers worth x8 or x38 and 3 free spins with multipliers worth x18 or x88. This effectively allows spinners to manipulate the volatility level of the game for the free spins feature; if you want more chances to win small prizes, you can opt for 20 free games with lower multipliers.

Covering the Basics

While some slot machines like to focus on one particular aspect of Chinese New Year – such as Dancing Dragons by Playson and Fire Rooster by Habanero Games – this slot machine offers an all encompassing look at the celebrations. As far as gameplay is concerned, punters will find similarities in slots such as Lucky 88 by Aristocrat  and the Great Czar by Microgaming, although there are no slot with identical features.

The Final Verdict

Chunjie is an eye-catching slot machine with an oriental theme, giving punters some fairly unique gameplay features and payout values. On the flip side, the game’s theme is a popular one and spinners may find the generic coverage of Chinese New Year a little bit bland when compared to other recent releases which tackle more specific aspects of the festival.