Chinese-themed slots will never go out of fashion since we continue to be fascinated with Oriental mythology, traditions, and culture. Some of the biggest punters play at Macau and other Chinese casinos, for which this game was originally created. The name of the game is also derived from Chinese traditions and simply means ‘Fortune has Arrived’. The game can be initially hard to understand, but as they say – fortune favors the brave.
Fu Dao Le plays out on a 5 x 3 grid and gives players 243 ways to win, which means the games does not have a specific number of paylines. What it does have are some innovative features like clumped wilds, a ‘Wonus’ – a bonus symbol that also acts like a wild, and 5 jackpots. The symbols of the game also represent prosperity, wealth and a luxurious life. There are red lanterns, a golden chalice, a golden koi carp carrying a baby, and oranges, an oriental omen of good luck.
Apart from that there are usual A, K, Q, J, 10, A, and some precious stone to spruce up the reels. Other symbols contain the features of the game like clumped wilds, stacked wilds, scatter, and the envelopes. The console is not overtly oriental, but with sophisticated graphics, interesting animations, and soundtrack with an Asian vibe, the game does transport you to far off places. Let’s see how lucky we can actually get with Fu Dao Le.
Fu Dao Le is another of those moderately volatile games, which needs a lot of patience in the base game. According to the game’s paytable, all the cultural symbols like the koi carp fish, the golden chalice, red lantern and oranges pay $0.08, $0.18, and $0.38 for landing simultaneously on 3, 4, and 5 reels respectively. The card symbols pay you $0.05 when they land on 3 reels, $0.10 on 4 reels and $0.25 when they appear on all 5 reels. This is at the lowest bet of $0.38.
As in most slots, the major payouts come from the bonus features. The 243 ways to win comes with stacked symbols including multiple wilds, which can pay up to 729 times your bet during the bonus round if they appear on all 5 reels. The 5 jackpots are available both in the base game and bonus games. There is a very real possibility of hitting a $9,000 win on the lowest bet itself. However, you would need to feed those jackpots for a considerable time before they pay off.
One of the features of Fu Dao Le is the Pick Me Jackpot game, where you can hit one of the four fixed jackpots called Mini, Minor, Major, and Maxi. You will be given 15 coins, out of which you have to pick 3 coins of the same value. The payout ranges between $18 and $8888. The number 8 is another symbol of luck in China. The game’s 96% RTP is slightly higher than average considering the number of jackpots, which can be won on a single spin.
The golden chalice with the Chinese symbol acts like a card game joker and can replace all symbols to create winning combinations. However, the wild cannot substitute for envelop symbols and the ‘wonus’ icon.
A stack of wilds can only appear on the 3rd, center reel. If it appears only partially, it expands to cover the entire reel, and can help create winning combinations if it is in sync with other identical symbols on the other reels.
The ‘wonus’ is actually a scatter that also acts like a wild. It mostly appears in the base game, but if it lands on the three center reels, it gives 8 free spins. Extra wilds give you multipliers of 2x and 3x, which can be pretty lucrative.
When a stacks of wilds land on the middle reel you can activate the jackpot bonus, where you select 3 identical coins from 15. As mentioned above, you can win one of the 4 static jackpots, depending on the value of the 3 coins you picked.
When the red envelope lands on reels 1 and 5 in the same spin during the base game, you win the Red Envelope Jackpot, which is highlighted on the top left corner of the screen. However, it can take a while for the red envelope to land on both reels, if at all.
These are actually stacked symbols hidden behind a curtain, and they show up on virtually every other spin. When they do, the curtain is removed to reveal one of the regular symbols of the game, and if they match with other symbols, you can get the payout value of the arrangement.
Fu Dao Le is fully capable of playing out on your mobile browser. The game’s platform is fully compatible with all smartphones and tablets, which run on Android, iOS, Windows Phone and similar other systems. The HTML5 coding of the game seamlessly adapts to the small screen, and enables you to enjoy the game with the same audio-visual quality as you get on personal computers. All you need is a stable internet connection.
Fu Dao Le has entertaining features that can pay out handsomely when triggered, which contrary to the name of the game, does not happen too often. With five potential jackpots in the base game, this slot can be pretty enjoyable and rewarding for players who like oriental themes, and have some depth in their pockets.