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If you’ve spent any time playing slots, you’ll be familiar with Asian-themed games. The Cai Fu Emperor Ways slot doesn’t rock the boat too much on that front. It sticks to familiar visuals and symbol designs that you’ve seen many times before. The pokie seeks to set itself apart from the competition by putting its mascot front and centre.
Sat adjacent to the reel is a wise old man clad in red and gold robes. Bigger wins and feature triggers will have him clapping and cheering you on. Credit to Atomic Slot Lab’s art team, he is well animated. However, I wasn’t that impressed. The backdrop falls short of games like Trader’s Fortune, which execute the same concept much better.
Most of the paying icons you’ll find on the reels are stylised playing card royals. However, you will also come across statues of pigs, roosters, and rabbits. The highest-paying regular symbol is the wise man.
There are tons of bonus icons on the reels. The ones you will see most frequently are the Wild and the Connect & Collect symbols. Other bonus icons like Quick Collect, Re-spins, Coins, Free Spins, and random Wilds symbols can only appear on special positions, which makes them rarer but more valuable.
I like the layout that Cai Fu Emperor Ways uses. The game has five regular reels using a 5-5-3-5-5 layout and 1,875 ways to win. The third reel has two spots above and below the main reel where bonus symbols can appear. Additionally, the game has a sixth reel where only special icons can land.
Since the game uses ways to win, you don’t need the symbols to appear in specific patterns. Instead, at least three matching icons must land on adjacent reels while starting with the leftmost reel. You can bet between $0.25 and $100 per spin. Cai Fu Emperor Ways promises a 4,300x maximum win, which fits well with its medium variance. The Cai Fu Emperor Ways RTP is 95.52%.
This Atomic Slot Lab pokie treats you to quite a few features. However, almost all of them tie into the Connect & Collect bonus symbol. To claim Re-spins, cash prizes, random Wilds, free spins, and fixed jackpots, you must establish a connection chain to their corresponding icons.
If you plan to enjoy this game, you’ll need to get the hang of all these features. That’s why I’ve broken down how all of these bonuses work in the sections below.
Connect & Collect symbols are used to trigger all other features that the Cai Fu Emperor Ways pokie offers. To do this, they must form a connection chain from the leftmost reel to a special position on reel three or six. This will award the bonus that the Connect & Collect chain is touching.
Quick Collect icons only land on the bonus spots above and below the third reel. If this feature activates, it adds Connect & Collect symbols to the fourth and fifth reels. This ensures the connection chain reaches the sixth reel and unlocks more bonuses.
The re-spin feature locks all triggering Connect & Collect icons in place while the remaining positions on reels two, three, four, and five spin again. If additional Connect & Collect symbols land in the playing area, they also freeze and remain on the screen until all the re-spins are played out. The re-spin icon only appears on the special positions on the third reel.
Money symbols appear with a random money value between 2x to 800x your stake. If a connection chain touches a money icon, it adds the displayed cash prize to your balance.
There are three fixed jackpots in Cai Fu Emperor Ways. Winning them requires a connection chain to touch the corresponding jackpot symbol, which only appears on the sixth reel. Below, we outline available jackpots and their rewards.
Collect & Connect symbols linking up with an Add Wilds icon on a bonus position triggers the Random Wilds feature. It adds Wilds to random positions on reels two through five, up to 18 total. If the connection chain touches more than one Add Wilds symbol, it increases the number of Wilds added.
When a connection chain reaches the Free Spins icon, the corresponding feature is activated. The number of free spins you receive depends on how many Free Spins symbols the Connect & Collect icons connect with.
During the bonus, the first and last two reels stop the same symbols, increasing your odds of winning. Connect & Collect icons also drop while the feature is active, allowing you to win more free spins.
You can jump into free spins immediately by using the Bonus Buy feature. However, you’ll have to pay 100x your current bet to skip the queue.
While I enjoyed my time with Cai Fu Emperor Ways, it’s not a perfect experience.
The symbol designs are nice, and the animations are decent. However, the backdrop feels disappointing compared to other Asian-themed pokies I’ve tried.
The gameplay side of things was much more enjoyable to me. The Connect & Collect feature is a fresh way to unlock other bonuses.
On top of that, Atomic Slot Lab added lots of thrilling features, ensuring plenty of variety.
Overall, I give Cai Fu Emperor Ways a 7.3 rating. It’s fun and promising, but there’s room for improvement.
Despite the flaws, I would still recommend checking this pokie out.
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