Cai Hong Slot Machine
Cai Hong is a Chinese themed online and mobile optimised slot machine that takes you over the rainbow to some exciting bonuses such as free spins with multipliers, a wild symbol that doubles payouts and wins of up to 5,000 times the triggering bet. The English translation of Cai Hong is literally ‘rainbow’ and this colourful symbol not only sits behind the reels, but also acts as a scatter symbol to take punters to the main bonus round.
It’s the creation of US-based Realtime Gaming, better known as RTG, and features the sharp graphics that we have recently come to expect from the company. They have been developing games for the online market since 1998 and are one of the few sources of slots, table games, cards and Video Pokers for the growing American market, where local regulations strictly limit choice. But their extensive collection of high quality titles has ensured that the RTG casino games range is a massive success.
That success is helped in no small way by the high returns, guarantee of fair play from independent testing labs and a great reputation built up over the last couple of decades for developing slots that come with rewarding bonus features. The Cai Hong video slot looks great and fills the 5-reels with images of roosters, an ox, dog, tiger and rabbit, all of which are symbols of Chinese years, along with Caishen, the smiling God of Wealth, who helps to bestow riches upon players in the form of wild multiplier awards.
Somewhere over the Rainbow
Symbols are seen against a cloudy sky and as the reels are transparent they seem to float down across this calming backdrop image. There’s a delicate red latticework frame surrounding the reels and to add to the Asian atmosphere, the Cai Hong video slot comes complete with a tinkling soundtrack that accompanies the mechanical-effect sounds of the game.
The reels are crossed by 30 fixed paylines, which simply means that all lines are active at all times, and you can’t just play a few of them, (which is rarely advisable anyway, because inevitably the biggest wins will land on in-active lines.) If 3 or more of the same type of symbol are seen in an unbroken sequence running across a line from the left side, then congratulations, you have won a prize, and the smaller of these wins will be paid when you see the traditional playing card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A.
The rich variety of animals that populate the game will be worth some of the top awards when they land across a line along with some gold coins, and a gold ingot which are the most valuable icons in the base games.
A Delightful Deity
The God of Wealth is a happy-looking guy in traditional Chinese dress and complete with a long black beard. He’s a wild symbol that’s not only able to act as any other, apart from the rainbow, but will double the value of any win-line that he creates.
There’s no actual value attached to the wild however, so he’s just there to complete additional combinations, which is made a little easier than you would think, as he’s a stacked wild symbol, potentially filling any reel that he lands on.
Free Spins that are no Illusion
Rainbows may be nothing more than an optical illusion, but there’s nothing fake about the rainbow scatter symbol, which triggers a free spin feature whenever it’s seen in any 3 or more places at once. Before the bonus games begin though, you are shown a series of lucky coins, and it’s these that give the Cai Hong video slot the special ability to grant wealth and happiness upon players.
You are guaranteed 8 free spins, during which all wins are doubled in value, but if 3 scatter symbols triggered the feature, you get to click 2 of the lucky coins to reveal additional spins and higher multipliers, while 4 scatter symbols will equal 3 selections and if any 5 or mare scatter rainbows appeared, then you can make 4 picks from the lucky coins.
Each pick will boost the number of free games, or increase the multipliers, and with good fortune, you can be awarded 33 free games, with each win-line multiplied in value by 15x. What’s more, any 3 or more scatters landing in a single free game will result in an extra 15 spins added on to the end of the feature, so there could be a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow scatter symbol.
Betting Options
Just 0.30 is required for each spin of these colourful reels, an amount that can be raised in increments to a high limit of 300.00, at which point the God of Wealth could make you very wealthy indeed if you land the perfect combinations and claim 5,000x the stake back in single spin.
Most punters will play at more modest limits however and while free Cai Hong video slot versions can be found, there’s no chance of winning any real cash this way, so that low 0.30 is a nice and easy entry point for players on smaller budgets.
There’s the option to set the reels spinning on their own, without needing to click a button each time and you can decide on any win or loss limits before these autoplay spins begin, although they will stop on their own if the free spins feature begins.
Other Asian Games
There’s almost no end to the number of Asian themed online slot games available, as it’s one of the most popular topics, where colourful characters and classic symbols can be added to the reels.
A very similar character takes you to the Cai Shen’s Fortune video slot by Genesis Gaming, where a happy bearded deity holding a golden ingot introduces a game which comes with a range of free spins games. Each round has a varying number of bonus games, coupled with different multipliers attached to any wins made with the help of the wild symbol, so you could choose 20 spins where there’s multipliers of up to 5x, or just 5 spins, but wild wins can be 30x the base values.
For a completely different set of Oriental Idols, the Eastern Goddesses slot machine from Red Rake Gaming is filled with beautiful symbols that as well as the Goddesses of Water, Fire and Wind, includes high-paying pandas, snakes and tigers. A special Divine minigame will take you to a free spins feature, where extra wilds, expanding wild symbols, respins and unique multiplier wins can all be awarded.
A Chinese Masterpiece?
In many ways, Cai Hong sticks with convention and gives players fairly standard Asian-inspired symbols, but they are designed with quite a lot of realistic detail that gives this slot a nice appearance which will appeal to the many fans of the subject matter.
In the base games, we have the delights of win multipliers when our helpful God turns up in the right places, but by far the best feature here is the free spins round, with the potential for some truly huge multipliers to be in play.
You can enjoy this mobile compatible slot game at a wide range of Realtime Gaming-powered casinos, and with US players accepted, it’s sure to be a big hit across the world.
