5 Lions Gold (Pragmatic Play): Review

You may have noticed that Pragmatic’s catalogue leans heavily toward Oriental-style slots, which isn’t too surprising given the studio’s strong connections to Asia. In general, Asian-themed games have never really been our thing, so when we sat down to try 5 Lions Gold, we did so with a fairly neutral mindset. To be fair, we could say something similar about Norse-themed titles too, so maybe that says more about us than the themes. Either way, the point is that Pragmatic Play hasn’t exactly helped matters, as their entries in this niche often come across as especially formulaic. Ouch.

5 Lions Gold isn’t a completely fresh release. The original, simply called 5 Lions, launched in 2018 and looks almost the same as this remake, at least at first glance. Both are 243 win ways games built on 5 reels and 3 rows. The key difference here is the addition of a jackpot mechanic in 5 Lions Gold, though you’ll also spot changes in the paytable and in the theoretical return to player. In this version, the RTP ranges from 95.64% to 96.52% because it’s a jackpot slot. You can play 5 Lions Gold on all compatible devices with stakes from 18 cents to 90 Euros per spin.

As noted earlier, the overall look is pretty standard. Nothing in the visuals really stands out, and there’s no real attempt to put a fresh spin on the story. You get an unmoving background of Oriental-style waves and clouds, and the soundtrack is exactly what you’d expect. On the reels you’ll find low-paying 9 to A royals alongside higher-value turtles, koi fish, toads, Fenghuang birds and dragons. The dragon pays the most, returning 7 times your stake for 5 on a payline. The golden fu lion acts as the wild and substitutes for every symbol except the scatter.

5 Lions Gold (Pragmatic Play): Features

5 Lions Gold includes 3 jackpots, all set to fixed amounts:

• Minor – awards 15 times your total bet
• Major – awards 250 times your total bet
• Grand – awards 2000 times your total bet

You can land these jackpots in two separate ways. The first is the Golden Reels Jackpot. On any spin, during both the base game and the free spins feature, random reels can turn gold, up to a maximum of 5 reels. Hitting 3, 4 or 5 golden reels triggers the minor, major or grand jackpot respectively.

The second method is the Caishen Random Award. This can trigger at random in both the main game and the free spins round, and it may award either the free spins feature or the jackpot bonus game. In the bonus game, you choose golden coins that reveal jackpot symbols. Match 3 identical symbols to win the corresponding jackpot.

If you’re aiming for the 7000x win potential, though, you’ll need to activate the Free Spins feature by landing the scatter symbol at the same time on reels 2, 3 and 4. After that, you can pick from 7 options, each offering its own mix of free spins and multipliers. The lowest-volatility choice provides 24 free spins with multipliers of 2x, 3x or 5x, while the highest-volatility option gives 6 free spins with multipliers of 15x, 30x or 40x. There’s also a mystery selection that awards a random set of free spins and multipliers. With a bit of luck, you could receive 24 free spins and multipliers as high as 40x. Once free spins begin, a multiplier is randomly chosen on every spin.

5 Lions Gold (Pragmatic Play): Verdict

5 Lions Gold certainly doesn’t deliver the most awe-inspiring visuals, and the theme is presented with somewhat dated graphics, plus – most importantly – very little in the way of meaningful content (or narrative, if you prefer). That said, visuals are only a secondary concern; what really determines a slot’s quality is its maths, and in 5 Lions Gold’s case, the gameplay side is much more engaging than the presentation.

Still, 5 Lions Gold isn’t among Pragmatic’s strongest releases, and unless you’re fine with the lower RTP that often comes with jackpot slots, you’ll find better choices in the Pragmatic range with similar or even stronger potential. It’s not without merit, though, and the 7000x potential is enough to make us take notice—but there’s still plenty of room for improvement before 5 Lions Gold can be considered a real contender in an industry that’s become crowded with high-quality games.