Mahjong X: Slot Overview

By leaning on mahjong—the well-known tile game that originated in 19th century China—software studios can instantly signal, “This one’s Asian-themed.” Pragmatic Play’s Mahjong X makes that intention crystal clear: the reels are packed with mahjong tiles, and the surrounding visuals and voice work carry a distinctly Asian vibe. Another clear point is that Mahjong X is a Sweet Bonanza rework (yes, yet another), so you’re getting a scatter wins format paired with stacking multiplier symbols during the free spins feature.

The game is set in a shrine-like location featuring hanging lanterns, rugged rock scenery, and buildings with upturned, cornered roofs. The standout visual is the blue-and-gold dragon sitting to the right of the grid. It’s hard to miss in the audio department too—when winning scatters land, the dragon announces them in what sounds like Chinese. If you understand what’s being said, the presentation will likely land better. If not, you’ll just have to imagine it’s saying something along the lines of “nice one” or “big win,” or whatever you think a motivational dragon would shout while you spin.

Mahjong X is played on a 6-reel, 5-row grid and uses a scatter wins pay mechanism. This increasingly common system doesn’t rely on paylines or ways. Instead, a payout is triggered whenever at least 8 identical pay symbols appear anywhere on the screen, creating a winning scatter. Players can select stakes from 20 c to $/€100 per spin, and there’s also an ante bet option plus a free spins buy feature. Activating the ante bet (which raises the stake by 25%) puts more scatter symbols onto the reels, effectively doubling the chance of triggering free spins in normal play. Mahjong X lists an RTP range of 96.49% – 96.6%, with medium/high volatility.

Every pay symbol is presented as a mahjong tile—apologies if the meanings aren’t explained here, as fans of the original tabletop game will likely recognize them more easily. An 8-9 symbol scatter win returns 0.25 to 10 times the bet, while a 12+ symbol cluster increases that to 2 to 50 times the bet. After any winning scatter lands, the involved symbols are removed via the tumble mechanic. Tiles above then fall into place and new ones drop in from the top, giving you another opportunity to connect a win. The tumble chain stops once no further win is formed.

Mahjong X: Slot Features

Mahjong X includes no wild symbols, so the main non-paying icons to watch for are scatters (used to start free spins) and multiplier symbols, which do not appear in the base game.

Free Spins

The scatter is simple to identify because it’s green, whereas the regular pay tiles are white. Landing 4, 5, or 6 scatters awards 3x, 5x, or 100x the bet, respectively, and also triggers 10 free spins. While the feature is running, hitting 3 or more scatters grants +5 additional free spins. During free spins, multiplier symbols can land. These take the form of golden sycee icons showing a multiplier value of x2 to x100. Multiplier symbols remain visible until a tumble sequence ends. Once that tumble sequence is over, the values of all multipliers on-screen are added together, and the total multiplier value is applied to the overall win from that sequence.

Buy Feature

Since multipliers are a major attraction in Mahjong X, anyone wanting immediate access to the free spins round where they appear can purchase it for 100 times the bet.

Mahjong X: Slot Verdict

Sweet Bonanza continues to be a reliable source of material for Pragmatic Play. It’s not only a hit on its own, but it has also served as the template—or at least the spark—for multiple later releases. Mahjong X is clearly one of them, and just days before this review, Rujak Bonanza arrived too, with a noticeable Indonesian angle. It looks like Sweet Bonanza is being adapted for different Asian audiences in various forms. The question is: where will it go next? As with Rujak Bonanza, Mahjong X is a solid, fully working remake wrapped in an appealing theme.

In terms of mechanics and features, there’s nothing fresh here, which will be either a plus or a minus depending on what you want. Mahjong X provides scatter wins and then introduces multiplier symbols during free spins, matching the experience you’d expect from Sweet Bonanza and its close relatives. That’s hardly surprising given how closely it follows the original formula. Beyond that, there isn’t much to add: it blends scatter wins, tumbles, and multipliers into a fun enough package, even if an extra twist wouldn’t have hurt. One notable point is that while Sweet Bonanza is well known for advertising wins up to 21,100x the bet, that number isn’t shown here—and Mahjong X doesn’t list any max win figure at all.

On the technical side, Mahjong X behaved exactly as you’d anticipate, giving players another run at a feature set that’s been popular for quite some time. The theme is put together nicely, especially the dragon voice lines that trigger when certain events happen on the reels—something that should be even more enjoyable for the target audience who can understand what it’s saying.