The blue belt kung-fu Tiger sits with arms and legs crossed on the right-hand side of the 3×3 grid somewhere in the Himalayas. He looks like someone who’s figured out the secret of the universe, but will never reveal it to the uninitiated. You’ll have to ascend to the top of the mountain just to find his dojo/temple, but the sly cat might just escape into the heavens, like he does when the bonus round triggers.
Anyway, Gold Tiger Ascent is a simple enough Betsoft release, and it revolves around the Magic Red Envelope mystery symbol feature. It will liven up the base game once in a while, awarding matching premium symbols, wilds, instant prizes or scatters. Huge wins are not possible from a single spin however, but2,520x your stakecan be landed in total from the bonus round that comes with Magic Red Envelope mystery symbols on every spin.
The symbols pay between 0.2 and 5 x your stake for 3 of a kind wins, and theWild symbolpays 25x your stake for the same. The wild also steps in for all regular pay symbols to help complete winning combos, but it cannot substitute for the Magic Red Envelope (which looks very similar).
You may landbetween 3 and 5 Magic Red Envelope mystery symbols at random timesin the base game, and they remain sealed until the reels stop spinning. As the envelopes open they reveal a random prize, and if multiple magic red envelopes are present they all reveal the same prize. The prizes that can be revealed are the 2 top-tier premium symbols (sack of gold or firecrackers), instant cash prizes, wilds and even scatters.
The latter may help trigger the Bonus Round (hit rate is 1 in 126 spins on average), which comes about when you land 3+ scatter symbols anywhere.You are guaranteed to land between 3 and 9 Magic Red Envelopes per free spin, and you get6, 8 or 10 free spinswhen you land3, 4 or 5 scatters, respectively. A smallerscatter win of 5, 10 or 20 x your stakeis awarded up front, and you can retrigger the bonus round by landing 3+ scatters on the same free spin.
Finally, non-UK players, and anyone living in an eligible jurisdiction, may take advantage of the in-gameBonus Buy feature. You can thus purchase 3 versions of the bonus round directly, and6, 8 or 10 free spinswill set you back40, 53 or 66 x your stake, respectively.
You get a decent taste of the base game grind, and nothing much came from it most of the time in our experience. Things took a turn for the better when we purchased the bonus round however, and we went with the 10 spins option, of course. You can see it play out from the 1-minute mark, and simply hit the play button below to see how much we got away with.
Both the features and the visuals are on the simpler side, and the tiger sits completely still on the right-hand side looking smug. The ascent part of the title was a mystery until we triggered the bonus round with the turbo switched off, as you’ll then see the tiger ascend above the clouds before the game’s main feature starts. The Magic Red Envelope feature didn’t hit too often in the base game in our experience, but things heated up in the bonus round for sure.
With 3 to 9 guaranteed Magic Red Envelopes per spin, larger payouts can come out of the blue. It’s basically an enhanced mystery symbol feature you’re dealing with here, and it’s a somewhat innovative concept to be able to get so many different things from it. Of course, 250x for a screen full of wilds is the most you can land per spin, and the overall2,520xwill not impress hardcore gamblers. The casual crowd on the other hand, might find this little asian treat enjoyable for a while.
Pros
Cons
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