Swintt turns up the heat in new Dragon Lair slot

By Simon Wright, Last updated Jun 30, 2023

When I think of Dragon(‘s) Lair, I think of the classic 1980’s arcade game that brought cartoon like graphics to arcades up and down the seaside towns in the UK, which as kids growing up we were mesmerised by.

This is despite the fact that the gameplay was absolutely ‘meh’ and the arcade cabinet which showcased the game was adept at swallowing pretty much all your holiday money in short time!

Well the casino game studio Swintt have announced the release of their latest game which is titled Dragon Lair. With Dragon Lair being a slot game that they hope will invite players to join them on a magical adventure to a far-flung fantasy kingdom filled with gallant steeds, fearless maidens and flying fire-breathers.

Played out across a 5×3 reel matrix that includes 10 fixed pay lines, the new slot does away with the familiar fruit themed symbols that have become such a hallmark of Swintt’s Premium Game catalogue and instead replaces them with an array of fantasy-themed icons including ornate keys, jade beetles, noble griffins and rare golden eggs as well as the more commonly-seen ace-to-jack playing card values.

Special icons that players will need to look out for include a blonde-haired “mother of dragons”-style warrior princess – who acts as the game’s substitute wild and will expand to fill any columns that she lands in – and the gate to the dragon’s lair, which is the game’s main bonus-triggering scatter symbol.

When three or more of the latter icon appear anywhere on the board, players will be rewarded with 12 Free Spins on a new set of reels where the expanding wild becomes doubly important. Now, not only will the special symbol help them complete win lines as new pays are calculated, but whenever it lands, the dragon will awake and transform the lowest-value icon as an extra Free Spin is awarded.

When this happens, the current lowest symbol will be upgraded to the one above it in the pay table, and with no limit to the number of magic upgrades that can take place during the Free Spins, it’s therefore possible for players to enjoy the feature with only golden eggs, scatters and wilds appearing.

Naturally, this has a significant impact on Dragon Lair’s hit frequency and overall RTP%, while having only golden eggs present among the regular base game symbols massively boosts the chances of players landing the game’s maximum jackpot of 500x their bet. What’s more, should they collect three further scatters during the bonus feature, they’ll also benefit from an additional 12 Free Spins as well.

As with most games in the Swintt Premium collection, Dragon Lair also gives players the chance to participate in optional game of Risk after any regular base game win. Should they take this option, players will be presented with a screen where they have to guess the colour or suit of a hidden playing card, with a correct choice doubling or quadrupling the value of their current total win respectively.

David Mann, Chief Executive Officer at Swintt, said: “While our Premium Games are well-known for their straightforward gameplay, iconic graphics and classic casino-style sound, we’ve never seen any reason why including these familiar aspects should be a barrier to including exciting new features.”

“In our new Dragon Lair slot, we believe we’ve struck the perfect balance between a traditional land-based casino game and a more modern video slot title by adding a range of blazing hot bonuses including expanding wilds and Free Spins with magic symbol upgrades.”

“As such, we’re expecting it to be another incredibly popular addition to the Swintt line-up when it swoops into casinos this month.”

---