Description
Featuring a conventional 5×3 grid with 25 set-in-stone Paylines, Hanzo’s Dojo is a martial arts-themed game launched by Stockholm-based slot geniuses Yggdrasil Gaming in August 2018.
The surprisingly peaceful setting (given the combative theme) is an ancient oriental temple complete with cherry blossom and paper lanterns. Colours incorporate muted pastel shades of pink and purple. The dojo is a meditation or training area for martial arts combatants, and it is where legendary instructor Hanzo invites fighters to prepare for battle.
Look out for the additional mini 3×1 reel set over the main one, above the dojo rooftop, and offering plentiful extra opportunities.
How to play
Set your bets in the standard way and you’re good to go. Spin away on your preferred device, mobile or otherwise, from just 25p to £125 a spin.
Payouts work from left to right, kicking off from the reel furthest left.
The four premium icons are all fearsome-looking characters who train in the dojo and are vying to be the world’s top martial arts expert: the samurai, ninja, fan (female) and sumo fighters. Of these, the sumo warrior, Hanzo himself, is the most rewarding at 235 coins for five in a line.
Meanwhile, the less lucrative symbols represent the elements as depicted in bonsai trees, birds, waves and windstorms, all completed in an attractive design.
Special features
Special symbols
Your Wild here is a golden mask which, as ever, replaces other standard symbols to help create winning combinations. There’s also a free spins Scatter.
Bonus features
You should find these come thick and fast in Hanzo’s Dojo, and they work like this:
Free spins
Access this perk when you land a hat-trick of relevant symbols anywhere in sight, the rooftop area included. In the main grid, this gives you three free whirls. In the rooftop reel, it’s four freebies plus a feature.
These boosters can include:
- Two further free whirls
- A 2x multiplier
- A 3×3 symbol nudge
- The chance to win both ways
- All places on Reel 5 become Wild
Rooftop extras
In the mini-grid, as well as the Hanzo symbol, look out for the blank symbol, expanding Wild and the rooftop free whirls icon. The latter works as a freebie symbol and awards extra features, as mentioned above.
Hanzo symbol
This is the wise old man symbol, it’s replaceable by Wilds and you need three to get three Hanzo free spins on the mini-grid. It means a regular icon becomes a fixed 3×3 one on the middle reels throughout. As with regular freebies, incidentally, you play with the same Paylines and coin value as the triggering whirl.
Expanding Wild feature
When an expanding Wild icon rocks up in the mini (rooftop) reel set, it will expand to the reel in the main set below to form a Wild reel.
Jackpot
With no progressive jackpot in Hanzo’s Dojo, the maximum payout is 3,000x stake. Technically, that’s a maximum potential win of £448,985.
Return to Player (RTP)
Return to Player or RTP here is a respectable, if not outstanding, 96.1%. You should find this slot to be a mid-variance affair.
Verdict
Certainly, Yggdrasil Gaming is not known for its shoddy slots, and Hanzo’s Dojo should live up to your expectations, with this operator’s trademark slick, eye-catching visuals. The gameplay is smooth, and you’ll be playing to the tune of some cracking background music.
It may take a little while to get used to the dual-reel set-up, but you should be doing battle like a pro in no time! And as a good dojo should, it will certainly keep you on your toes.
You should also find the features trigger frequently enough to keep things interesting, while the action is consistently exciting. Take a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun and see if Hanzo’s Dojo is a winner for you!
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