Pragmatic Play celebrates the Chinese New Year with the 5 Lions Dance slot. The game takes the familiar Asian theme and gives it a proper festival twist.
You’re thrown straight into a noisy street celebration lit by lanterns, gongs, and swirling lion costumes.
It’s still very much a Pragmatic Play experience: polished visuals, punchy sound design, and a free spins round that can completely erupt when the multipliers stack up.
The real drama, however, comes from the Lion Reel Feature, where the entire first two reels morph into giant spinning drums showing fixed prizes.
This is a high-volatility slot with a 96.50% RTP that is built for players who enjoy unpredictability, with rewards reaching up to 2,700x your stake.
What is the 5 Lions Dance slot?
Released in late 2020, this game quickly caught players’ attention for one simple reason: it looks (and feels) great.
The game balances classic “Asian celebration” aesthetics with mechanics that are just unusual enough to keep you glued to the screen.
5 Lions Dance runs on a 5×4 layout with 1,024 ways to win, with wins landing from left to right.
But the real star of the show is the Lion Reel Feature. When triggered, it will fuse reels 1 and 2 into lion heads, spin independently, and award instant prizes ranging from 5x to 200x your stake.
It’s rare to see a Pragmatic slot mix ways-to-win gameplay with fixed prize drums, but it works beautifully here.
There’s also a Free Spins round with progressive multipliers, and the whole thing has that slow-build, high-variance rhythm Pragmatic Play is known for.
It can feel steady in the base game… until those five lions decide it’s time to roar and bring up to 2,700x wins your way.
5 Lions Dance graphics and theme
5 Lions Dance throws you into a buzzing festival straight out of a Chinese New Year parade. The game is themed around the famous dance performed by people in lion costumes during the festive season.
This tradition dates back to the 7th century CE (or possibly even earlier). Originally, there were two dancers who performed the lion dance, but in the 5 Lions Dance slots, there are five of them.
Every spin is punctuated by drums, cymbals, and a theatrical soundtrack that ramps up the excitement. And yes, the lions dance whenever a big feature triggers.
The backdrop is filled with glowing lanterns and traditional architecture, and the reels themselves are framed in rich gold.
5 Lions Dance slot: RTP, max win, and more
5 Lions Dance online slot details
- Software: Pragmatic Play
- Game Type: Video Slot
- Ways to Win: 1,024 ways
- Reels/Rows: 5×4
- RTP: 96.50% (alt versions: 95.51%, 94.51%)
- Min Bet: $0.20
- Max Bet: $500
- Volatility: High
- Max Win: 2,700x
- Release Date: 12 October 2020
Betting limits
Following the usual Pragmatic layout, you can tweak three separate elements:
- Coins per line
- Coin value
- Total bet multiplier (fixed)
If you don’t feel like juggling numbers, simply use the TOTAL BET selector and pick how much you want to stake.
Stakes start at $0.20 and climb to $500, making the game viable whether you’re testing the waters or going full lion-tamer.
RTP (return to player)
Pragmatic Play uses multiple RTP settings for this slot: 96.50%, 95.51%, and 94.51%.
Casinos choose which version to run.
At Gamdom, you’ll get the top 96.50% version, which is the most player-friendly option.
Volatility
Make no mistake: this is a proper high-volatility game. The 5 Lions Dance slot has 4/5 stars on Pragmatic Play’s volatility scale.
In simple words, you should expect relatively long winless runs followed by sudden bursts of high-value wins.
Maximum win
The max win is 2,700x your total stake, which means that this slot can make you a millionaire. If you go with the max bet, you can win $1,350,000.
Note that this is only true if you play the 5 Lions Dance slot at Gamdom. This online casino keeps the max bet capped at $500, which is significantly higher than what you get at other sites.
How to play the 5 Lions Dance slot machine
1,024 ways to win
There are no paylines here. All wins form left to right using 1,024 ways, meaning symbols only need to land on adjacent reels. This makes the 5 Lions Dance model much more forgiving than classic payline systems.
Symbols and payouts
There are 13 symbols in the 5 Lions Dance slot, all of which are inspired by Asian culture, particularly the traditions based around the Chinese New Year celebrations.
However, not all of them are worth the same. Some of them can make you rich, but they don’t pop up on the reels that often.
Others are just the opposite. Those are the so-called low-paying symbols (a.k.a., royals), which include the following:
- 10, J, Q, K, A — payouts up to around 1x–2x for five of a kind
This slot also has five high-paying symbols, represented in the form of festival masks. These lion head symbols are, namely:
- Yellow Lion Mask
- Red Lion Mask
- Blue Lion Mask
- Green Lion Mask
- Purple Lion Mask
Five lion head symbols of the same kind can reach double-digit multiples of your bet. The highest paying of those is the Yellow Lion Mask symbol, which pays 20x your bet.
In addition, there are other symbols meant to take your excitement to the next level (and boost your wins). Those are:
- Wild Symbols: The Silk Ball symbol (appears on reels 2–5 only, substitutes for all but bonus symbols)
- Bonus Symbols: The Lion Drums are this slot’s bonus scatter symbols that trigger the free spins round.
- Lion Reel Symbols: It’s a simple symbol with the text saying “Lion Reel.”
5 Lions Dance features
Lion Reel bonus feature
This is the main attraction in the game, as well as one of the more interesting mechanics in Pragmatic Play’s catalogue.
The slot transforms reels 1 and 2 into giant Lion Reels randomly during the base game. They spin independently from the rest of the grid and land fixed cash prizes:
- 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 30x, 50x, 100x, or 200x your total bet.
Land matching numbers across both giant reels, and you’re paid instantly. It’s a brilliant change of pace and often the quickest route to mid-range wins.
Dancing Lions feature
This game also has a Dancing Lions Feature, which is another random surprise, triggered without warning.
A group of animated lion heads rushes across the reels and transforms random symbols into the same high-paying lion mask.
This can create big combo chains, especially on a 1,024-ways layout.
Free Spins bonus round
Land three or more Golden Lion symbols, and you’ll trigger the bonus round:
- 3 Scatters = 10 Free Spins
- 4 Scatters = 15 Free Spins
- 5 Scatters = 20 Free Spins
The best thing is that you can get even more free spins during this round. In fact, there’s no limit to how long the free spins round can last.
Each time you get 3+ of the free spins-triggering symbols during this round, you will get more spins added to your tally.
Progressive multiplier system
During free spins, the reels take on a richer visual design and, more importantly, a new rule applies:
- Every time the multiplier meter lights up, your global win multiplier increases by +1.
There’s no upper limit on how high it can go. Anything you win afterwards is multiplied by the total accumulated multiplier.
Scatter retriggers are possible too, giving you even more time for the multiplier to climb.
Top strategies for playing 5 Lions Dance
Use high volatility to your advantage
Because this slot leans heavily on random triggers, don’t expect smooth, steady payouts. Plan ahead, set boundaries, and avoid chasing losses when the lions decide to nap.
Test the demo to learn the rhythm
Before heading straight into the festival, run the free demo mode to get familiar with how often the Lion Reel Feature (and others) shows up. You can find this option at Gamdom Casino.
Play the highest-RTP version available
As always, only play where the slot is set to 96.50% RTP. One site that offers this payout is Gamdom.
The reason this is so important is that the lower RTP versions of 5 Lions Dance shave off long-term value.
Play slots like 5 Lions Dance at Gamdom
You can start playing the 5 Lions Dance slot machine at Gamdom in literally a minute. It’s because this online casino keeps things simple.
Here’s what you need to do if you want to play slots on this site:
- Register — New players need to sign up. Luckily, the whole process is straightforward, with minimal faff.
- Deposit — You can fund your Gamdom account with dozens of cryptos (BTC, ETH, USDT, and all the other major ones), as well as Visa, Mastercard, and other methods.
- Spin — With your account up and running, head over to the casino section, find the 5 Lions slot, and start playing.
Recommended slots if you liked 5 Lions Dance
- 5 Lions (Pragmatic Play): Classic Chinese guardian lions, big multipliers, high volatility. 5 Lions is the original slot and the most popular in the series.
- Dragon Gold 88 (Pragmatic Play): Here’s another Pragmatic Play-powered slot with an Asian theme. Dragon Gold 88 brings excitement with free spins-triggering golden ball symbols that can lead you to huge wins (up to 5,000x your bet).
- Aladdin’s Treasure (Pragmatic Play): If you wish to stay in the Pragmatic Play slot world, but move from the Far East to the Middle East, Aladdin’s Treasure could be your ideal pick. It’s got everything you need to have fun: free spins, bonus games, etc.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How does the 5 Lions Dance RTP compare to other Pragmatic Play games?
With an RTP of 96.5%, this is a relatively high-paying slot. In fact, there are only a couple of Pragmatic Play slots with a higher RTP, with Dragon Gold 88 being a prime example with 96.71% RTP.
What do players think about 5 Lions Dance?
Users praise this slot’s beautifully designed visuals, as well as its special features: the Lion Reel bonus round, Dancing Lions feature, etc. They also love that you can hit some really big wins on a single spin.
Where can I play the 5 Lions Dance slot for fun?
You can play this game for free at Gamdom; just choose the “Demo” mode. But if you want to have a shot at real-money prizes (this slot has a max win of over $1M), you need to fund your account.
