Now, it is no surprise to those of you that peruse the Gamingslots reviews that the Bally Technologies slot China River has never carried much favour with our review team due to its reputation for being harder to penetrate than Fort Knox! So you can imagine the scepticism when I was handed this Konami Gaming slot title of China Shores and I loaded it up to be greeted with a very similar feel to that of China River... uh oh. In my head I am saying: 'Thing positive thoughts, think positive thoughts'.
On the Reels...
China Shores is a 5 reel, 30 payline slot from Konami Gaming that has a strong Chinese theme (no joke, I actually saw it mentioned as a Japanese-themed slot somewhere else – trampling over centuries of history right there!) and after playing it for a while I am pleased to announce that it is nowhere near as painstaking as China River.
The Symbols
The symbols across the reels consist of a number of Chinese-related symbols that are set against a Chinese landscape. These include a golden tortoise ornament, an urn, Chinese lantern, and your regular 9-through-to-Ace symbols.
Konami slots are developed in both free and real money modes, which means gamblers can launch online China Shores slot machine to play for free without the demand for any cash. In the free version, fun credits are provided to use as stakes in the place of actual cash.
Wild Panda? Or a Panda Wild?
The Wild is represented by the panda symbol and this does bring back memories of playing the Wild Panda slot by Aristocrat which is a slot that I very much enjoyed and still do. This symbol can substitute for all other symbols, except for the Scatters, to complete winning combinations. The Wilds do appear on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 only so don't keep your eye on reel 1 wondering where the hell the Wild is!
Earn up to 20 Free Spins or a Bonus Cash Prize
Speaking of the Scatters, these are represented by the Ying and Yang symbols. If you manage to hit five of these symbols across the Scatters then you will trigger a 100x your line bet win which is not to be sniffed at. In addition, if you hit three or more of these Scatters across the reels then you will trigger the free spins bonus round. You will initially be awarded at least 8 free spins but if you are lucky enough to trigger the free spins with five Scatters then you can earn 20 free spins. The good news is that the free spins can be re-triggered! In an interesting twist, you may exchange the free spins for a bonus prize at any point with the Balance of Fortune that gives the player the choice between free spins and a cash reward.
There's Action Stacked Symbols!
China Shores also comes with the innovatively-named Action Stacked Symbols feature! This is where each of the five reels contains a number of adjacent positions that are randomly substituted with all of the symbols except for the Wild symbols.
Our View...
Overall, China Shores surprised me. I mean, I grew up playing Konami Playstation games such as Pro Evolution Soccer and Metal Gear Solid so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt when the first slot I was given to review by them was a China River carbon copy. Luckily, first impressions did not stick and this actually turned out to be a decent effort from Konami Gaming and I can't wait to review more of their slots.
How to Win on the China Shores Slot
Most of your wins will come in the regular way – by lining up 3+ symbols from the left hand side on one of the 30 win-lines. The Chinese writing symbol with the red background pays from 2+, as does the yin / yang scatter symbol.
The full faced Panda is the substitute symbol (Konami’s term for a wild) and appears on the 2nd through 5th reels. This substitutes for all of the other symbols without exceptions for the wilds to create more wins – it also does a dizzying twist animation when involved in a winning combination!
The biggest prize is the Chinese writing, which gets you 1000 coins for 5, 100 for 4, 25 for 3 and 2 coins for just 2 on a line. This symbol is stacked, and will often fill entire reels – making it possible to hit multiple wins at once. After this the golden turtle, pot and lantern make up the unique symbols and bigger wins – while the smaller wins are made up by the playing card symbols ace down to nine.
Yin / Yang symbols are the scatters, and also trigger the bonus game. These pay out for the number anywhere on the screen – regardless of their position. You’ll get twice your total spin amount for just 2, with 5x your total bet for 3, 20x for 4 and 100x for 5 of a kind. Even better, 3 or more of these symbols will trigger the bonus games, with 8, 10 or 15 for 3, 4 or 5 on the reels.
Take Your Bonus Games – or Take Cash
China Shore Double Winning Free Slot
You will get a set of scales on the screen offering you the chance to take cash instead of your free slot games. This is a random amount that does factor in your spin amount and the number of free spins that you won. The other side of the scales is the option to continue with the free spins instead. For me the chance to win more free spins during play is the clincher, I always prefer to gamble!
Konami China Shores Free Slots Real Money
While the background of the reels changes to a reddish color, there is nothing different in the game play – all of the wins you hit during the free spins game are doubled.