Emperor Panda is a five-reel, 50-line slot. It revolves around panda bears, which live in Asian forests and snack on bamboo trees.
This game certainly isn't the first to focus on panda bears. We'll discuss if Emperor Panda is able to differentiate itself from the pack through features and other aspects.
Gameplay
In the base game, Emperor Panda features five reels and 50 paylines on a 5x3 grid. As covered in the features section, though, you can actually expand the grid up to 8x4.
The grid expands through the Jackpot Emerald feature. Jackpot Emerald causes the grid to grow to either 6x3, 6x4, or 8x4—all of which give you more chances to win.
Graphics & Atmosphere
This slot takes place at the entrance of a misty bamboo forest. You'll see a concrete fence at the bottom of the reels. This area is presumably to let tourists know that they're about to enter a vast wilderness.
Upon looking out into the forest, you'll notice highly detailed bamboo trees along with patches of fog. Overall, Emperor Panda offers a pleasing atmosphere that looks great from a visual perspective.
Symbols & Win Potential
The symbols in this slot include a bird, gold paw, monkey, panda, red panda, tiger, and royals (ranging from A through 10). These symbols are pretty much what you'd expect from a game about pandas and the Asian wilderness.
A panda serves as the wild symbol. Appearing only on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5, this big bear substitutes for all other symbols except the golden paw print (scatter).
A tiger pays the most among regular symbols. It offers 800x your line bet for five symbols. You can score fixed payouts worth up to 50,000x your line stake with features included.
This 50,000x prize is already special when compared to other slots. However, you can also look forward to playing for progressive jackpots as well.
Jackpots include a Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand prize. You can only see the values for these jackpots through the pay table—not on the game screen.
Free Spins
You trigger 6 free spins when landing at least three gold paw prints anywhere on the reels. If you land five scatters, you'll also win 100x your total stake.
During free spins, extra pandas, gold paw prints, and emeralds will land on the reels. Therefore, you have a stronger chance of scoring big wins and retriggering free spins.
Jackpot Emerald Feature
You trigger the Jackpot Emerald bonus when getting six or more emeralds anywhere on the reels. This feature gives you three respins and keeps the triggering emeralds in place.
Assuming a new emerald lands, it will also remain sticky until the feature is over. Emeralds that appear in a corner of the grid will reset the respins to three.
Once the respins are over, each emerald turns over to reveal a jackpot or instant-win value. Mini and Minor jackpots can appear on any emerald throughout the grid.
However, Major and Grand prizes can only appear on emeralds within corner positions of an 8x4 grid (covered next). The corner positions can award prizes worth between 1x and 50x your bet as well.
Jackpot Emerald Expanding Reels Bonus
The reels will expand when emeralds land in all four corners of the grid during the Jackpot Emerald Feature. The grid can first grow from 5x3 to 6x3—meaning an extra reel is added on the right.
If emeralds appear in the corners of the 6x3 grid, then the grid expands to 6x4—putting an extra row at the bottom of the screen. Assuming emeralds fill these corners, the grid grows to 8x4.
The 8x4 grid offers you the maximum amount of chances to score wins, jackpots, and bonuses. You also receive another respin at this point.
Betting Options
The paylines are fixed at 50. However, you can change the line stake to anywhere from $0.04 to $4 on each payline.
The $0.04 minimum coin size means that you must bet $2 per spin to play. The $4 maximum puts you at a high-roller bet worth $200 per round.
Assuming you're a low roller, you may not be overly thrilled at the prospect of risking $2 or more per spin. On the other hand, you also have the chance to win serious prizes.
If you land five tigers in a line with a $1 line stake ($50 overall), for example, you'll collect $800. You could also win $50,000 with this wager if you get the top fixed payout (50,000x) with bonuses included.
Volatility
No volatility rating is given for this slot. However, we experienced medium volatility during a lengthy session. This game offered us plenty of smaller payouts that helped sustain our bankroll. We were also able to trigger free spins and the Jackpot Emerald feature multiple times.
Enjoy Emperor Panda for Free or Real Money
You don't need to bet anything to play Emperor Panda right away. Instead, you can enjoy this game for free until you decide to deposit.
Given the large minimum bet ($2), we definitely recommend that you take a few free spins on this slot first. Assuming you enjoy this slot, then you may want to deposit and play for real money.
Overall Rating on Emperor Panda Slots
We give Emperor Panda a 9.5 out of 10 rating. This slot offers just about everything you could want in terms of graphics, features, and atmosphere.
The features are especially nice. You can look forward to triggering free spins, the Jackpot Emerald feature, and expanding reels.
The win potential is also outstanding with this slot. Four progressive jackpots are available along with a top fixed prize worth 50,000x your line stake.
The only thing we'd like to see done differently is the minimum bet. $2 is quite a bit for many low rollers. Assuming you have the funds to play, though, then you should definitely give Emperor Panda a try.
