Dracula

The Dracula online slot was released in 2015 by Net Entertainment as a part of their deal with Universal Studios. It's largely based around animated versions of the characters from the 1931 film edition of the movie produced by Universal Studios. While you won't find any footage from the movie in this game, what you will find are well-animated, 3D characters who come to life on the reels and give you lots of ways to win impressive payouts.

The Format and Layout.

While most recent online slot releases use a format with five reels and three rows, this game uses a slightly different format with five reels and four rows instead. This extra row is a key part of the gameplay because of how it affects the features, as you'll see below. This game uses 40 paylines, and all pays are given left-to-right. Coins range from $0.01 to $1 apiece, and you can bet as many as 10 coins on each payline. This means that your minimum bet size is $0.40 per spin, and you can put up to $400 per spin. Not many people will be likely to do this, but it's good to know that players at all levels of stakes are covered in this game. Note that the paylines are fixed, so you can't play on fewer than 40.

Symbol Set.

You'll find that there are three main tiers of symbols in this game. Dracula and the young woman make up the top tier of symbols, and they both pay 200x for five, 80x for four and 20x for three of either symbol lined up on a payline. Dracula shows up stacked on the second row, and the woman shows up stacked on the fourth row. These stacked symbols are both three high, and they're the key to activating an important bonus feature.

The next tier of symbols consists of a beggar, a man with a bottle and a woman in a fancy hat. Each of these pay 60x for five, 40x for four and 10x for three. Finally there are A, K, Q and J symbols that pay 40x for five. This lower tier of symbols pay anywhere from 20x to 10x for four on a payline, and you'll get a 5x win for three of them on any payline. It's interesting to see that there are three main levels of symbols in this game because most titles use two levels instead.

Wild Symbols.

In the main game, wild symbols are a red W, and they show up on the middle three reels only. This is why there is no payout for five of them on a payline because the most you can get at once is three. While these wilds do not give players a multiplier or bonus feature, they do add a significant amount of value to the reels. These wilds show up one at a time during the regular game, but during the free spins feature, they show up stacked on the center reel.

Random Bat Feature.

On random spins, you'll be given the bat feature. Dracula is normally sitting off to the left side of the reels, and he'll explode into tons of black bats. These bats will cover a number of random spots on the reels that will all convert into the same symbol. This drastically increases your chances of hitting some major payouts by lining up tons of the same symbol all at once as the reels come to a stop. It's a welcome feature that really fits into the overall theme of the game.

Free Spins Bonus Round.

If you line up the stacked Dracula and stacked woman symbols on the reels at the same time, then you'll activate a free spins bonus feature. Players will be given 10 free spins in this feature, and every single spin will be given the random bat feature. What's more is that the wild symbol shows up as stacked on the center reel to give even more value, and the bats can become wild symbols when they carry on across the screen, which leads to massive multi-line wins in most cases.

Overview.

Overall, Dracula is a very well-crafted online slot that's definitely up there with the level of quality that Net Entertainment has become known for. The bats feature and high-end graphics give this game a lot of replay value, and the payouts are structured in a way that keeps the volatility from getting out of hand between the bats and free spins. Players will really enjoy the portrayal of all of the characters in this game, though Dracula in particular is done very well.