Bao Shi

Bao Shi: Slot Overview

At Yabla's online Chinese English Pinyin dictionary, entering 'bao shi' returned such results as 'to give the correct time', 'to release on bail', and 'precious stone'. Since we're dealing with an online slot designed by software provider Play'n GO titled Bao Shi, let's assume the third definition is the most appropriate one in this case. Spoiler alert, there aren't actually many precious stones in the game, if any, though plenty of gold references arise in a slot focused on landing wilds, revealing multipliers and upgrading the highest paying symbol in order to bash out a solid win or two.

Self-conscious players might feel uncomfortably put on the spot by the two eyes peering out over Bao Shi's gaming grid. They belong to an entity known as Lioras, the Lion God of Prosperity, who guards the temple where Bao Shi is held. So the story goes, a greedy warlord cast a dark spell on Lioras, turning him to stone, silencing the temple, keeping its treasures sealed and hidden. It's in the player's best interest to awaken the stone guardian, since doing so places wilds on the reels and can trigger multipliers. It's quite a good story that adds extra meaning to a rather enticing-looking slot if the Asian theme is to your liking.

Set beneath the watchful gaze of Lioras, the action unfolds on a 5x4 reel grid offering 1,024 ways to win, with payouts awarded for combinations landing left to right from the first reel. Volatility leans toward the higher side, rated 7 out of 10, while the top RTP configuration sits at 96.2%, the highest among five setups. Bets, meanwhile, range from 10c to $/€100 per spin.

Bao Shi's pay symbols are 10-A royals, lanterns, coins, fish, sycees, and the Lioras symbol, awarding 0.3x to 4x the bet for 5 OAK. During free spins and the Lioras Blessings feature, the Lioras symbol is replaced by the higher value Golden Lioras, which pays 6x for 5 OAK. The Drum symbol and the Gold Coin symbols are wild, so they substitute for anything except the scatter. Wilds may land on the three middle reels only.

Bao Shi: Slot Features

The Lioras Blessings feature adds wilds, possibly multipliers to the action, and they are available in the base game and in a stronger form during the free spins bonus round.

Lioras Blessings

Lioras, the entity above the reels, collects Drum symbols when they land. When a Drum is collected, Lioras Blessings can randomly trigger, awarding 2 or 3 Gold Coins. Gold Coins cannot overlap with scatters, Drums, or Golden Lioras symbols. In the base game, Gold Coins may reveal an x2 or x3 multiplier, which gets added together and applied to all wins. In addition, all Lioras symbols on the reels are upgraded to Golden Lioras symbols, increasing payouts.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 8, 12, or 15 free spins, respectively. For free spins, all Lioras symbols are upgraded to Golden Lioras symbols. Also, Lioras Blessings can randomly trigger during the feature, awarding 3 to 5 Gold Coins (not on scatters, Drums, or Golden Lioras symbols), possibly revealing an x2, x3, x4, or x5 multiplier. Multipliers are added together and applied to all wins. Landing a scatter awards +1 free spin, up to a maximum of 100 free spins.

Bao Shi: Slot Verdict

With the large number of Asian themed slots floating around, a lot of them quite similar looking, it can be hard to get excited by yet another one entering the market. Bao Shi was initially a pleasant surprise. Play'n GO built the scene quite well through its relatively extensive backstory, and Lioras intensely staring over the game grid caused a wee jolt when the game first loaded. In some ways, Bao Shi is full of traditional Asian slot iconography; in other ways, it manages to stand out, to an extent, largely thanks to its charismatic Lion Guardian character.

Lioras isn't just a pretty face either. Feed him a Drum in the base game, and he can trigger blessings which add wild Gold Coins to the reels and possibly reveal multipliers - or just do so randomly during free spins. That's kind of it for the features, though, which Bao Shi doesn't have a lot of. As a consequence, the base game can drag, and Play'n GO generally refusing to add feature buys to its games, means waiting for free spins to finally arrive might be monotonous. Bao Shi does, technically, dangle big potential rewards for patient, lucky players to aim for, due to a sizable 15,000x max win figure. Max exposure probability was not available at review time, though given the studio's track record, probably don't expect full payouts to occur at any great frequency.

But, who knows, a bunch of upgraded Golden Lioras symbols might hit, connect with a stack of pay ways and multipliers to knock out something special. It didn't happen during the review, and after the initial positive reaction to the big golden lion wore off, so did the desire to stick around long-term to find out.