House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon: Slot Overview

One of the kings of the branded slot, Blueprint Gaming has turned its attention to the second-biggest dragon show on TV to flavour the collector game currently under review. We're talking about House of the Dragon, a popular Game of Thrones prequel set around 200 years before the original series. It tells the story of House Targaryen and its struggle for control of the Iron Throne, and at its heart is a brutal civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, where rival factions turn Westeros against itself - along with broods of dragons, naturally. It's in this fantastical frame of mind that players encounter House of the Dragon, a slot that pushes hard on its licence while bringing little, if anything, fresh in terms of gameplay.

In a branded slot, the skin is all, well maybe not all, but if it doesn't have the looks to massage the eyes of fans of the brand, it's in danger of being a bust. House of the Dragon pulls off the vibe rather nicely without being extraordinary. Syrax flaps around before settling on a bed of treasure, and four characters from the show appear as symbols on the reels. The Targaryen sigil is prominent throughout, as are flames and hints of the Iron Throne. It's not exactly a cinematic journey through one of Westeros' most turbulent times, but House of the Dragon reproduces the show's spirit quite well.

House of the Dragon is a 5x4 slot, with 20 paylines evaluating winning combinations of matching symbols from the leftmost reel. Players can stake from a minimum of $/€0.10 to $/€50 per spin, while the most desirable RTP model has a value of 94%. Rated 4 out of 5, House of the Dragon is a medium-high volatile game.

On the paytable, from high to low, are four faces from the show - Rhaenyra Targaryen, Alicent Hightower, Corlys Velaryon, Jacaerys Velaryon (or is Aemond Targaryen?), as well as J-A lows. Character symbols are worth 5x-25x for 5 OAK, dropping down to 2.5x when landing 5 matching low pays. Wild symbols may appear on the three middle reels. They substitute for all symbols except Collect, scatters, and Cash Prize symbols.

House of the Dragon: Slot Features

House of the Dragon's features are a collect feature, Dragon's Wheel, Syrax Strike Modifiers, Dance of the Dragons Spins, and the Express Bet.

Collect Feature

Cash Prize symbols land anywhere in the main game and Dance of the Dragons Spins. Collect symbols are present on the leftmost and rightmost reels. Each landed Collect symbol expands to cover its reel and collects the values of all Cash Prize symbols in view.

Dragon's Wheel

The Dragon's Wheel is a special Cash Prize symbol. When it lands with a Collect symbol, it triggers the Dragon's Wheel feature. A mini reel appears over the main game, awarding Cash Prizes worth 5x-100x or the super bonus in the main game, or Cash Prizes worth 5x-150x in Dance of Dragons Spins. Landing 1-3 Dragon Emblems on the mini reel moves the player 1-3 positions higher on the progress bar and awards 1 more spin. Landing a blank symbol ends the feature and awards the Cash Prize highlighted on the bar. Reaching the top prize in the main game awards the Super Bonus, which is 10 Dance of the Dragons Spins with all Pots active. Reaching the top prize during Dance of the Dragons awards the respective Cash Prize.

Syrax Strike Modifiers

Landing a Coin on top of a symbol can randomly trigger a Syrax Strike Modifier, activating one of these effects:

• Bonus Boost - Additional scatter symbols are added to the reels to guarantee Dance of the Dragons Spins.
• Syrax's Fury - Additional Cash and Collect symbols are added to the reels for a guaranteed collect win.
• Wild Fire - Additional wild symbols are added to reels 2, 3, and 4 for a guaranteed line win.
• Syrax's Breath - A non-winning spin is transformed into a winning one following a cascade.

Pots & Dance of the Dragons Spins

Scatters landing in the base or bonus round are collected by the Pot directly above the reel it hit on. Any number of Pots can be randomly triggered on main game spins, awarding Dance of the Dragons Spins with the respective enhancements. Landing 3 or more scatters on the reels in the main game triggers Dance of the Dragons Spins with at least 1 enhancement. Hitting 1 or 2 scatters may also trigger the feature, but it is not guaranteed. When triggered, players win 10 free spins with up to 5 Pot Enhancements active. Pots can trigger while free spins are active, and triggering any number of Pots during the round awards 5 extra free spins. The following Pot Enhancements are available:

• Dragon's Chest - The Dragon's Chest Cash Prize symbol becomes available on the reels. If it lands with a Collect symbol and one or more Cash Prize symbols, it collects all Cash Prize values in view before being collected itself.
• Dragon's Fire - Only Cash Prize, scatter, Collect symbols, and blanks may land during free spins.
• Fire and Blood - A multiplier of x2-x10 is applied to all Cash Prize symbols when collected.
• Dragon's Boost - Cash Prize symbols are boosted up to 5x when collected, though not the Dragon's Chest. Fire and Blood will activate first if both are active.
• Dragon's Lock - When the Collect feature triggers, Cash Prizes, Collect, and scatter symbols lock in place and a respin occurs. Respins repeat until no new symbol is locked in place.

Express Bet

Activating the Express Bet raises the stake by 20%. This increases the chance of triggering Dance of the Dragons Spins, though it does not mention by how much.

House of the Dragon: Slot Verdict

Initial impressions revolved around the idea that so many resources went into obtaining the license that there was nothing left over to pour into the gameplay side of things. That's how it felt in House of the Dragon, which is a branded reskin of Blueprint Gaming's devilish release Red Hot Catch. This isn't necessarily a death sentence, though. Red Hot Catch's features provide the tools for a perfectly acceptable collector slot, and these mechanics give House of the Dragon plenty to work with. The concern is that once the initial excitement of seeing Targaryen imagery on the reels wears off, players are left with a game which doesn't offer much, or really anything, in the way of technical surprises.

Then again, Blueprint Gaming is known for reusing older ideas, or at least, making minor tweaks to them, and this doesn't stop players from flocking to their releases, so there's no reason to think it will stop House of the Dragon fans from flocking to this one. Some of the stats aren't amazing; the RTP is on the low side, and the winning potential of 3,000x the bet isn't massive. However, the licence is well suited to a slot. Dragons, Targaryens, treasure and the Iron Throne provide ample ingredients to make an exciting game, and Blueprint has done enough with the presentation to forge a strong connection to the show, even if the visuals are relied on to do much of the work.

At the end of the day, House of the Dragon is likely to be a draw for fans of the show, and to be fair, they get a nice taste of the Targaryen vs Targaryen action for their viewing pleasure. When looking beyond that, the winning potential is so-so, the RTP is sad, and the gameplay is an endeavour in recycling what was already lying around the studio, which has a whiff of low effort. That's nothing especially unique in a branded slot, but it still makes it hard to rank House of the Dragon higher than mid for players who aren't besotted with the TV series.