Dragonblox Gigablox

Dragonblox: Slot Overview

Hey players, come and get your Bilbo Baggins on by attempting to nab treasure from a sleeping dragon in Peter & Sons' Dragonblox slot. If the name rings a distant bell, it's because Dragonblox follows in the footsteps of its slightly older sibling Monster Blox. What this translates to is a fantasy-themed slot powered by the Gigablox mechanic, created by partner studio Yggdrasil Gaming. Aside from those two things, much of Dragonblox is different, and that includes its features such as a Monster Jackpot with lock'n blox and free spins.

Naturally, the visuals have been switched up as well, and now players find themselves in a dungeon-like location where a red dragon slumbers atop a mountain of shiny golden stuff. The serpent also curls around Dragonblox's active gaming area, which is made up of 6 columns, holding 6 symbols each with 50 paylines to land wins across. However, being a Gigablox game means reels can merge together to create blocks of 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, or 6x6 in size. When calculating wins, Gigablox symbols are broken down into the number of 1x1-sized symbols, making them up. On the whole, Dragonblox presents a hearty fantasy scene, somewhat less imaginative than Monster Blox was due to the popular dragon guarding a hoard of riches idea, but Peter & Sons has pulled it off in a neatly individual style.

Digging beneath the surface like a hobbit rummaging through a sea of coins, we uncover a game with a highly volatile math model and a theoretical return value of 95.9%. Dragonblox may be played on a tablet, desktop, or mobile device, taking bets from 50 p/c to £/€50 per spin. When the Golden Bet is engaged, the stake increases by 1.5x whilst also increasing the chance of landing Gigablox symbols and triggering the bonus rounds.

Lining the panel are 50 ways to win, pulling together a hit when matching symbols land across one on consecutive reels from the leftmost side. Symbols are a mix of clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds, and stars as the lower value symbols paying 0.4 to 0.6x the bet for six of a kind, then archers, knights, wizards, a hobbit-like character with a ring, then a warrior. The higher value symbols pay 1.2 to 4 times the stake for six of a kind. Wilds land anywhere and are worth 4x the bet for six of a kind while also being able to substitute for any pay symbol.

Dragonblox: Slot Features

Unusually for a Peter & Sons game, Dragonblox has a streak respin/hold & win style round called the Monster Jackpot, while the other bonus is a batch of Monster Free Spins.

Monster Jackpot

Landing 6 or more lock'n blox symbols triggers the Monster Jackpot bonus. This is played on a grid which lands empty spaces or lock'n blox tokens. The triggering lock'n blox symbols are locked in place for the duration, and 3 respins are awarded. Any new symbol that hits resets the counter back to 3 and also locks in place. When lock'n blox symbols are adjacent, they can merge to create larger blocks. When no more spins remain or the panel is full, the lock'n blox symbols in view award cash prizes; the larger the symbol, the larger the value.

Monster Free Spins

The number of triggering free spins symbols awards the same number of free spins - at least 6 are needed. During free spins, there is a higher chance of landing Gigablox symbols, and each new scatter that hits awards +1 extra free spin. Lastly, landing 6 or more lock'n blox symbols triggers the Monster Jackpot bonus.

Buy Bonus

If available, players can buy either Monster Free Spins, where 5-20 free spins are randomly awarded or the Monster Jackpot bonus round.

Dragonblox: Slot Verdict

On the whole, Dragonblox delivered a satisfying session without doing anything mind-blowingly wow. Peter & Sons are experts at creating fantasy worlds players can lose themselves in - Monster Blox being a prime example. Dragonblox, by comparison, isn't quite as absorbing. Don't get us wrong, there's nothing here off-putting or painful to behold, but looting a dragon hoard isn't the most imaginative motif to hitch a wagon to. That is, in the wider world of popular culture, it's fairly common; in online slots, it's less numerous, and Peter & Sons have crafted a nice-looking slot around the idea, after all.

To be honest, a similar assessment carries over to the gameplay as well. There just isn't much here in terms of features that is overly imaginative. The Monster Jackpot is a pretty straightforward hold 'n win round, with a symbols merging into larger patterns leading to larger prizes twist. Then there are free spins, which do nothing the base game doesn't, aside from a mention in the rules about a higher chance of getting Gigablox symbols. Peter & Sons might have garnered more fame for its idiosyncratic audio-visuals than its mechanical inventions, and Dragonblox isn't likely to upset the trend. Quite the opposite, really.

Hopefully, that didn't come across as too negative, though, because Dragonblox was a fairly enjoyable game to play, despite not being an unmissable one. Like the last Peter & Sons game reviewed, Dungeon Tower, there was a similar feeling Peter & Sons is heading down a different graphical pathway, which is not as distinctive as the style used in games like Monster Blox, Hammer of Gods, or Xibalba. That's all good; Dragonblox is attractive, and not all games have to look the same. All around, a quality production, but there's a lingering feeling Peter & Sons held back and could have pushed Dragonblox harder.