About 5 Lions
5 Lions was released on 16 May 2018 according to SlotCatalog — our entry said 12 April, and the date has been corrected. It is the starting point of a series that now counts five titles, from 5 Lions Gold to 5 Lions Reborn, and one of the most widely distributed games in Pragmatic Play's Asian catalogue.
The base grid is a 5×3 with 243 ways to win. There are no fixed lines: matching symbols pay as soon as they occupy adjacent reels starting from the left. The theme is imperial China, with five guardian lions in different colours as the high symbols.
The golden lion wild substitutes for every symbol except the scatter and arrives with a random multiplier that can climb to x40. It applies to each combination it completes, which is enough to create wide swings from spin to spin even though the base game has no other mechanic.
The yin-yang scatter opens the free spins, but its rule deserves attention: you need three or more symbols on adjacent reels starting from the first, not three scatters scattered anywhere. That is stricter than the usual formula, and it explains part of the game's rhythm.
Once the bonus is open, the player picks between seven packages, from 6 to 25 free spins, with wild multiplier ranges running from x2 on the longest to x40 on the shortest. The series rule applies: the briefer the session, the higher the multipliers.
Then comes the title's real signature. During free spins, the middle reels gain an extra row: the grid stretches and the number of ways to win goes from 243 to 576. It is this idea, more than the multipliers, that the later instalments kept. Retriggers are also unlimited: new scatters during the bonus extend the session with no announced cap.
The reference RTP is 96.50%, the figure Pragmatic Play publishes, meaning €3.50 of theoretical margin per €100 staked. Our entry carried 96.48%: the gap is tiny but it was wrong, and it has been corrected. SlotCatalog also flags a lowered 95.51% version at some operators, which pushes the margin to €4.49 per €100 staked.
Stakes run from €0.50 to €250 per spin according to SlotCatalog, with an important caveat: that range varies noticeably from one casino to another on a game of this generation. The maximum win is 3,520x the stake, not 2,569x as our database claimed. That comes to €1,760 at the minimum stake.
This ceiling places 5 Lions in the bottom 12.5% of the 634 Pragmatic Play titles listed at BetsRank, whose median sits at 10,000x. Finally, no bonus buy is offered: the game predates the studio's general adoption of the option, so you have to wait for the scatters.
