Fu Dao Le slot machine review, strategy, and bonus to play online

There are plenty Asian-themed slots in a crowded market, so developers must work hard to stand out from the crowd. Bally has certainly achieved that with the Fu Dao Le slot machine, both online and in brick-and-mortar casinos. It’s a favorite in Macao and Las Vegas, for example, and features progressive jackpots.

Chinese-themed slots are all about good fortune and symbolism relating to luck, and Fu Dao Le has this in abundance. The name combines fortune, prosperity, and how to get there (Fu is one of the Chinese "three stars" gods of luck). Even the bet amounts feature the number 8, a lucky number.

How to Play Fu Dao Le slot machine online

The Fu Dao Le slot machine, which you can enjoy at TwinSpires Casino, features five reels and three lines and has 243 ways to win, so it’s a pay anyway rather than having fixed paylines. In the base game, that means matching at least three symbols across successive reels, starting with the first on the left.

There is a warm feel to the look of the slot, rich in gold colors and featuring the grown-up baby characters you often find on Chinese slots on either side of the reels. They happen to be riding golden fish, which symbolizes abundance.

The lower-paying symbols are the nine, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace. Winnings go up as you move to the beautifully drawn oranges (a symbol of good luck and happiness in China), the lucky red lanterns, a golden chalice, and a golden fish (there’s that abundance symbolism once more).

Fu Dao Le is laden with extra goodies to keep you entertained. The green gong symbol is wild. It features on reels two to four and substitutes for all others. Getting three of the gongs triggers the free games bonus. In this bonus round, the green gong appears on all reels, with each one landing on reel five, adding an additional free game. Prize money will soon add up as wilds can cover the entire reel — and add two or three times multipliers on reel three.

Look above the reels, and you’ll see the jackpot values — there is the jackpot, marked by the red envelopes and the progressive mini, minor, major, and maxi. If the envelope lands on reels one and five, you win the envelope jackpot.

To get one of the progressives, watch out for the center reel’s purple expanding wild symbol (called clumped wilds). Randomly, the clumped wild may trigger the bonus, where you join a picking game to reveal symbols. This determines which of the progressive jackpots you can win. While any bet size can win any of the jackpots, the more you bet can influence the likelihood of making it through to the progressive picking game.

Another cool feature is that the game’s baby mascots may randomly appear. If they do, you get a bonus, a big win, or even a progressive win.

How to win with the Fu Dao Le slot machine

With a return to player set at 96%, the Fu Dao Le slot falls in the middle of the road. However, what notches up the excitement is the many different ways you can win, culminating in the hearth-thumping free games round (with a great accompanying soundtrack).

As far as Fu Dao Le strategy goes, if you can afford it, increase your stakes, because it increases your chances of landing the free games bonus.

Play Fu Dao Le at TwinSpires Casino

If you fancy giving Fu Dao Le a shot, we’ve got you covered at TwinSpires Casino. If you have not done so already, register an account, claim the super welcome package that adds considerable value to your first deposit, and head to the slots section.

Good luck!