Dolphin King is a slot about underwater life, but it has a twist, which is the focus on the dolphin character that acts as a king, with a crown on its head and a scepter in its left “hand”. Developers seem to like creating slot machines about life under the ocean surface, as the beauty of the plants, coral and creatures tends to make for a great looking game. It’s not as attractive though as they might’ve wanted it to be, perhaps because it’s got a few years behind it already and I’m used to modern slots and the look they have these days.
The typical 5 reels of the modern slot machine are occupied in this case by only 9 bet lines, leading me to believe that it’s an older design from Cryptologic. It’s certainly not a great looking game, despite its theme, but at least it has all the right features to offer (scatters, bonus rounds, free spins, wilds, multipliers). A $50,000 prize awaits the player as well, along with a Rapid Fire Jackpot.
Features of Dolphin King
Dolphin King tries to insure that a complete list of features is provided to the player, so they’re able to enjoy more than just pretty graphics. As you play the game, you can expect to see inside wilds, multipliers, scatters, free spins and bonus games.
The pearl, with water all around it instead of being in a clam, acts as a fairly simple scatter symbol. The only thing you can expect from this scatter is a cash prize, nothing else. One scatter will not do you much good, but with 2 or more you start getting prizes, up to 100 times what you invested with your bet that round.
The wild and its 2x multiplier, not to mention the top jackpot it offers, is represented by the Dolphin King image. He doesn’t exactly look like a benevolent ruler, more like a tyrant that’s not in a good mood. In the role of the wild, the Dolphin King will assist other less important symbols in forming their own combos, but at the same time he can get its own paying combination going. You need the wilds on the same line to achieve that, but if you’re lucky and that happens, you can expect up to 5,000 coins.
Free Games Feature
Though you usually expect the free spins to be the result of a scatter symbol appearing a certain number of times, the wild is the one that does it in Dolphin King. Only two wilds are required, but they have on certain reels during the same spin (1st and 5th reels). That’s all you need, to be awarded with 20 free games and a x2 multiplier for the duration. Retriggering the free spins is a possibility as well.
Betting options and jackpots
Your decision concerning the wager should begin with the number of lines you intend to activate. Each line means an extra coin for the wager, and at the same time an extra chance to win something. The second decision would be on the value of the coins you want to use, the available range being $0.05 to $5. If you decide to max it all out, you get 9 coins at $5 each, for a total of $45.
In exchange, you might be the winner of the Rapid Fire Jackpot, awarded at random once the spin ends, or you might get the bigger prize that the slot awards. The latter is worth 10,000 coins, or up to $50,000 (for $5 coins used).
Design and symbols
I’ve always thought that slots with underwater themes are some of the best looking games in this industry, but Dolphin King isn’t one of the titles that made me think this way. The problem is with the slightly dated design, with the use of too many playing cards with psychedelic shapes and in the actual amount of detail that went into each image. The background image saves it somewhat though, with coral, dolphins and starfish visible all around.
Symbols: Dolphin King (wild, 5,000x), Pearl (scatter, 100x the triggering bet), Oscar Fish (1,500x), Puffer Fish (500x), Shell (250x), Starfish (250x), Ace/King (150x), Queen/Jack/Ten/Nine (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
Unless you really love games with sea creatures in them, you should be able to find plenty of other titles, even from Cryptologic, that look and play better than this one. It has all the right features and prizes, but it’s just not convincing enough.
This Dolphin King slot is offered by all online casinos with Cryptologic software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
