At First Glance
Here’s a slot that takes you on one of history’s most epic treasure voyages: 1421 Voyages of Zheng He. This slot pays homage to China’s explorer, Zheng He. This admiral commanded the Ming dynasty’s immense fleet of ships on expeditions as far as Africa; extending China’s commercial influence all across the Indian Ocean. His ships were so big – it was said that both America’s Christopher Columbus and Portugal’s Vasco de Gama fleets could’ve been stored on a single deck of a single vessel. What did Zheng He carry in these trading vessels? Well, tens of thousands of men as well all of the treasures of China. They brought silks, porcelain, ivory, spices; even animals like zebras, lion and ostriches! It’s time to relive this glorious era through this new slot.
Game Basics
The reels of 1421 Voyages of Zheng He are as well stocked as the Chinese ships, with golden coins, jade statues, bells and the lower value A through 10 symbols. The golden coin acts as the Wild symbol and can substitute all other symbols in the game. Not only that, these wild symbols are stacked in the game and often appear in clusters of two or three.
The slot is set in a 5×4 layout and has 88 paylines. Bets start at 1p per payline, or 88p per spin, and can go up to £880. Granted, only some players are up for these kind of games. Many casual players prefer games that start at 20 or 30p per spin. The game’s payout percentage varies from 92.1% to 95.0%.
Fun fact: Did you know that number 8 is the lucky number in the Chinese culture? 1421 Voyages of Zheng He makes many references to this – the 88 paylines, minimum bet of 88p and the 8x multiplier. Let’s hope that some of that luck transfers over to us!
1421 Voyages of Zheng He is a medium variance game. This means that the game spaces out the payouts and you may experience few streaks with absolutely zero wins. However, these wins are usually quite substantial. Compare this with low variance games that deliver a steady stream of small wins. It’s the wins that involve the Stacked Wild symbols that will keep you afloat in the base game (i.e. paying out just enough to sustain your journey). However, your main aim is to keep playing until you trigger the bonus feature.
Bonus Features
You’ll trigger the bonus game when you get three Map symbols appear anywhere on reels 2, 3 and 4. They don’t have to line up on a payline. Anyway, you’ll be transported into the Player Decision feature game. You’ll get to choose how to proceed from four options:
- 20 extra spins with random multipliers of 1x, 2x and 3x
- 15 extra spins with random multipliers of 1x, 2x and 5x
- 10 extra spins with random multipliers of 1x, 2x and 8x
- Cup feature – Click-me bonus game with up to 102x multiplier
The Cup feature is the classic “find the ball under the cup” game. When you enter, the game will show you the golden ball and place it under a teacup. Then, the cups will be shuffled before you’re asked to guess which cup is hiding the golden ball. Guess correctly and you’ll win a huge prize! If you can’t find the ball, you’ll walk away with nothing.
How Does The Game Perform?
The game doesn’t exactly have the graphics that you can shout about. We’ve definitely seen better and we’re quite disappointed that IGT hasn’t yet adopted or mastered the graphics techniques that 2016 technology is capable of. Yet, you could argue that this dated look is almost intentional. After all, we’re paying homage to an explorer that traversed the world in the 1400s! Zheng He’s illustration in the slot could’ve been plucked from an ancient Chinese painting. Otherwise, the game functions perfectly on all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet).
The Feature That You Should Look Out For
Slot games these days are involving players in the narrative more and more frequently. This “player decision” feature, which allows players to choose their own path, is definitely more engaging than playing with a random number generator. I was compelled to keep playing so that I could test-drive each feature at least once before determining which was the best. If you like these kinds of games, check out these few titles: Good Girl Bad Girl (you can choose the volatility) or A Dragon’s Story (here, you’ll choose whether or not to raise your wager in return for better payouts).
And Finally…
I bet you didn’t know about Zheng He until you played this slot. Well, glad we got a history lesson out of this. It is quite impressive how he travelled so far so many centuries ago and laid the foundations for the Chinese empire’s trade relationships with the world. The slot follows the admiral’s same fortuitous path. It’s definitely a profitable game, but you gotta have the budget and guts to try 1421 Voyages of Zheng for yourself. Find it at Fortune Frenzy casino!
