TIGERS, DRAGONS AND JACKPOTS
IGT expands the hit Tiger and Dragon slot family
By Frank Legato
Slot manufacturer IGT certainly has had its defining megahits over the years, but the supplier has never rested on its laurels, reprising hits like Wheel of Fortune, Cleopatra and Megabucks with sequels that add new twists but keep the basic player-favorite features intact.
One new game that checks all these boxes is Tiger and Dragon, which has been one of IGT’s most popular games for the better part of a year. Launched in June 2024, the game’s two inaugural titles—Tiger and Dragon Cash on Reels and Tiger and Dragon Multiplier—have drawn attention for their unique bonuses that take some of the game features players have loved for years and mold them into a totally new game experience.
This year, those two games officially become IGT’s newest game family, with two additional titles launched early in the year and a third coming soon. As with other hits in IGT’s long list of successful game families, these new games add fresh themes and bonuses, but remain true to what has placed the original Tiger and Dragon games at the top of player hit lists.
AN ORIGINAL
What IGT released last summer was a compelling game that incorporates several player- favorite features that have appeared recently on the slot floor. There is a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” primary game feature, but presented in a way that’s totally different from others using that feature.
There are two collection pots. There’s a hold-and-spin feature. Actually, there are several hold-and-spin bonuses, each with its own screen, enhancements and special features.
The Tiger and Dragon games mix up this batch of features into something that is completely new and original. It’s why the game series has taken three prestigious industry awards in the past year, recognized as Best Slot Product in the Gaming & Technology Awards compiled by industry magazine Global Gaming Business; and two awards, as Top Performing New Premium Game and Most Innovative Land-Based Game, in this year’s Slot Awards Show hosted by consultancy Eilers & Krejcik Gaming.
“Our game designer that worked on this started out with this blank sheet, and it started out as an ice cube-themed game,” recalls Anthony Sofran, IGT’s vice president of gaming operations, premium products. “It had no traditional symbols. There were no jackpots. We sent it through player focus groups, and it transformed into the Tiger game, and ultimately Tiger and Dragon.
“Those player focus groups really paid off, and our designer took it from an ice cube game to the Tiger and Dragon game.”
Featured on the tall PeakCurve49 cabinet, the base game is a five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot. The theme features three unique bonuses: Tiger, Dragon, and the combined Tiger and Dragon bonus.
The heart of the Cash on Reels base game lies in the number symbols. Two or more numbers adjacent on the screen award the combined number displayed. 1-5-5 is $1.55. 1-5-7-0-0 is $157, and so on. In the primary game, the number symbols go up to 10, so there are big win opportunities.
What you see is what you get.
But what makes the bonus features in these games unique are the enhancements. In the Cash-on-Reels version, it is the arrow symbol. When it lands adjacent to a winning combination, the first digit in the sequence goes into a continuous nudge upward, often reaching double-digit numbers. So 5- 3-5-0 nudges up to 6-3-5-0 and on until reaching, for example, 10-3-5-0 for a $103.50 win.
In the Multiplier version of the game, gong symbols adjacent to wins reveal multipliers to increase the prize. Several multipliers at a time can land, and are added together into mega- multipliers and huge wins. The number symbols appear in the bonus rounds.
These basics are wrapped into any of three unique bonus events in an enhanced hold-and-spin feature, called Lock & Respin. Each can be triggered with either three or more gong symbols or by one or both treasure chests bursting. The treasure chests are collection pots, marked “Tiger Bonus” and “Dragon Bonus.” Between the chests are the words “Tiger and Dragon Bonus.” Each chest is fed by coins shot from Tiger or Dragon reel symbols until one or both bursts to trigger the bonus.
The Tiger Bonus is the normal three-spin cycle in this style of feature. The gongs on the triggering spin stay in place as numbers, and every gong that lands returns the spin meter to three. Adjacent gongs reveal numbers that form the win amount, and arrows can increase those wins exponentially.
The Dragon Bonus does the same on an eight-row reel grid, and when the two bonuses are combined, the top progressive jackpot sits at the top of the extended reel array, with the top rows locked off. The symbols appearing in the hold-and-spin round are all gongs. The numbers behind them remain hidden until the end of the feature. Successive winning combinations unlock higher rows toward the goal of reaching the progressive jackpot, resetting at $10,000.
One great feature of the bonus hold-and-spin rounds is that green multi-digit numbers are added to the grid, going all the way up over 100, which can yield thousands in winnings.
There also is a Mystery Bonus. The top of the long screen displays a giant gong. Each time a gong symbol lands in the primary game, it “charges” the big gong, until at a random point, the big gong rings and gong symbols rain down onto the reels for big winnings.
The wagering setup on these games includes low and high bet options. You can play for as little as 75 cents, with options on that level rising to a maximum 500 credits. However, the player can choose a higher wager level, with max bets ranging from 750 all the way to 3,000 credits. According to Sofran, on the higher bet levels, the arrows and multipliers are much more frequent, resulting in bigger wins.
GROWING FAMILY
While a single-progressive game, IGT fits this into the same premium game group as the company’s most popular multi-level progressives, led by Prosperity Link and Mystery of the Lamp.
This year, IGT PlayDigital will take Tiger and Dragon online, first with the Cash on Reels version. The game will be a global release, including all U.S. iGaming jurisdictions.
But on land, the game is now out around the country, including commercial and tribal Class II markets, and in other casinos around the world.
And the game family is getting larger. IGT recently launched two new versions, Tiger and Dragon Super Bonus and Tiger and Dragon Super Gong. The company will soon release Tiger and Dragon Super Arrow, the first widearea-progressive-compatible game in the series to be featured on the SkyRise cabinet, currently the home of Whitney Houston slots.
“That’s a really tall cabinet, which is the basis for most of our widearea progressive product,” Sofran explains. “This is a wide-area progressive game, with a top jackpot at a $500,000 reset. There is a great use of graphics and the sound on that big cabinet.”
He adds that the newest games add more arrows to the mix. There is a blue arrow that moves around in the Super Gong version, and a diamond version that boosts the number symbols to higher digits. “The game play dynamics are a little bit different, but we’re still featuring the digits and arrows,” Sofran says.
“It’s a great feature, and there’s a lot more we can do with it. The more eyes we have looking at it, the neater the games and the game play become.”
Sofran says, in fact, that IGT engineers are working this style of feature into other games. “We believe it is a strong mechanic, so all of our studios are working on similar types of features, not only on Tiger and Dragon, but on other games,” he says.
“The anticipation factor in this game is super exciting. Not only do you have bonuses going on, you’re aiming for gongs on the reels. You’re rooting for Tiger and Dragon symbols. You’re rooting for the digits to land… That anticipation and the use of the sounds that we have in this game are what really make it the most exciting.”
He says the slot influencers have already latched on to Tiger and Dragon. “We’ve seen a lot of our influencers who are out playing the game,” says Sofran. “We did a recent influencer event at the Peppermill in Reno, and there was a lot of great feedback and excitement.
“So we think it’s hitting the mark, for sure.”
SLOT TYPE
Five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot; pot-collection and multiple hold-and-spin bonus features; .01 denomination
PAYBACK % RANGE
88%-96%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
Approximately 30%
TOP JACKPOT
Progressive; $10,000 reset
