Smoking Dargon – Overview
Here we have the first slot game release by Hacksaw Gaming in 2026 and the game is called Smoking Dragon.
I’m not sure if the Asian theme is picked because of the Chinese new year that is coming on February 17th, or if it’s just a coincident. But the theme is very nice!
The game’s theme is very colorful and looks very cartoon-like. With a fun smoking dragon next to the reels. For animals we will see different animals of the Chinese zodiac and also golden dragon egss. It all makes for a very nice looking game.
The game uses 5 reels that are 4 symbols high and comes with 1024 ways instead of paylines.
Besides low paying card symbols and medium to high paying animal symbols, you will also find wilds and Free Spins symbols on all reels. Wilds can appear as normal wilds and Epic Wilds, more on those below. Lastly there are golden eggs, which can also appear on each reel.
Smoking Dragon comes with a solid maximum payout of 10.000 times your bet and is a low volatile slot game.
Features
Row Cascades
When you get a winning combination, the bottom row of symbols is removed. All remaining symbols drop down one row and new symbols fall on top. This keeps happening until no new wins occur. This way of cascading symbols will keep the winning symbols on the reels when they are not on the bottom row. Which is kind of unique.
Wild Symbols
Wild symbols can appear as normal wilds and epic wilds. Each can come with a random multiplier of between x2 and x100. Multipliers are added together when more than one is used in a winning combination. When an Epic Wild is on the reels, the multiplier will double each time it moves down a row because of the Row Cascade.
Dragon Eggs
When 3 Dragon Eggs are on the reels at the same time, you are instantly awarded with a cash reward of 500x bet.
Free Spins Features
3 or more scatter/free spins symbols will trigger a free spins feature. Depending on the number of symbols that triggered the feature, you will play a different free spins feature.
- Puff of Luck – 3 scatter symbols – 10 free spins with the same features as the base game, but a higher chance to land wilds, epic wilds and eggs. 2 or 3 scatter symbols during these spins will add 2 and 4 extra free spins respectively.
- Smoldering Riches – 4 scatter symbols – 10 free spins with the same features as Puff of Luck. But now there is also a multiplier meter on the left of the reels. This will indicate the minimum multiplier wilds and epic wilds will have. The meter starts at x1 and is increased by x1 after each 10th row cascade, up to a maximum of x25. 2 or 3 scatter symbols during these spins will add 2 and 4 extra free spins respectively.
- Fire and Fortune – 5 scatter symbols – 10 free spins with the same features as Smoldering Riches. But a guaranteed win and wild or epic wild during each spin. The multiplier meter starts on x5 during this feature and increases by x5 after each 10th row cascade. There are no extra free spins available during this feature.
Bonus Buy
There are several bonus buy option on Smoking Dragon. For 3x the bet you can activate a 5 times higher chance of triggering the bonus. 50x the bet will guarantee you to land at least 1 wild and 1 dragon egg. You can buy Putt of Luck for 80x the bet, Smoldering Riches for 200x the bet and even Fire and Fortune for 1.000x the bet.
Verdict
It’s becoming a bit boring maybe, but again, I really like this new slot game. Hacksaw Gaming always manages to create slots with amazing themes and unique mechanisms. And Smoking Dragin is no different.
The way the cascades work is very unique but also a lot of fun. The multiplier wilds being able to go up to x100 are very nice and then we have those three different free spins features. All three are fun to play and can award some great wins. But of course the 5 scatter one is the best.
Overall I think Smoking Dragon is an amazing start of the new year for Hacksaw. And definitely leagues better than the first releases of Play’n Go and Pragmatic Play.
Let me know what you think about Smoking Dragon in the comments section below. You can play the game for real at any trusted Hacksaw Gaming casino or try out the demo version below.
