Celestial King Slot
Celestial King is a magical Asian-themed slot set high in the heavens. It is loosely inspired by the legend of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King who takes center stage in Journey to the West, one of the four classic novels in Chinese literature.
The differences between Sun Wukong and the mischievous-looking Celestial King become apparent as soon as you load the opulent reels of this online slot. It’s been well-documented that Sun Wukong created havoc in heaven. On the other hand, the only focus of the Celestial King here is to create a profusion of real cash for every gambler who visits him in the gold-laden heavens of ancient China.
The wide-eyed, youthful-looking Celestial King stands on top of the reels, which are surrounded by an elaborate golden frame that screams affluence. He takes his position on the tiled roof of a pagoda, which features the game’s logo at its center. Designed using 3D graphics, the Celestial King bursts into life sporadically to show off some moves with his magical staff. This staff looks identical to the famous Ruyi Jingu Bang staff, wielded by the immortal monkey Sun Wukong in his many legends.
The picturesque backdrop sets the scene perfectly, providing astonishing scenic views of these heavenly surroundings. Shades of pink and purple blend to create a mesmerizing sky. Underneath, you’ll see lots of golden pagodas and citadels, as well as colorful cherry blossom trees that protrude from behind tall walls. These stunning visuals are complemented by an uplifting and unique oriental soundscape that promises to have you in good spirits as you bow before the king.
Meet the Magical Monkey
Developed by Las Vegas-based gaming giant Bally, the Celestial King video slot may look familiar to those of you who play at land-based casinos. The brick-and-mortar version of Celestial King has enchanting graphics and charming animations on Bally’s powerful ALPHA Pro Wave cabinets, each of which is built to very high specifications.
Played on the exact same 3x5 game matrix as you will find at land-based casinos, this online casino version of Celestial King boasts a straightforward 5-reel, 30-payline setup. Winning combinations must begin on the leftmost reel, and it’s not possible to alter the number of active paylines because they have been fixed in place. There is also a fixed cost of 50 coins to stump up every time you wish to visit the Celestial King. The good news is that there are 23 betting options to choose from, beginning with the bare minimum of 0.50 credits. If you’re confident that the Celestial King will treat you to some magical wins during your visit to heaven, you can play for the high limit of 80 credits instead.
Experience Magical Wins in the Heavens
Once you’ve ascended to the heavens and met the Celestial King, you’ll have the opportunity to view the pay table to discover what payouts are possible. As we so often see in casino slot machines developed by Bally, the royals represent the least valuable symbols. They aren’t worth an awful lot, but at least some effort has been made by the creative team to design each of these in a funky Asian style. You’ll only pocket up to 20x the line bet for matching J or Q symbols, while rewards of up to 30x the line bet are on offer each time you match K or A symbols.
Fortune coins and lotus flowers are a far more impressive sight lining up across a payline, due to each of these symbols offering payouts worth up to 50x the line bet. Gold medals roll onto the reels to deliver even more real cash – up to 75x the line bet, to be precise. Another couple of quirky characters join the Celestial King, too. The pearl-necklace-wearing pig will have you laughing all the way to the bank as you secure up to 90x the line bet. The princess will put an even bigger smile on your face: she can pop up to deliver wins worth up to 150x the line bet.
Lucky Symbols Trigger Incredible Bonus Features
Unsurprisingly, the Celestial King himself represents the wild symbol. He possesses the power to substitute for all regular symbols, plus he can fill your pockets with up to 250x the line bet. Interestingly, you’ll also see jackpot wild symbols landing on the reels. Cross your fingers for five of them to appear along the same payline, which would award you the grand jackpot. This is worth a whopping 1,250x the line bet, but it can only be won by players who stake 4 credits or more.
The gift of free spins comes courtesy of landing three or more of the dragon bonus symbols simultaneously. You’ll receive an instant win worth 250x, 500x or 750x the line bet for triggering the feature with three, four or five bonus symbols respectively. Dragons bring good luck to those deemed worthy of it in Chinese culture, but it’s free spins they dish out on Celestial King. Initially, you will receive 8 free spins, but it’s possible to retrigger the feature to play for free even longer.
The third and final bonus feature, dubbed Celestial King Respins, begins whenever at least five scatter symbols land anywhere on the reels. These symbols lock in place before the game matrix is transformed. The new game matrix sees three-, four-, five-, six- and seven-high symbol positions appearing on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth reels respectively. You will then witness three respins, with each scatter symbol that locks in place displaying a prize worth up to 50x your stake. This also resets the respins counter back to three. Once the feature finishes, prizes for all scatter symbols will be totaled and added to your balance. That sounds like heaven to us!
The King of Oriental Slots?
Celestial King delivers some heavenly wins via its bonus features, but it would be a stretch to suggest that it comes anywhere close to being one of the best Asian-themed slots available at online casinos.
Players who try the visually stunning King of Monkeys video slot may choose to crown it the best instead. Developed by Malta-based GameART, the company has served up another masterclass in slot design to tell the story of Tang Sanzang, a fictional Buddhist monk who also features in Journey to the West. Played across five reels with 243 ways to win on every spin, this online slot focuses on one of the four animal disciples who accompany the monk to India to return scriptures – you guessed it, the immortal Monkey King. It’s a stunning, feature-packed slot that boasts a generous payout percentage of 96.3%, so make sure you check it out after paying the Celestial King a visit.
Will You Feel Like You’re in Heaven?
Well, that will ultimately come down to how generous the Celestial King is to you during your visit. We certainly did while conducting this slot review – he ensured that we’d leave his heavenly realm with our pockets full. Unfortunately, 40% the stake consists of a required feature bet which could make it too expensive for low-stakes players to play for real money, but that is one of the only drawbacks as far as we are concerned.
The Celestial King slot promises plenty of hope with an impressive return-to-player percentage of exactly 96%. Combine this with the fact that it has been mobile-optimized and that there is an array of exciting bonus features to enjoy, and it becomes clear why so many players are flocking to meet the Celestial King.
