Dragon’s Cave Scratch Cards

What with Dragonball Z and Game of Thrones, the How to Train your Dragon films, and even the upcoming Pete’s Dragon release, dragons are certainly cool. Or at least a lot cooler than the Dungeons and Dragons era.

So will a game set on the popular mythical creature fire you up? Or will the game just leave you burned out?

Burning with Desire

Just before the game starts, you immediately see the dragon in question and the cave as part of the very video-game style loading page. It goes quickly, but don’t worry if you don’t see much, as the same image is used for the game itself. The music also carries over, so it immediately feels as though you are into the lair, or rather cave.

The sounds help with this. It has a quick beat that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Hollywood film and a sense of drama that you better get moving. It has a quick tone and drum beats. And while a few chords as part of a short melody can seem repetitive, it’s more like a reminder you should be playing. When it reaches the end it does actually stop for a split second before starting again. So you do know when it begins and it doesn’t feel like a continuous loop.

You can’t fail to notice the graphics. It certainly has a modern video game level of style, even down to its gold lettering in the name of the game and the golden dragon symbol next to it. That’s at the top left with the outer parts of the cave neatly framing the screen. The dragon has clearly had plenty of thought put into it. The flames repeatedly in its mouth is a neat touch.

In the Lines of Fire

You’ll also notice there aren’t any reels in this game. Dragon’s Cave has taken full advantage of the fact there aren’t any by having their scratch cards on the right side as oppose to the reels in the middle. The 9 silver scratch cards have a dragon symbol on each.

A golden arrow flashes downwards asking us to Buy Ticket, a golden sign. When you do press it the button it changes to Scratch All. When you press this, the 9 boxes are scratched. If you win, you get a ‘Congratulations You Have Won’. The three boxes that match turn yellow, with the rest staying red. Whatever number you have on those boxes is what you win. If you’re unsuccessful after the double scratch you are asked to try again. Although the sounds don’t change while you play, there is a bong style noise when you win and a roaring sound effect when you lose.

How much you win is decided on the boxes on the left hand side. You can bet 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10, though for more details you can click on the Paytable page.  There aren’t any rules, but it tells you that you can win within 11 prizes, ranging from 0.50 to 500. It also tells you the likelihood of it happening. While there are 300,000 winning tickets for 0.50, there is only 1 for 500. There are 1 million total tickets.

Can You Be a Cave Dweller?

While so many games try and make out for a playful fun vibe, Dragon’s Cave isn’t messing around. It wants to find out if you are brave enough to tackle the fiery and fearsome beast.

There are no reels to spin and as you don’t get to choose which cards or in which order, it is taken out of your hands. However, it certainly is very innovative. There is plenty of thinking outside of the box, or boxes, as it were.

The overall layout is great. There are several boxes that make it clear how you are doing. You can win up to 10,000, with Last Bet, Credits and Bet easily seen. You can extend the screen to full size and mute the volume.

Scratch an Itch

This is a highly original game that works like an online scratchcard. Add in some great graphics, the right tone in soundtrack and a variety of prizes and you have plenty to offer. While it won’t be for everyone because of its unusual playing style, it shows how innovative the current scratch card market has become.