Wukong Peaches Slot Machine
In Chinese mythology, immortalized in the famous novel Journey to the West, Sun Wukong was tasked with looking after the Peaches of Immortality. Realising that he could live for thousands of years if he ate one, he stole a peach, angering the Queen who was planning a banquet for members of Heaven in the process. This tale acts as the backdrop for the Wukong Peaches video slot from CQ9 Gaming. The game features a flame-haired character along with some fairly green-looking peaches; a selection of golden oddments such as a fan, jewel and fire bowl; as well as the playing card symbols.
It’s a 5-reel, 243 ways to win slot machine where you only need to see 3 matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left side to win a prize. The game also has some straightforward bonus features such as wild substitutions and free games with multipliers to add variety to the standard gameplay. CQ9 Gaming is a Taiwanese casino games developer that specializes in slots with an Asian theme, brought to life with beautifully rendered symbols and often featuring high return-to-player percentages.
The purple reels of Wukong Peaches sit against a dramatic backdrop of steep mountains, rolling clouds and waterfalls in an ethereal setting, with the atmospheric style heightened by a soundtrack that fits the theme. It’s fully mobile-optimized, and while a little of the background detail is lost when you spin these reels on iPhones, iPads, Windows or Android smartphones and tablets, none of the attractive symbols or features will be lost.
Mythical Spins From Taiwan
The symbols are designed to fit the theme, even down to the Chinese style of the 9 through to A playing card icons. While these only pay out relatively small awards when they appear across the reels, the upshot of this is that these traditional symbols will land quite often. This means punters won't be waiting for ages to collect a reward, even if it’s a lower-value one.
Prize range from 15, 20 or 100 coins when the 9 is on 3, 4, or 5 reels, to 25, 40 and 200 if the A is seen in the right places. The picture symbols are all related to the story of Wukong and the Peaches of Immortality, with each being lavishly decorated in gold. The payouts for landing these colorful items range from 30, 100, or 300 coins when the fan is seen, through to 100, 400, and a whopping 3,000 coins when you are lucky enough to land the firebowl across 3, 4, or 5 reels.
So far, we haven’t seen either Wukong or the Peaches, but CQ9 Gaming has given them the special duties of triggering the bonus features and giving you a better chance of creating a winning mix of symbols across the game. A bright-green peach is a wild symbol which can represent other symbols, although it only stops on the middle 3 reels and can’t substitute for Wukong.
A Money-Making Monkey
In the traditional style, Wukong is depicted as a monkey with flowing red hair and wearing a golden suit of armor. This impressive figure is a scatter symbol that pays out 5x, 10x, or 50x the total stake – not just the coin value – when seen on 3, 4, or 5 sequential reels from left to right. Once this has been credited, you are then given 10 free spins of reels, although special multipliers can raise the value of any wins during these bonus games.
On the first free spin, any win will pay out at the basic rate. But on the second spin wins will be doubled in value, while the third spin sees any prizes tripled. This increasing multiplier keeps rising until you get to the tenth free game and collect 10x the base value for any winning combinations landed. These games can be retriggered by more scatter symbols. If you’re really lucky, the maximum of 50 bonus games will play out, where any winning combinations that appear on the final spin will be multiplied 50 times over. You’re not going to retrigger the free spins 5x over very often, but as the multipliers start on just the second spin in this feature, there’s still a great chance to pick up some big rewards even in the first 10 games.
Wagering Options for All Bankrolls
Stakes can go from just 0.60 per spin right up to 375.00. Plus, because it’s got 243 ways to win across the game, there are no conventional paylines. Therefore, all players need to do is decide their comfortable bet level for a spin, and all winning symbol patterns will automatically be paid out.
There’s an autoplay button that saves you having to click for each spin, although you’ll need to keep an eye on your balance as there’s no way to preset win or loss levels before activating the auto spins. You can also speed up the reels by opting for turbo mode, which allows you to get to the results of each round in just a second or so.
Journey to Other Slots
Journey to the West is such a classic in Chinese literature that it’s been turned into several online and mobile-optimized slots. We can think of four games that actually share the title, whose styles range from cartoon to realistic, depending on which you choose to play.
The Journey to the West video slot from Genesis Gaming is the more cartoon-style version, where Wukong and other characters from the book land over 5 reels and 25 paylines. Peach trees frame the game and players collect peaches when certain symbols appear. Once 7 pieces of fruit are on the trees and a lotus flower is seen on the middle reel, a battle feature is triggered, where Wukong gets to fight the Queen for some great bonus payouts.
The Journey to the West video slot from EvoPlay uses different versions of similar symbols. A jade-green coin is the wild symbol and the free spins symbol takes you to a round where you pick from 5 different game options. You can choose any of the 4 characters or the wild to become stacked multiplier symbols, and while the wild icon will only pay out at the standard rate, the multipliers increase when you pick lower-value symbols. Choose the bearded warrior, and any wins in the bonus round will be multiplied by 5x.
You Can’t Go Wrong With a Little Wukong
Wukong Peaches takes a classic story and adds unique twists to the tale. The overall looks are very impressive, while the chance to land some great wins in both the base games and in particular during the free spins is a real bonus. If you manage to retrigger the round several times over and claim a 50x multiplier on the very last spin, then congratulations! But even in the normal run of play, this slot machine has a high return-to-player percentage and it’s all been fully certified as fair by an independent testing lab.
With such a popular theme, it’s certainly going to appeal to an Eastern audience. But even if you have never heard the story of Journey to the West, you should check out this fun game that’s available in real cash mode and as free Wukong Peaches video slots, where you just play for fun.
