Quick Stats
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Provider | Felix Gaming |
| Game Type | Video Slot |
| RTP | 95.6% |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Reels / Rows | 5 × 3 |
| Paylines | 20 Fixed |
| Min Bet | $0.01 |
| Max Bet | $30.00 |
| Max Win | 20,000x total bet |
| Features | Expanding Wild, Scatter (Free Spins, unlimited retriggers), Pick a Chest Bonus, Red Lion Jackpot Feature |
| Theme | Chinese New Year / Asian Mythology |
| Release Date | 18 March 2019 |
| Platform | Desktop & Mobile |
What Is Red Lion?
Red Lion plants you in front of a golden-pillared pagoda gate, dragons coiling up either side, as colourful fireworks light the background sky. The festival atmosphere is carried through every visual detail — from the glowing Yin-Yang scatter to the golden frog sitting in lantern light — and the soundtrack leans into the celebratory vibe without becoming irritating. It is an Asian-themed pokie through and through, and it makes no apology for that.
Felix Gaming is a small studio with offices in the UK and Sofia, Bulgaria. The team brings more than 15 years of land-based casino development experience into their online catalogue and launched their first online titles in 2016. Licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, Felix Gaming has built a reputation for paytable generosity and clean feature design, even if their portfolio remains compact. Red Lion is consistently their most-searched title.
This pokie suits players who enjoy a structured feature set without excessive complexity. You get three clearly defined bonus modes — free spins, a pick game, and a screen-fill jackpot — each triggered by a different symbol, each doing something distinct. It is not designed for high rollers; the $30 maximum bet is modest. But at minimum stake, the 20,000x jackpot still represents a meaningful return, and the unlimited free spins retrigger gives the bonus round real open-ended upside.
RTP and Volatility
At 95.6%, Red Lion’s RTP sits slightly below the current industry average of around 96%. In practical terms, for every $100 wagered across millions of spins, the game returns approximately $95.60 to players in aggregate. That is not a per-session guarantee — your individual results across a 100-spin session will swing considerably around that theoretical figure depending on whether the free spins or frog bonus fires.
Medium volatility means wins land with reasonable frequency throughout the base game. You will not grind through 60 dry spins regularly, but the base game win sizes are modest — the paytable tops out at 50 coins for five wild Red Lions at minimum bet, which translates to $2.50 at $0.01 total stake. The game’s genuine upside sits in the bonus features. The free spins round, with its expanding wild and retrigger potential, is where meaningful session wins tend to come from. The 20,000x screen-fill jackpot is rare by definition, but its existence gives every spin a distant ceiling that most medium-volatility pokies cannot offer.
If the 95.6% RTP is a concern, note that some casino platforms offer the same title with a slightly different configured RTP — check your casino’s listed figure before playing.
Betting Range
All 20 paylines are fixed and active on every spin. The minimum total bet is $0.01 per spin — genuinely accessible for very low-stakes casual play. The maximum is $30 per spin. This is a narrow ceiling compared to most contemporary pokies. High rollers who want to push beyond $30 per spin will find the game’s bet architecture limiting.
At minimum stake, the 20,000x jackpot pays $200. At maximum stake, it pays $600,000. The practical difference in jackpot potential is significant enough that stake choice carries real consequence in this game beyond the usual proportional scaling.
For a $20 session at minimum bet, you have 2,000 spins — more than enough to trigger free spins multiple times and likely encounter the frog bonus at least once. That makes Red Lion one of the longer-play-for-money pokies in this volatility tier at its minimum stake.
How to Play Red Lion — Step by Step
- Set your bet. Use the arrow buttons in the bottom-left corner to adjust your total bet per spin between $0.01 and $30. All 20 paylines are always active.
- Check the paytable. Press the green button in the bottom-left corner to view all symbol values, bonus trigger conditions, and feature rules before you start spinning.
- Hit Spin. Press the central orange Spin button. Use Max Bet to jump straight to the $30 stake, or Autoplay to run continuous spins at your set amount.
- How wins are determined. Land three or more matching symbols on an active payline starting from the leftmost reel. Symbols must be on adjacent reels from left to right.
- Watch the three bonus symbols. The Yin-Yang scatter triggers free spins. The Golden Frog on reels 1, 3, and 5 simultaneously triggers the pick bonus. Red Lion wilds expanding to fill the entire screen triggers the 20,000x jackpot feature.
- During free spins, track scatters. Two Yin-Yang symbols during the round add five more free spins. Three or more retrigger the entire feature from scratch — this can happen an unlimited number of times.
Try this: Play your first 30 spins at minimum bet and pay attention to how often the Yin-Yang scatters appear in clusters. If two land regularly in the base game, the free spins trigger is within reasonable reach and the retrigger mechanic has real practical value in your session.
Symbols and Paytable
Red Lion uses 10 symbols across its reels: seven standard paying symbols and three bonus symbols. The standard symbols rank from lowest to highest as follows, with five-of-a-kind payouts shown at a $0.01 total bet:
J and Q pay 3.75 coins for five of a kind. K and A pay 5 coins. The Gold Dish (a stack of gold ingots) pays 12.50 coins. The Fan pays 20 coins. The Turtle — a gold tortoise carrying a Chinese coin — pays 37.50 coins and is the highest-paying standard symbol. Five Wild Red Lions on an active payline pay 50 coins, making the wild both the substitute and the top line-bet earner.
Three bonus symbols operate outside the standard payline rules. The Red Lion is the wild, substituting for all standard symbols and expanding to fill its entire reel when it contributes to a win. The Yin-Yang is the scatter, appearing anywhere on the reels to trigger free spins. The Golden Frog triggers the pick bonus when it lands simultaneously on reels 1, 3, and 5.
All payline wins pay from left to right across adjacent reels, starting from reel 1.
Bonus Features
Expanding Wild — Red Lion
The Red Lion symbol is the wild. It substitutes for all seven standard symbols and, whenever it helps form a winning combination, it expands to fill all three rows on its reel. A single Red Lion landing on reel 3, for example, becomes three stacked wild positions covering every payline that crosses that reel — a substantial coverage boost from a single symbol.
The expanding wild applies in both the base game and the free spins round. During free spins, where multiple wilds can land across several reels on a single spin, the expansion potential compounds quickly. Fill all five reels with expanded Red Lion wilds — all 15 visible positions occupied — and you trigger the game’s 20,000x jackpot feature regardless of whether you are in the base game or the bonus round.
Yin-Yang Scatter — Free Spins
The Yin-Yang symbol is the scatter. It can appear anywhere on the reels and does not need to land on an active payline to count. Landing three, four, or five Yin-Yang scatters in the base game awards 10, 25, or 50 free spins respectively.
During the free spins round, the expanding wild remains fully active. Two additional Yin-Yang scatters landing anywhere on the reels award five more free spins, extending the round. Three or more scatters retrigger the entire feature — awarding another full allocation of 10, 25, or 50 free spins depending on how many land — and this retrigger has no cap. In a particularly fortunate session, the free spins round can continue through multiple full retriggers, effectively running for dozens or even hundreds of spins. The base game mechanics are identical during free spins; no new symbols or rules are introduced.
Golden Frog Bonus — Pick a Chest
The Golden Frog is the bonus symbol. It does not pay as a scatter and does not count on paylines — it only triggers the Pick a Chest bonus when it appears simultaneously on reels 1, 3, and 5 in the same spin. This three-reel simultaneous requirement makes the trigger less frequent than a standard scatter.
When triggered, players are taken to a separate screen showing a festive street scene with fireworks lighting the background. Five treasure chests are presented. Choose one to reveal a cash prize worth between 5x and 50x your total bet. The prize is awarded instantly and the game returns to the base game. Only one chest is chosen per trigger — there are no reveals of unchosen chests to show what you missed.
Red Lion Jackpot Feature
The grand prize of 20,000x your total bet is awarded by a single condition: all 15 visible positions on the 5×3 grid must be occupied by Red Lion wild symbols simultaneously. This can happen in the base game or during free spins. Because each Red Lion wild expands to fill its entire reel when it contributes to a win, a spin with Red Lion wilds landing on all five reels — and each expanding — produces the full-screen condition and triggers the jackpot.
At maximum bet ($30 per spin), the 20,000x jackpot delivers $600,000. At minimum bet ($0.01), it pays $200. This is a fixed jackpot — it does not grow over time and is not linked to any progressive pool.
Is Red Lion Worth Playing?
Pros:
- Three genuinely distinct bonus features — free spins, pick bonus, and screen-fill jackpot — each triggered by a different symbol, each with different mechanics
- Free spins retrigger is unlimited, giving the bonus round real open-ended duration potential
- Expanding wild mechanic in free spins can cover multiple reels simultaneously, dramatically increasing payline coverage
- 20,000x fixed jackpot is an exceptional ceiling for a medium-volatility, mid-budget pokie
- Minimum bet of $0.01 per spin is among the most accessible in the market; excellent for extended low-stakes sessions
- Clean, attractive design with genuine thematic attention — pagoda setting and dragon artwork are well-executed
- Desktop and mobile compatible; no download required
Cons:
- RTP of 95.6% is slightly below the western industry average of 96%; you are giving up a small but real edge compared to better-returning competitors
- Maximum bet of $30 per spin is low by 2026 standards — high rollers will find the ceiling restrictive
- The Golden Frog bonus requires simultaneous landing on reels 1, 3, and 5, making it a harder trigger than most bonus symbols
- Base game paytable values are modest at low stakes; meaningful session wins rely heavily on the bonus features firing
- No free spins retrigger counter shown during the feature, making it hard to track total remaining spins in real time
- The Asian New Year theme is well-trodden territory; Red Lion does not bring a strongly differentiated concept to the category
Red Lion earns its spot as Felix Gaming’s flagship title on the back of a feature kit that punches well above the studio’s size. The unlimited free spins retrigger combined with an expanding wild is a strong combination at this volatility level, and the 20,000x jackpot gives casual-stakes players a credible ceiling without demanding high-roller spending. The 95.6% RTP is the one honest drawback — it is not punishing, but players who care about maximising long-run value should check whether their casino offers an alternative configuration. For Chinese New Year theme fans and anyone who appreciates well-structured bonuses over flashy complexity, this is a solid session pokie.
Responsible Gambling
Red Lion uses a random number generator (RNG) to determine every outcome. No spin is connected to any previous result, and no betting pattern influences when the bonus features trigger. Set a session budget before playing and stop when you reach it. If gambling ever stops feeling like entertainment, contact a local responsible gambling support service for free, confidential help.