The Canine Crew Howls Again in The Big Dog House Slot

Pragmatic Play has its fair share of long-running series. Games like Sweet Bonanza and The Dog House have spawned countless sequels, proving the software provider knows how to keep a game series exciting. The Big Dog House brings the series back to suburbia, with a familiar white picket fence and canine crew greeting players when they first open the slot.

What new and exciting features does the new entry in the series bring? Find out in our in-depth review of The Big Dog House slot.

The Big Dog House Visuals

The graphics bring back the familiar backdrop from the original game. It’s a welcome view after the last few games took us to the Wild West or aboard pirate ships. However, while everything seems normal at first, unlocking the game’s features reveals spirits haunt the game. The slot keeps its cute visuals even when ghosts come out, so you don’t have to worry about getting spooked.

Lower-value symbols are colourful playing card royals, while higher-value icons include dog bones, collars, and four types of playful pups. The dog house is the Wild symbol, while paw prints are Scatters. There are three types of Scatters that can appear, which affect what kind of Free Spins feature you will get.

The Big Dog House Gameplay and Features

You play this Pragmatic Play slot on a 5×3 grid with 20 fixed paylines. Forming wins requires at least three matching symbols to appear on an active payline and start on the leftmost reel.

Supersized Wilds

Doghouse Wilds can substitute for any symbol except for Scatters, making them a great way to score big wins. These Wilds can only land on reels 2, 3, and 4 and can appear in three configurations:

• Normal (1×1)
• Expanded (1×3)
• Colossal (3×3)

Along with potentially being supersized, Wilds also appear with random 2x or 3x multipliers. These multipliers apply to all wins the Wild is a part of. If multiple Wilds are in a winning combination, their multipliers are added together first.

Free Spins

Three Scatters on reels 1, 3, and 5 activate the Free Spins bonus round. Three standard Scatters activate regular free spins. However, if a Biggie or Ghost Out Scatter is part of the triggering trio, the bonus round will start with the corresponding modifier.

The number of free spins you get is randomly determined when the feature triggers. The game displays 9 cells in a 3×3 grid, each showing a random number between 1 and 3. All the numbers are then added together to determine how many free spins you’ll get.

While this bonus is active, Wilds can only appear in a 1×1 configuration. However, Pragmatic Play balances this out by making all Wilds sticky for the duration of the feature. The game also adds a ghost Wild on the fifth reel, which unsticks one random Wild every spin.

Free Spin Modifiers

There are two modifiers you can benefit from during the Free Spins feature.

• Biggie ensures all Wilds that land on the grid appear as 1×3 or 3×3 symbols.
• Ghost Out removes the ghost Wild on the fifth reel.

It is possible to have both modifiers active simultaneously.

Special Bets

The Big Dog House slot is full of special bets and feature buy options that players can take advantage of. Pragmatic Play has broken them up into three categories, and we’ll do the same in this review.

First up are Ante Bets. These slightly increase your bet per round, but make certain bonuses more likely to trigger.

• Ante Bet 1 increases the likelihood of Biggie Free Spins by 24x. Costs 2x your bet.
• Ante Bet 2 increases your chance to trigger Ghost Out Free Spins by 24x. Costs 2x your stake.
• Ante Bet 3 raises your chance to win all free spins by 6x. Costs 4x your wager.
• Ante Bet 4 makes the odds of activating a Free Spins feature with both modifiers 170x more likely. Costs 6x your bet.

Pragmatic Play also offers four super bets, which ensure Wilds appear on the reels.

• Super Spin 1 guarantees an Expanded (1×3) Wild will appear. Costs 5x your stake.
• Super Spin 2 ensures random Wilds will land on the grid. Costs 50x your wager.
• Super Spin 3 gives you a 50% chance to get a Colossal (3×3) Wild. Costs 100x your bet.
• Super Spin 4 guarantees a Colossal Wild will land. Costs 200x your stake.

Last but not least are the feature buy options. These let you jump straight into the Free Spins feature you want to play.

• Standard Free Spins with no modifiers cost 100x your wager.
• Biggie Free Spins and Ghost Out Free Spins both cost 200x your bet.
• Finally, the Free Spins feature with both modifiers active costs 500x your stake.

The Big Dog House RTP and Payouts

The RTP for The Big Dog House slot is 96.53%, which is better than average by half a percentage point. You can win up to 15,000x your stake in this game, which is an impressive payout for a medium-variance release.