Neko Night Dream Drop
Volatility High
Min Bet 0.20
Max Bet 100
Max. Win 20,000x
Rating 8.3/10
Relax Gaming are going travelling, and they’re taking us along for the ride to Downtown Japan, with the next in their Dream Drop Jackpot series – Neko Night Dream Drop. This will only be the second release in the Dream Drop series that features a completely new game, in spite of being the 6th release overall. That said, we were all fairly familiar with the Temple Tumble concept when Temple Tumble 2 was released, so maybe we can consider this the first completely unique release to accompany the team‘s revolutionary five-tiered Progressive Jackpot. Either way, here we are, in the heart of Japan, with wins on offer up to 20,000x bet. Let’s take a closer look at this highly (5/5) volatile release, topped off with a fixed RTP of 93.89% (including 12% Jackpot contribution).
Visually, things are about as expectedly Japanese as one could expect – the team have absolutely no qualms about giving in to stereotypes – Neko Night is rife with sushi, cats, origami and anime. The background is bold, yet not distracting, and the whole thing comes together into something that’s actually quite nice to look at, with audios that fit in well.
Neko Night Dream Drop Base Features
Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Neko Night by matching at least 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel. Each reel holds 4 symbols, giving a total of 1,024 ways to win. Symbols begin with non-premiums – Js, Qs, Ks, and As, each paying between 0.30 and 1x bet, for wins between 3 and 5 of a kind. At the premium end, we begin with blue origami cranes, green bottles, and orange sushi, each paying 0.50x bet for 3 of a kind, increasing to values between 4 and 8x bet for 5 of a kind. Next up is a red ornamental figure and a purple anime style female, paying wins of 1 and 2x bet respectively for 3 of a kind, up to 15 and 20x bet respectively for 5 of a kind. Finally, Golden Koi Wilds are available, substituting for all symbols except Scatters.
There’s really only one feature to discuss within the Neko Night base game – Neko Re-Spins. At the top of reels 2, 3, and 4 is a cat holding a multiplier – this refers to the multiplier attached to Wild symbols, not an overall win multiplier. Wild symbols always begin at x1, and are only capable of landing on these reels. When they do land, they upgrade the multiplier for future Wilds by +x1, and award a Neko Re-Spin. During the Re-Spin, any new Wilds that land will have the multiplier at the top of the reel applied. Re-Spins continue until no more Wild symbols land, and if multiple multipliers are present, they multiply together. Multipliers reset back to x1 at the end of Re-Spins.
Neko Night is, of course, a Dream Drop release. The Jackpot Feature is triggered randomly during the base game, and will play out as an additional spin before the normal spin plays. The Dream Drop area will light in gold, and all regular pay symbols will be removed from the reels, with only Neko DD symbols able to land. The Dream Drop Bonus is triggered if a Neko DD symbol lands on all 5 reels. If this happens, players will enter the Jackpot Round.
During the bonus round, only Golden Koi DD symbols can land on the reels, and each reel has a count above it – so you know how many symbols are required to release each Jackpot. Once you have collected enough Golden Koi DD symbols to win a Jackpot, the Dream Drop Bonus ends, and you will return to the base game. There are five Jackpots available:
- Rapid – €1 seed (2 Golden Koi DD symbols required)
- Midi – €5 seed (3 Golden Koi DD symbols required)
- Maxi – €100 seed (4 Golden Koi DD symbols required)
- Major – €25,000 seed (5 Golden Koi DD symbols required)
- Mega – €500,000 seed (6 Golden Koi DD symbols required)
You are guaranteed to win one Jackpot, and each jackpot has different seed values, listed above. The Mega Jackpot will eventually reach €10million, as Relax Gaming are levelling up the Dream Drop every two wins, increasing the prize by €500,000, until it reaches this astonishing maximum value.
Neko Night Dream Drop Bonus
Landing 3 Scatter symbols will trigger 8 Free Spins. Scatters will be collected to the left of the reels as Neko Re-Spins take place, so 3 Scatters are simply required in one game round, not one symbol drop. During Free Spins, the Wild Multiplier values do not reset between spins – and the value carries over from the triggering spin.
Landing a Scatter symbol during Free Spins will award an additional +1 free spins.
The maximum win available in Neko Night Dream Drop is 20,000x bet. If the win of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 20,000x bet will be awarded. This does not apply to Dream Drop Jackpots.
First Impression
Neko Night expectedly gives players another reason to try the team’s Dream Drop Jackpots, but as a standalone game, it still has something special about it. We know by now that Relax can put together the most straightforward games, yet they still manage to produce insane results – Top Dawg$ and Hex are two obvious examples.
The aim is pretty simple here – land Wild symbols to trigger Neko Re-Spins, and watch as wins roll in. That’s really it, and yet somehow it’s still exciting. Free Spins in a way are reminiscent of the Multiplier Collect bonus in Iron Bank, or as you probably know it, the coconuts one. It’s the same idea – no win multiplier, but Wild multipliers that multiply together to form some intense combinations.
Wins are available up to 20,000x bet (outside of the Dream Drop Jackpots), and maths is highly volatile, so it won’t be an easy ride, but when the combinations fall in just the right way, some players will see results potent enough to consider booking their own trip abroad. RTP is fixed, as always with Relax Gaming, at93.89%, but this includes the 12% Jackpot contribution, so this should play into your decision making. Overall, a solid release, albeit probably one specifically for Dream Drop fans.
*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.