Bao Shi (Play’n GO) – Review & Demo Play

Bao Shi: Slot Overview

Set beneath the watchful gaze of Lioras, I felt those two eyes put me on the spot from the first spin. Lioras, the Lion God of Prosperity, guards the temple where Bao Shi is held. A greedy warlord cast a dark spell on him, turning him to stone and sealing the treasures. It’s in my best interest to awaken the stone guardian, since doing so places wilds on the reels and can trigger multipliers. The Asian iconography is familiar, yet the charismatic Lion Guardian gives the slot extra meaning.

The action plays on a 5x4 reel grid with 1,024 ways to win, paying left to right from the first reel. Volatility leans high, rated 7 out of 10, and the top RTP configuration sits at 96.2%, the highest among five setups. Bets range from 0.10 to 100 per spin. The core loop focuses on landing wilds, revealing multipliers, and upgrading the highest paying symbol to bash out a solid win or two when the features line up.

Bao Shi Symbols and Paytable

Bao Shi’s pay symbols are 10-A royals, lanterns, coins, fish, sycees, and the Lioras symbol, awarding 0.3x to 4x the bet for 5 OAK. During free spins and the Lioras Blessings feature, the Lioras symbol is replaced by the higher value Golden Lioras, which pays 6x for 5 of a kind. That upgrade matters, as stacked ways with Golden Lioras can turn a routine grid into a tidy board when multipliers are active across the same spins.

The Drum symbol and the Gold Coin symbols are wild, substituting for anything except the scatter. Wilds may land on the three middle reels only, so you look for lanes in reels two, three, and four to tie the ways together. Scatters handle the feature entry. The paytable keeps things clear across 3, 4, and 5 OAK, and with ways paying rather than lines, the step up comes from coverage across adjacent reels rather than positions on a fixed grid.

With 1,024 ways to win, combinations land when matching symbols appear on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost. When blessings hit and Lioras symbols upgrade to Golden Lioras, the payout profile rises fast. If Gold Coins reveal multipliers, the values are added together and applied to all wins that spin, so even lower tier results can feel worthwhile. That interaction between upgraded top symbol and summed multipliers is where Bao Shi finds its paytable punch during the best sequences.

Bao Shi Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	5	x6
	4	x3
	3	x2
	2	x1
	5	x3
	4	x1.5
	3	x0.7
	5	x2
	4	x1
	3	x0.5
	5	x1
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.4
	5	x1
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.4
	5	x0.7
	4	x0.5
	3	x0.3
	5	x0.5
	4	x0.3
	3	x0.2
	5	x0.5
	4	x0.3
	3	x0.2
	5	x0.3
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	Scatter
	Wild

Lioras Blessings in Bao Shi

This feature is where the game sparks for me. Lioras, the entity above the reels, collects Drum symbols when they land. When a Drum is collected, Lioras Blessings can randomly trigger, awarding 2 or 3 Gold Coins. Gold Coins cannot overlap with scatters, Drums, or Golden Lioras symbols. In the base game, Gold Coins may reveal an x2 or x3 multiplier; these are added together and applied to all wins. All Lioras symbols on the reels are upgraded to Golden Lioras at the same time.

Free Spins in Bao Shi

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 8, 12, or 15 free spins. For free spins, all Lioras symbols are upgraded to Golden Lioras from the outset. Lioras Blessings can randomly trigger during the feature, awarding 3 to 5 Gold Coins, again not on scatters, Drums, or Golden Lioras symbols. Coin reveals can be x2, x3, x4, or x5, and the values are added together then applied to all wins, which is where the round can really pick up.

Landing a scatter awards +1 free spin, up to a maximum of 100 free spins across the feature. I’ve had stretches where extra spins drip in one by one, setting up stacks of pay ways with upgraded lions and tidy multipliers. The stronger form of blessings here, with more Coins and higher reveals, makes the bonus feel like the proper shot at the game’s promise, especially when multiple Golden Lioras connect from reel one across the 1,024 ways.

RTP, Volatility and Max Win in Bao Shi

Bao Shi runs hot on variance, leaning high at a 7/10 rating. RTP has multiple configurations, with the top setting at 96.20% and lower versions at 94.20%, 91.20%, 87.20%, and 84.20%. Stakes span 0.10 to 100 per spin, and wins pay left to right from the first reel across 1,024 ways. The posted max win is 15,000x the bet. Given that profile, stretches of quiet spins are part of the deal, but the numbers offer real headroom when multipliers stack with upgrades.

Bao Shi: Slot Verdict

With the large number of Asian themed slots floating about, a lot of them quite similar looking, it can be hard to get excited by yet another one. Bao Shi was a pleasant surprise. Play’n GO built the scene well through its relatively extensive backstory, and Lioras intensely staring over the grid gave me a wee jolt when the game first loaded. In some ways the game is traditional; in other ways, it manages to stand out thanks to its charismatic Lion Guardian.

Feed him a Drum in the base game and he can trigger blessings which add wild Gold Coins to the reels and possibly reveal multipliers, or just do so randomly during free spins. That’s kind of it for the features, though, so the base game can drag, and waiting for free spins to finally arrive might be monotonous. Bao Shi dangles big potential through a 15,000x max figure; I didn’t see it, and I wouldn’t expect full payouts to occur at any great frequency.