Wild Dragon Express – Hold & Hit 3×3

Wild Dragon Express – Hold & Hit 3x3 is a compact oriental slot from Spinomenal, released on 1 October 2026. A red steam locomotive with a golden dragon face on its boiler crosses a mountain valley above the reels, and below it sits a small grid of 3 reels and 3 rows with 5 fixed paylines. The RTP is 96.28%, the volatility is medium and the maximum win is 5,000x the bet.

All Aboard

The setting is clean and colourful: blue sky, snowy peaks, a Chinese pagoda scene and a gold-framed reel block. The jackpot plates sit on both sides of the train, with the Grand and Minor on the left and the Major and Mini on the right. The symbols are fitting for the theme, with a red pagoda, jade guardian lions, a paper lantern and a golden dragon, plus the card values J, Q, K and A in Chinese-style lettering.

With three reels, the line game is quick to read. The Wild is a gold dragon that substitutes for every symbol except the two bonus symbols, and three Wilds on a line pay 2.5x the bet. The medium symbols pay 1.5x, 1x and 0.8x (twice) for three of a kind, and the low symbols pay 0.2x, with the lowest paying only 0.05x. These prizes are small, so the line game works mainly as a filler between bonus chances.

Coins On The Sides, Pearl In The Middle

The key to the game is a split between two kinds of symbols:

• the Bonus coin, a gold medallion, can land only on reels 1 and 3;
• the Bonus Collect symbol, a white pearl inside a dragon ring, can land only on reel 2.

When a pearl on reel 2 appears together with coins on reels 1 and 3, the Hold & Hit bonus game starts. It is a Hold and Spin style respin round, and the three triggering symbols stay locked while the game moves to a 3-spin bonus on a grid of nine positions.

The bonus intro is short and clear. A banner announces the Bonus Game, the three locked symbols stay in their places, and the other six positions turn into dark purple medallion slots that wait for coins. During the feature only Bonus and Bonus Collect symbols can land, so the usual line symbols disappear from view and the screen shows nothing but the collection game.

How The Respins Work

On each spin, the empty spots can be filled with cash prizes of 1x, 2x, 5x, 7x, 10x or 15x the bet, or with a jackpot symbol. The twist is that coins do not stay on the board: every time a Bonus coin lands, it is collected by the pearl, disappears from the reels, and its value is added to the pearl’s total. In the demo, the number under the pearl rose from 2.55 to 2.65 and then to 3.15 as new coins flew into the dragon ring.

Landing any coin or pearl resets the counter to three spins. The bonus ends after three spins without a landing, or when the collected prize reaches the 5,000x cap, and the pearl totals are then added together and paid as the Bonus Win. The round in the demo finished with a Total Win of 3.15 on a 0.05 bet, which is 63 times the stake.

It is worth noting that a single pearl is enough to run the feature, so the middle reel is the one to watch. The pearl stays locked for the whole round, collects every coin that lands on the sides, and its total is the number shown on the ring. The rules also say that the triggering symbols stay where they are while the game switches to the bonus view, so nothing is lost between the base game and the respins.

Jackpots

Jackpot coins can appear at random while the bonus is running, and each one pays a fixed multiple of the bet:

• Grand: 1,000x
• Major: 150x
• Minor: 50x
• Mini: 25x

Major and Minor symbols were both seen on the grid in the demo, together with golden coins of 0.5 and 0.05, so the board can show quite different values on the same spin.

Bonus Blast And Instant Win

Two extra features work only in the base game. Bonus Blast can activate at random and spreads more Bonus and Bonus Collect symbols across the reels, which guarantees enough symbols to trigger the bonus. Instant Win covers the near misses: if a pearl lands together with one or more coins, including jackpot coins, but the combination does not start the bonus game, the pearl collects their values and the sum is paid straight to the balance.

Instant Win gives a spin with a pearl in the middle a payout even when the bonus does not start, which is a nice detail for a game with only three reels.

Reading The Paytable

All symbols pay from left to right, starting with the first reel, and only the highest win on each payline is paid. Wins are multiples of the total bet, so a Wild line at 2.5x on a 0.05 bet pays 0.125. The rules also note that a malfunction voids all pays, and that the English version of the rules prevails. For a three-reel game the paytable is short, which keeps the base game easy to follow even for beginners.

Buy And Bet

The Buy button opens a three-card menu. Each card shows a different number of gold rings, which stands for how strong the bought bonus is, and at the 0.05 bet the first option costs 2.90, which is 58 times the stake. You can change the bet from 0.05 to 50, and autoplay and turbo mode are available.

Verdict

The game does not try to be complicated. Its bonus is a quick collection round with one clear idea, where the pearl drinks up the coins, and the 5,000x cap and the Grand jackpot of 1,000x make the small grid more exciting than it looks. With medium volatility and a friendly bet range, it is a good fit for players who like short, simple rounds and for those who enjoy a 3x3 layout with a dragon train as the star.

You can try this game on 7gold Online Casino. There’s a unique casino bonus offer of 400% up to £1500 for a limited time.