NJ Online Slot of the Week: 88 Fortunes

On the hunt for a potentially life-changing slot experience to spice up your weekend? Our slot of the week, 88 Fortunes, may be just what you’re looking for, with not one, but four jackpots waiting to be won!

Join us as we explore the unique, randomly-triggered Fu Bat Jackpot Feature, the higher value win potential of the Free Games Feature, and how much you can expect to win playing this slot.

The Basics

88 Fortunes is a fascinating and unique Chinese wealth-themed slot that features five reels, 243 ways to win, and four randomly triggered jackpots. The game was launched in the summer of 2016 by well-known developer Scientific Games and has since become one of the most popular online slots in New Jersey.

Several aspects of the game combine to make it both unique and rewarding to play. Instead of paylines, you have the 243-ways mechanic, which pays out for three or more matching symbols in any order along consecutive reels. Opting to turn up to five symbols into gold versions determines which of the game’s four jackpots you could win, giving you more control over your gameplay experience and payout potential. Choosing the maximum of five gold symbols costs an extra 88 credits, which is where the slot gets its name.

First Impressions

When you first open 88 Fortunes, you’ll be treated to an elaborately designed red and gold reel set, with the slot’s five reels, each of which holds three symbols, placed in the center. Directly above the reels you’ll find two very cheerful looking characters holding red banners on either side of a slightly open coin-filled pot.

To the left of the reels is the best place to start as this is where you can choose how many of the five selected symbols to turn to gold versions for an increase in stake. Clicking on any of the five options adjusts the available jackpots, which are displayed to the right of the reels. As you’ll discover, the more gold symbols you play with, the more of those four jackpots will be available to trigger. Right above those five gold symbols options is a small section called Active Symbols that shows you which of the five symbols are currently gold versions and which are in the original design for easy reference.

88 Fortunes has a very cheery feel to it, not least due to the upbeat music, which features a happy, tinkly tune played on Chinese guitar and xylophone, with various symbol crashes and crescendos filling out the soundtrack. It’s certainly an enjoyable little tune to listen to that works well together with the Chinese luck theme, putting a smile on your face before you’ve even spun the reels!

Symbols

As mentioned above, there are five symbols in 88 Fortunes that can appear in either their original multicolor design or entirely gold, depending on Active Symbols selection. These are the ornate fish in water, the Chinese junk ship, the tortoise, the pot, and the coin, the latter of which is always gold by default. Note that the gold version of each of these symbols pays out much more than the original design. With only the gold coin as the gold symbol, it is the highest paying, but as you choose more gold symbols, they become much more valuable.

In addition to these symbols, you’ll also find 9, 10, J, K, Q, and A card value symbols on the reels, which all offer the same payouts. The highest value symbol in the game is the gong, which also triggers this slot’s free spins feature.

The other significant symbol is the Fu Bat, which is the game’s wild and only appears on the middle three reels. Interestingly, if you take a closer look at this particular symbol, you’ll notice it’s made up of four red and gold bats surrounding four gold coins. Why bats? In Chinese, “fu” can mean both “bat” and “prosperity and good fortune”, and as a result, the bat is regarded as a symbol of good luck. Indeed, the Fu Bat symbol has wealth-imparting powers in this slot, which we’ll go into shortly.

88 Fortunes Features

88 Fortunes offers two main features: the Fu Bat Jackpot Feature, which is your route to serious riches, and the Free Games Feature, which skips the lower value symbols for increased chances of winning and can also be retriggered. Let’s check out each of these features in turn.

Fu Bat Jackpot Feature

Undoubtedly the biggest draw of 88 Fortunes, the Fu Bat Jackpot Feature is what can trigger the game’s four jackpots: Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. This is where those Active Symbols come into play, with your choice determining how many of those jackpots are available to win:

Gold Symbols Played	Mini Jackpot	Minor Jackpot	Major Jackpot	Grand Jackpot
1	–	–	–	–
2	Yes	–	–	–
3	Yes	Yes	–	–
4	Yes	Yes	Yes	–
5	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

As you can see, playing just one gold symbol means all jackpots are locked, but you stand to win any of the four jackets by playing all five gold symbols.

So how do you trigger those jackpot payouts? The wealth-imparting symbol here is the Fu Bat wild. Each time you land one of those wild symbols in a winning line, you’ll see a bunch of coins emerge from the wild and float up to that ajar pot above the reels, slowly filling it up. You can probably just make out the coins floating over the top left K symbol in the image above.

Every time this happens you stand a chance of randomly triggering the Fu Bat Jackpot Feature in which you’ll get to choose three of the 12 displayed coins. Reveal three matching jackpot symbols and you’ll win the corresponding jackpot amount!

Free Games Feature

As if the potential to win one of four jackpots wasn’t enough, 88 Fortunes also offers a Free Games Feature that can be triggered by finding three or more gong symbols on consecutive reels starting from the leftmost — that’s right, unlike other slots, the feature-triggering symbol here is not a scatter symbol.

When you do manage to line up those gong symbols, you’ll be treated to 10 free spins on a different reel set on which only the higher value symbols will appear — that is, the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A symbols will not feature.

What’s great about the Free Games Feature is not only can you trigger more free spins from within it by lining up those three gongs again (which we did on our first free spin in the example above, hence the 18 free spins remaining!), you can also trigger the Fu Bat Jackpot Feature too!

88 Fortunes Payouts

So how much can you expect to win playing this game? Your payouts are based on a multiplier of your bet per spin (including the extra credits played in the case of the selected gold symbols and the gong) and depend on what symbols you line up and how many of them you get.

Here are the 88 Fortunes symbol payouts:

Symbol	3x	4x	5x
9, 10, J, Q, K, A	5x bet	10x bet	50x bet
Original design pot, tortoise, junk, and fish	5x bet	10x bet	50x bet
Gold coin	10x bet	20x bet	100x bet
Gold pot	25x bet	50x bet	250x bet
Gold tortoise	40x bet	80x bet	400x bet
Gold junk	50x bet	100x bet	500x bet
Gold fish	100x bet	200x bet	1,000x bet
Gong (depending on gold symbols played)	40x to 440x bet	80x to 880x bet	400x to 4,400x bet

What about those four jackpots? As mentioned before, the number of gold symbols you play determines which of the jackpots you’ll be eligible to win, with all five gold symbols unlocking all four of the jackpots.

Here’s what each of the 88 Fortunes jackpots pay out:

Jackpot	Payout
Mini	2,000x bet
Minor	3,750x bet
Major	75,000x bet
Grand	200,000x bet

Plus, don’t forget about the increased chances of scooping a higher value win in the Free Games Feature!

88 Fortunes RTP and Volatility

So how does 88 Fortunes compare to other slots in terms of its payout potential and frequency? The commonly used metrics for this purpose are the Return to Player (RTP) and Volatility or Variance.

The Return to Player of a slot is a percentage of the total amount played that is expected to be paid out to players over the long term. You can think of it as the opposite of the house edge. In the case of 88 Fortunes, the theoretical RTP is stated as 96%, which is about average for the industry.

The volatility of a slot is a measurement of the balance between smaller, frequent wins and larger, less frequent wins. 88 Fortunes’ volatility is ranked as High, meaning you’ll likely encounter fewer smaller wins, with the game tending towards larger, less frequent payouts. That’s great news for those looking for life-changing win-potential!

Find Your 88 Fortunes!

88 Fortunes is a rare treat that manages to combine the Chinese wealth theme with some unique features and mechanics, resulting in fantastic appeal and big win potential. This slot will have you watching the reels for those free spins-triggering gong symbols, but you’ll also be checking in with that pot directly above the reels, monitoring it as each Fu Bat wild appearance slowly fills it with coins, and wondering when it’ll pop for the benefit of your pocket! And all this to a truly enjoyable and happy soundtrack.

88 Fortunes is a very popular slot at the top New Jersey online casinos, with Golden Nugget, Virgin Casino, SugarHouse, Unibet Casino, and Pala Casino among the many that host the game.

Looking for the best place to play 88 Fortunes? Simply check out our in-depth reviews of the featured New Jersey online casinos above, join the one that best suits you, then play 88 Fortunes for your chance to win!