🎰 Happy Lantern Lightning Link Review + Online Alternatives

Happy Lantern was one of the early Lightning Link pokies to go live across land-based casinos with Aristocrat machines. The game joined the Lightning Link line-up presenting the power of the Asian thematic. It’s not only its theme that attracts gamblers to bet real money on it, it is also the combination of special features it provides.

The Hold & Spin mechanic is irreplaceable. However, it makes up for a portion of the game’s overall appeal. Its remaining advantages include a pick-me feature and a Free Games round. Of course, the jackpots contribute to Happy Lantern’s attractiveness, without a doubt.

As you can deduce from the titles, the lanterns in this game are happy – they are practically dancing in the background. Why? Well, because luck is on your side and you are about to win a big payout. Most of Asian beliefs do revolve around summoning good fortune and prosperity. A bit of that is incorporated in Happy Lantern, too.

It is safe to assume that the main celebration here is the Chinese New Year. The symbols range from firecrackers and red envelopes to lucky cats and dancing lion masks. The Wild is some sort of deity or nobleperson, appearing on every reel but the first one from the left. There are 5 reels in the game, each with 3 rows of symbols. The number of win lines can be 50 or 25.

Happy Lantern is one of the two pokies in the Lightning Link series to offer a unique picking game (the other one being Sahara Gold). To kick-start this pick-me feature, you need to collect at least 3 Scatters (represented by the lion mask).

Two animated lions will start dancing, and you must choose one to reveal your bonus. You can either enter the Free Spin game with additional Wilds (number randomly awarded) or trigger Hold & Spin. This feature is called Golden Palace.

If you choose the Free Games bonus, you can count on 6, 9 or 15 free spins. These come with 25, 100 or 200 extra Wilds. Alternatively, you may enter the Hold & Spin round, which can also be activated the traditional way – by landing 6+ of the special symbols (in this case, the golden lantern).

Once the Hold & Spin is triggered, you get to play 3 games for free. Only the golden lantern symbols appear and you must collect as many as you can to benefit from the feature. Cash prizes are awarded when the round ends. The good this is, each time you hit more lanterns, the spins restart and you get another set of 3 to play through.

Fill in the entire board with special icons and the main progressive jackpot is yours. Apart from the Grand, Happy Lantern offers Major, Minor and Mini Jackpots. These require that you collect their matching symbols during Hold & Spin.

Happy Lantern Lightning Link is unavailable for online play, which drove us to conduct a search of suitable online pokies just like it. Until we get an exact equivalent from Aristocrat, check out these video slots from other providers we find to be notably similar. They sport an Asian theme and offer you a chance to enhance the gameplay through special features, just like Happy Lantern.