Sun Wukong Slot by Playtech

The Monkey King emblem pulls double duty. It's the wild, covering everything except the peach, and it carries a built-in x2 that doubles any line it helps complete, base game and free spins alike. It's also the top symbol on the paytable, so a full row of Monkey Kings is the biggest line pay on offer and, since wilds are filling it, one that usually lands already doubled. Most Playtech lines slots save their multiplier for a bonus round. This one attaches it to every spin the wild drops into a win.

The peach of immortality is the scatter, and it pays from wherever it lands rather than along a line, so even two of them return something on a spin that would otherwise die. Three or more do more than start the free games. You get to pick from three different free-spin rounds, each built its own way, with a separate bonus option alongside them. Getting that choice at all is unusual for a lines slot of its age, and it's the real reason to keep the peaches coming.

A network progressive hangs over all of it. It can hit at random on any spin, and your stake has no bearing on whether it lands. Play for free and that prize stays switched off, funded only by real-money bets across Playtech's pooled network, so it's the one piece you can't put to the test here.

The setting is bright and open, which is not how most Chinese-mythology slots look. The reels rest on a cream scroll high among sunlit brown peaks, green forested slopes and a stone bridge crossing below, a red pagoda sign holding the gold logo up top. The pilgrims of Journey to the West take the premium spots: the saffron-robed monk in a golden crown, a white flame-maned dragon-horse, a bearded armoured warrior and a grinning blue-robed Pigsy, sitting above gold-outlined card royals in red, orange, green, blue and purple.