The qilin is the gentle, scaled creature of Chinese legend that appears only in times of peace, and PG Soft built a jade temple around it in May 2021. Ways of the Qilin uses a 6x6 board with tall tiles, so the number of ways changes on every spin, between 576 and 46,656. Framed symbols turn into wilds as they keep winning, and the free spins are unusual: the scatters that trigger them flip over and decide how many spins you get and how fast the multiplier grows. I played the demo below at 60.00 a spin and followed one spin through three cascades to a 405.00 Big Win.
United States
Ways of the Qilin available at Cafe Casino
Same game, real money
Cafe Casino runs the same Ways of the Qilin with the same math and adds a welcome bonus for players from the United States:
300% up to $2,000 + 150 FS 18+ · T&Cs apply · the demo stays freeA board that recounts its ways every spin
There are six reels of six rows. On reels two to five a symbol can be two, three or four spaces tall, and a tall symbol counts as one when the ways are worked out. The plaque above the reels multiplies the number of symbols on each reel.
The opening screen reads 7776 WAYS and already shows the cast: five dragon wilds, three scatters with the qilin statue, and tall tiles in silver and gold frames on reels two and five. The range follows from the same count: 6 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 6 = 576 with every middle reel at its tallest, 6 to the sixth power, 46,656, with every space holding its own symbol. The dragon wild lands only on reels two to five and substitutes for everything except the scatter.
One spin, three rounds, 405.00
My stake was 0.30 x 10 x 20 = 60.00, so each paytable point was worth 0.30 x 10 = 3.00. The first round, on a board of 5184 ways, paid 93.00.
Money bags reached all six reels: one on reel one, two tall bags on reel two, the wild on reel three, and one bag each on reels four, five and six. That is 1 x 2 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 = 2 ways of six, at 15 points each, 30 points. Three queens through the same wild added one way at 1 point. 31 points x 3.00 = 93.00.
The winners exploded and the symbols above fell into place. The second round paid 306.00, or 102 points, with green bursts marking the symbols being cleared, too many at once to count from the screenshot.
The third round was small and easy to read: two jacks on reel one and one each on reels two and three, 2 x 1 x 1 = 2 ways of three, 2 points, or 6.00.
The plaque reads 10368 WAYS for that board, which checks out: 6, 6, 4, 4, 3 and 6 symbols on the six reels. 93.00 + 306.00 + 6.00 = 405.00, and the game called it a Big Win, 6.75 times the stake.
No multiplier was involved. The base game has none; a spin like this is simply a long cascade over a board with a lot of ways.
Wilds-on-the-Way: silver, gold, then wilds
Tall tiles on reels two to five can carry a silver frame. A silver-framed symbol that takes part in a win turns into a random gold-framed symbol after the cascade, and a gold-framed symbol that wins again breaks into two to four wilds, one for every space it covered.
The rules illustration shows three dragons stacked on reel five, the kind of column a three-space gold tile leaves behind. Three wilds stacked on one reel multiply the ways of every symbol that reaches them. The board, the frames and even the shape of the paytable are the same as in Leprechaun Riches, PG Soft's 2019 game on this engine; the free spins are where the two part ways.
Free spins: the scatters choose the rules
Four or more scatters anywhere trigger the feature. Before it starts, every scatter on the board flips over and reveals +1 spin, +2 spins, +3 spins or x1. The round starts at 5 free spins plus whatever the spin tiles add, and the multiplier increment starts at 1, plus one for every x1 tile.
The win multiplier starts at x1. After every round that wins during a free spin, it goes up by the increment, so with an increment of 2 it runs x1, x3, x5 and so on. The rules mention no reset between free spins.
The rules picture shows four scatters revealing +2 spins, x1, +1 spin and +2 spins. That would be a round of 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 10 free spins with an increment of 2. There is a second way to extend a round: +1 Spin symbols can land during free spins, and each one adds a spin at the end of that spin. The trade-off is built into the reveal: a scatter that turns into x1 gives you a faster multiplier instead of more spins.
Paytable per way
Paytable values are multiplied by bet size and bet level, and a spin costs 20 times that product, so dividing by 20 gives one way against the stake.
The golden toad tops the table, and six of them on a single way are 4x the stake. The money bag, worth 0.75x for six, was enough to pay 93.00 in my spin because it found two ways across all six reels:
| Symbol | 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 of a kind | 6 of a kind vs stake, per way |
|---|---|---|
| Golden toad | 30 / 40 / 50 / 80 | 4x |
| Junk ship | 20 / 25 / 30 / 50 | 2.5x |
| Treasure pot | 10 / 25 / 30 / 40 | 2x |
| Lucky cabbage | 8 / 15 / 20 / 30 | 1.5x |
| Money bag, coin charm | 6 / 10 / 12 / 15 | 0.75x |
| A, K | 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 | 0.5x |
| Q, J, 10 | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | 0.2x |
Ways of the Qilin by the numbers
PG Soft's game page lists a 96.69% RTP and an 80,000x maximum win, and dates the game to May 2021. I found no public information sheet for it, so there is no simulated maximum or published volatility here. On this site it shares its board with Leprechaun Riches and, with a top row added, Lucky Neko:
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Provider | PG Soft |
| Released | May 2021 |
| Board | 6 x 6, tall tiles of 2 to 4 spaces on reels 2-5 |
| Ways | 576 to 46,656 (base bet 20) |
| Wilds-on-the-Way | Silver, then gold, then 2 to 4 wilds |
| Free spins | 4+ scatters; 5 spins plus revealed +1/+2/+3, increment 1 plus revealed x1 |
| Free spins multiplier | Starts at x1, rises by the increment after every winning round |
| RTP | 96.69% |
| Max win | 80,000x |
| Bet in the demo | 0.60 to 180 per spin |
Bet: 0.60 to 180 in the demo
The demo opens at 12.00. The Bet Options panel multiplies a bet size, a bet level from 1 to 10 and the base bet of 20; my session ran at 0.30 x 10 x 20 = 60.00.
Bet sizes run from 0.03 to 0.90, so a spin costs from 0.60 (0.03 x 1 x 20) to 180.00 (0.90 x 10 x 20). Real-money limits depend on the casino and the currency, as for all PG Soft demo slots here.
Ways of the Qilin demo: FAQ
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How many ways does Ways of the Qilin have?
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What is Wilds-on-the-Way?
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Verdict
Ways of the Qilin takes a proven PG Soft engine, tall tiles, shifting ways and frames that turn into wilds, and adds a free spins round with a bit of suspense at the start: you watch the scatters flip and find out whether you got spins, multiplier speed or both. The base game pays through long cascades, as my three-round 405.00 showed. If you already like Leprechaun Riches, try the demo for the free spins; that is where this qilin earns its place.