Play The Dog House – Dog or Alive Slot Machine Free & Comprehensive Review

Introduction

Slots with a Western theme are some of my favourites at casino sites. I loved cowboy films when I was a kid with Gary Cooper and John Wayne being my favorite actors. So whenever I can I always want to try some Wild West slot and see how fortune favors me. I’m also a big fan of Pragmatic Play slots, especially the Dog House. So you can imagine my joy when I saw that they released a new western slot, The Dog House – Dog or Alive. As you can guess this is a remake of the original Dog House slot, so I just had to give it a try.

The Dog House – Dog or Alive has everything you would expect from a modern game. The visuals are on a top level, the bonus feature is exciting and the potential for big wins is certainly there. This slot follows the same design and bonus features as the original but comes with a few extra surprises. With a top payout of 10,000x, The Dog House – Dog or Alive is most definitely a game worth playing.

The Dog House – Dog or Alive Slot Payouts: RTP% & Volatility

Game Payouts	Details
Games RTP*	96.52%
Buy Bonus RTP	96.54%
Using Ante Bet RTP	n/a
Maximum Multiplier Win:	10,000x Bet
Highest-paying symbol Bulldog	2.5-37.5x Bet
Max exposure**	2,400,000.00
Volatility***	High

* RTP (Return to Player) is the percentage of all wagered money a slot game will pay back to players over time.
**Max exposure - is the maximum amount you can win from a single spin.
*** Slots volatility is how big and how often you win. High volatility = big wins, but wait longer. Low volatility = frequent wins, but smaller payoffs.

The Dog House – Dog or Alive Payout Rating 9/10 (see how we rate slots)

How to Win: Understanding Different Options and RTP

The RTP value in The Dog House – Dog or Alive is set at 96.52%. This is a over the industry standard of 96%, so we can say that the RTP is favorable. The slot also comes with a bonus buy option. Here you can expect a bit of an increase in the RTP at 96.54%. For some players with bigger bankrolls, this can be the encouragement they need to spend a little more on the bonus buys and get some better returns.

As for the volatility, it’s expectedly high. But this is the case with most Pragmatic Play slots, with a high payout potential. To get those big wins you have to be willing to take the risk as well.

How to Play The Dog House – Dog or Alive

The design of The Dog House – Dog or Alive is identical to the original. You are greeted by 20 fixed paylines that stretch across 5 reels and 3 rows. The bets can go from only $0.20 all the way up to the maximum of $240 per spin. Set the bet and hit the Spin button to play The Dog House – Dog or Alive or you can use the Auto Play option.

A Decade of Playing Slots

Over the years I’ve seen many great slots get sequels and many times the sequels end up being even better than the original. I think this is the case with The Dog House – Dog or Alive. The game is virtually the same as the original, but there are a few added details which make it more attractive, at least for me. You will need to try both games and decide which one you like better.

My Own Experience Playing The Dog House – Dog or Alive

The Dog House was one of my favourite slots when I first started playing Pragmatic Play slots. The wins I had in that game were massive, although I did suffer some heavy losses when I was stubborn chasing a big payout. So naturally I just had to give The Dog House – Dog or Alive when I came across it.

Since this is a new slot I have mixed results. At times it seems the volatility is ultra-high, making it impossible to land a bonus round and hit a good payout. But other times I would land a feature in the first 50 spins and hit at least 200x. This is a decent payout for a bonus round that lands so fast. My top win so far is about 700x, but it came after a few disappointing bonus buys, so the actual profit is much lower. I will have to test The Dog House – Dog or Alive more to see if it’s the right slot for me or not.

Bonus Features

From the special symbols in The Dog House – Dog or Alive, we have the Sheriff Badge. It can land only on reels 2, 3 and 4 in any position. The Wild replaces all symbols, except the bonus. It will also come with a random win multiplier attached of x2 or x3. The multiplier applies to any win the wild is a part of. You can have more than one wild contributing to a payout. In this case, the multipliers are added together and count as one total multiplier.

Free Spins Bonus

The bonus symbol in The Dog House – Dog or Alive is the Vault. It can land on any position on reels 1, 3 and 5 only. When this happens you are awarded a payout of 5x and you trigger the free spins bonus. Before the actual bonus starts the sheriff shoots at 9 barrels and each one reveals a random number of free spins. Each barrel can reveal 1 to 3 free spins. This means the lowest number of free spins you can get is 9, while the highest is 27.

As the feature progresses every wild that lands on the 3 central reels becomes sticky and is held in position for the entire bonus. So far this is the same feature as in the original slot. But here’s the twist. Each time you get 3, 6 or 9 wilds on the screen you get an additional 3 free spins. So you can get a maximum of 9 extra free spins during the feature. At the same time, the multipliers on the wilds that are on the reels doubles in size.

You will surely agree that these details make the bonus round in The Dog House – Dog or Alive much more attractive than in the original. You can easily see how this game can produce some massive payouts on the reels.

If you are an impatient player like me and want to instantly trigger the bonus round simply hit the Buy Free Spins button. The feature is instantly available at a cost of 100x.

Comparison with Other slots

I don’t think any other comparison is needed on The Dog House – Dog or Alive than with the original The Dog House slot. The two games are the most similar, so you can give them both a try and see which one suits your needs the best. If you want to try some other similar slots you can go for the The Dog House Megaways version.

Benefits and Drawbacks

I can’t really see any drawbacks with The Dog House – Dog or Alive other than the high volatility. The wilds tend to land less in the feature, but this is expected considering how the bonus works. But if the game decides to pay big you are sure to see a big number of wilds on the screen, extra free spins and bigger win multipliers.

Useful Game Stats from Pragmatic Play

• Base game hit frequency 1 in 4 spins
• Free spins hit frequency 1 in 217 spins
• Odds for > x1000.00 hit frequency 1 in 19490 spins
• Max win hit frequency 1 in 32258065 spins

Our Conclusion

I think The Dog House – Dog or Alive will certainly be a popular name in the Pragmatic Play portfolio. The slot already has a popular design and bonus round thanks to the original. The designers just made it better by adding the option to win extra free spins in the bonus and double the size of the multipliers. So I think we are soon bound to see that max wins on the reels of The Dog House – Dog or Alive. If you want to try the game for free you can do so here on our site. If you decide to play for real money visit any of our recommended money online casinos and give it a try.

Author: Nicky Smith

I love slot machines, play and test slots nearly daily, and have done for over ten years.  read about me here.