Game 5 of 9 · Pragmatic Play · 2024
The Dog House – Dog or Alive Review
Wild West dogs, doubling wilds and 10,000x
Our score: 8.5/10
Quick verdict: Dog or Alive sends the gang to a frontier town and adds one brilliant rule to the classic bonus: when the 3rd, 6th and 9th wild lands in free spins, you get 3 extra spins and every wild multiplier on screen doubles. A 2x sheriff star can become 4x, then 8x, then 16x. It's the first high-volatility game in the series, with a 10,000x cap, a 100x buy and a 96.52% RTP.
- RTP
- 96.52%96.54% with the buy
- Volatility
- HighA first for the series
- Max win
- 10,000xBase game and bonus
- Bonus buy
- 100xYour total bet
The game
What is The Dog House – Dog or Alive?
Released on , Dog or Alive was the first Dog House game to change the setting completely. The reels hang in a wooden frame on the main street of a dusty Western town, with saloons and water towers in the background and a cigar-chewing Rottweiler sheriff watching from the right.
Everyone is in costume. The Rottweiler wears a sheriff's hat, the Shih Tzu is a cowgirl, the Pug has a bandana and the Dachshund a cowboy hat. The collar carries a sheriff's badge, the bone has bullet holes, the wild is a gold sheriff's star and the Bonus symbol is a safe full of gold coins.
The base game is the original 5×3, 20-line layout with the same paytable. The difference is all in the free spins, and in the volatility: the rules rate Dog or Alive high, the first game in the series to say so.
Paytable
Symbols and paytable
| Symbols | 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 37.5x | 7.5x | 2.5x |
 | 25x | 5x | 1.75x |
 | 15x | 3x | 1.25x |
 | 10x | 2x | 1x |
| Collar | 7.5x | 1.25x | 0.6x |
| Bone | 5x | 1x | 0.4x |
| A, K | 2.5x | 0.5x | 0.25x |
| Q, J, 10 | 1.25x | 0.25x | 0.1x |
The values are identical to the 2019 original, just with Western costumes. Three safes, which only land on reels 1, 3 and 5, pay 5x your bet and start free spins.
Base game
Sheriff star wilds
The sheriff's star is wild on reels 2, 3 and 4. Every time it lands, it carries a random x2 or x3 multiplier that applies to every win it's part of. Several stars on one line add their multipliers together, as in the original.
One small change from the original: here each star gets its own multiplier when it hits, rather than all wilds on a reel sharing one.
Bonus buy
A parchment sign on the left offers free spins for 100x your bet. The rules list a 96.54% RTP for the buy, a touch above the 96.52% for normal play.
Bonus round
Free spins and doubling wilds
The round starts the classic way: a 3×3 grid of barrels, here set in a wooden frame, reveals 1, 2 or 3 spins each, for 9 to 27 free spins in total. During the round, every sheriff star that lands on reels 2–4 sticks with its multiplier until the end.
Then comes the new rule. A sign on the left, Retrigger in, counts the wilds that have landed. When the 3rd, 6th and 9th wild hit:
- you get 3 extra free spins, and
- the multiplier of every wild on screen doubles.
Because the doubling applies to the stars already stuck on the reels, the multipliers compound. A star that started at x2 becomes x4 at the third wild, x8 at the sixth and x16 at the ninth. With three or four stars on one line, those numbers are added together, which is where the 10,000x cap comes within reach.
Tested
Our demo round: three wilds, x4 each
We bought the bonus for 100x in the demo at a $2.00 bet ($200 in virtual credits). It turned into the best return of all nine of our test rounds.
- Three safes paid $10.00 (5x the bet), and the barrels came up with 10 free spins.
- The first x2 star stuck on reel 4. The Retrigger in counter started filling.
- Two more x2 stars landed by spin 8. The third wild triggered the rule: +3 spins (13 in total) and all three stars doubled to x4.
- With x4 stars on reels 2 and 4, even short lines paid well. The last spin was the biggest of the round.
- The round ended at $148.20 from 13 spins: 74.1x the bet, including the safe pay.
The maths
RTP, volatility and max win
RTP: 96.52% (96.54% with the buy)
That's what the demo's rules say, and the real-money casino we checked matched it. Oddly, Pragmatic Play's own game page lists 96.08%, so a lower version probably exists. The in-game rules always show the version you're on, so check them before you play.
Volatility: high
The rules spell it out: high-volatility games pay out less often on average, but the chance of a big win in a short time is higher. The doubling rule explains why: rounds where you reach 6 or 9 wilds are rare and huge, and the rest are small.
Max win: 10,000x
The cap applies to the base game and the bonus. A round that reaches 10,000x ends at once and the remaining spins are lost.
Family resemblance
Dog or Alive vs the original
What changed from The Dog House
- A Wild West setting with costumed dogs, star wilds and safe Bonus symbols.
- The 3rd, 6th and 9th wilds in free spins add 3 spins and double every wild multiplier.
- Free spins can be extended, which the original never allowed.
- High instead of medium volatility.
- A 100x bonus buy, and a 10,000x cap instead of 6,750x.
If you've played the original and wished its bonus had a second gear, this is it. The later Royal Hunt goes back to medium volatility, while The Big Dog House chases the same thrill with giant wilds instead.
Mobile
Dog or Alive on your phone
The portrait layout moves the sheriff Rottweiler above the reels, next to the logo, and puts the parchment buy sign and the spin button on the street below. The costumes and the star multipliers are big enough to read at a glance.
The bottom bar is the usual Pragmatic set: rules, autoplay, turbo, bet and menu.
Our take
Pros and cons
What we like
- Doubling wilds give free spins a real climax
- Extra spins at the 3rd, 6th and 9th wild
- The best-looking theme in the series
- 10,000x cap and a 100x buy
- 96.52% RTP in the demo and at the casino we checked
What we don't
- High volatility: many rounds stall before the doubling
- A lower 96.08% version seems to exist
- The base game is unchanged from 2019
Bottom line
Our verdict: is Dog or Alive worth playing?
Our score: 8.5/10
Yes. Dog or Alive takes the original's bonus and gives it a goal: reach the next three wilds. Every star you land moves the counter, and the moment all your multipliers double is the best "almost there" tension in the series. Our round hit the first doubling and paid 74x; hit the second and third, and the numbers get silly fast.
Just respect the high volatility. Plenty of rounds will end with one or two wilds and no doubling at all, so size your bets for that.
- Gameplay
9 out of 10 9- Features
9 out of 10 9- RTP and maths
8 out of 10 8- Win potential
8 out of 10 8- Looks and sound
9 out of 10 9
Quick answers
Dog or Alive FAQ
How do the wild multipliers double?
In free spins, when the 3rd, 6th and 9th wild land, every wild on screen doubles its multiplier and you get 3 more spins.
Is Dog or Alive high volatility?
Yes, the in-game rules rate it high, unlike the medium-volatility original.
What is the max win?
10,000x your bet, in the base game or the bonus.
What RTP does Dog or Alive have?
96.52% in the demo and at the casino we checked, 96.54% for the buy. Pragmatic's website lists a 96.08% version, so check your casino's rules.