Game 7 of 9 · Pragmatic Play · 2025
The Dog House – Royal Hunt Review
Crowned dogs, a Bonus respin and 10x–20x Royal wilds
Our score: 8.2/10
Quick verdict: Royal Hunt dresses the dogs up for a day at the castle and returns to the original's formula: 2x–3x wilds on the middle reels, barrel free spins and sticky wilds. Two new touches make it worth a look: a respin that nudges near-miss Bonus symbols down a row, and a 500x Royal free spins buy where every wild is worth 10x or 20x. 96.53% RTP, medium volatility, 8,000x max.
- RTP
- 96.53%96.51% for both buys
- Volatility
- MediumThe game's own rating
- Max win
- 8,000xRound ends at the cap
- Bonus buy
- 100x / 500xNormal and Royal
The game
What is The Dog House – Royal Hunt?
Royal Hunt launched on . The kennel is now gilded, the back yard has become English countryside with a castle on the hill, and the dogs have gone upmarket: a crowned Rottweiler with a monocle and a ruff, a Dachshund in tweed with a hunting rifle, a Shih Tzu in a top hat and red hunting coat, and a Pug in a top hat. The bone has become a teacup full of bones.
Underneath, it's the classic layout: 5×3, 20 paylines, the same paytable as the original and the same wild with 2x or 3x on reels 2, 3 and 4. The free spins are the original's too, barrels and sticky wilds included.
So why play it? For two features the original doesn't have: a Bonus respin in the base game, and the Royal free spins buy with 10x and 20x wilds.
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 |
| Teacup of bones | 5x | 1x | 0.4x |
| A, K | 2.5x | 0.5x | 0.25x |
| Q, J, 10 | 1.25x | 0.25x | 0.1x |
One fun reshuffle: the Dachshund gets promoted. In Royal Hunt the hunter Dachshund is the second-best symbol, paying 25x for five, and the Pug drops to fourth. The values themselves are the original's.
Base game
Wilds and the Bonus respin
The wild works exactly as in 2019: it lands only on reels 2, 3 and 4, all wilds on one reel share a random 2x or 3x on each spin, and wilds on the same line add their multipliers.
The respin
The Bonus paw lands on reels 1, 3 and 5, and three of them pay 5x and start free spins. Royal Hunt adds a second chance: at random, if the Bonus symbols on screen can each move down one row without leaving the reels, the game triggers a respin. The reels with Bonus symbols nudge down one position, and the other reels spin again.
In practice it turns some near misses into one more try: two paws sitting on the top rows, for example, get a fresh spin of the remaining reels. The rules say it happens randomly, so don't expect it every time you see two paws.
Two buy buttons
Two signs hang on the left: Buy free spins for 100x, which guarantees three Bonus symbols, and Buy Royal free spins for 500x.
Bonus round
Free spins
The normal round is the original's, with a royal look. A crowned Rottweiler turns the crank on nine golden barrels, each showing 1, 2 or 3, and the total, 9 to 27, is your number of free spins. During the round the scene changes to autumn, the reels turn purple and every wild that lands on reels 2–4 sticks with its multiplier until the end. Bonus symbols are removed, so the round can't be retriggered.
The rules don't mention a random respin during free spins; it's a base-game feature.
Premium buy
Royal free spins: the 500x buy
Royal free spins are only available as a buy, for 500x your bet. Everything works like the normal round except the wilds: in Royal free spins every wild carries a random multiplier of 10x or 20x each time it hits, instead of 2x or 3x.
The maths is straightforward to see. A single sticky 20x wild multiplies every line it touches by 20. Two of them on one line make 40x, three make 60x. That's how a round can reach the 8,000x cap. The rules list 96.51% RTP for both buys, so the Royal option isn't better value, just a much bigger swing.
500x is a lot. At a $1 bet, one Royal buy costs $500. The round still decides its own spin count with the barrels, and our test below shows it can land a single wild in 12 spins.
Tested
Our Royal round: one 20x wild
We spent $1,000 of demo credits on the Royal buy at a $2.00 bet to see the 10x–20x wilds for ourselves.
- Three Bonus paws landed and paid $10.00 (5x). Both "Feature active" signs lit up.
- The golden barrels gave us 12 free spins.
- The first spins went by without a wild, paying a few small lines.
- Around the middle of the round a 20x royal wild landed on reel 4 and stuck there until the end.
- No second wild came, and the 20x never lined up with a strong symbol.
- The round paid $26.60: 13.3x the bet, or 2.7% of the 500x price.
That's the honest downside of a premium buy. One more 20x wild on reel 2 or 3 would have turned this into a big round; without it, $1,000 bought $26.60. Read more about what our eight demo buys returned.
The maths
RTP, volatility and max win
RTP: 96.53%
The rules list 96.53% for normal play and 96.51% for both the 100x and the 500x buy. The real-money casino we checked also shows 96.53%. Pragmatic's own website quotes 96.50%, so a slightly different version may be in circulation.
Volatility: medium
Rated medium, like the original. The Royal buy is the exception in spirit: with 10x–20x wilds and a 500x price, it behaves far more wildly than the rating suggests.
Max win: 8,000x
The cap is 8,000x your bet. A round that reaches it ends immediately and forfeits any remaining spins.
Mobile
Royal Hunt on your phone
In portrait mode the castle and the logo move to the top, the gilded reels take the middle and the meadow below holds the controls. Both buy signs hang to the left of the spin button, which reads "Hold for turbo spin". The detailed costumes come through well, even on a small screen.
Our take
Pros and cons
What we like
- The original's proven formula at 96.53%
- A Bonus respin that rescues some near misses
- Royal free spins with 10x–20x wilds
- Charming royal costumes and countryside art
What we don't
- The 500x Royal buy is very expensive and very swingy
- The normal bonus is unchanged from 2019
- No retriggers in free spins
Bottom line
Our verdict: is Royal Hunt worth playing?
Our score: 8.2/10
Royal Hunt is the original Dog House with better clothes and two extra tricks. The respin is a nice touch that makes the base game a little less frustrating, and the Royal free spins give high rollers a genuinely different, high-stakes bonus.
If you play with a normal budget, it's essentially a well-dressed original at a fine RTP. If you're tempted by the Royal buy, remember our test: one 20x wild in 12 spins, and 97% of the price gone.
- Gameplay
8 out of 10 8- Features
8 out of 10 8- RTP and maths
9 out of 10 9- Win potential
8 out of 10 8- Looks and sound
9 out of 10 9
Quick answers
Royal Hunt FAQ
What are Royal free spins?
A free spins round you can only buy, for 500x your bet, in which every wild carries a 10x or 20x multiplier instead of 2x or 3x.
What does the Bonus respin do?
At random, when Bonus symbols can drop one row and stay on the reels, those reels nudge down and the others spin again, giving you another chance at the third Bonus.
What is the max win in Royal Hunt?
8,000x your bet.