Nian Nian You Yu on ACE333: A 9-Line New Year Slot With a Koi Wild

Nian Nian You Yu (年年有余) is the New Year greeting that wishes you "surplus every year", and the fish in the phrase is why the Wild in this ACE333 slot is a red koi. The game itself is plain: five reels, three rows, nine lines, and a festive screen that looks like a restaurant table on the first day of Chinese New Year.

What is on the reels

The background is a temple roof with lanterns hanging down the sides. The line markers (4, 6, 2, 8, 1, 9, 3, 7, 5) run down both edges, which tells you there are nine paylines.

The symbols are all food and decorations:

• Wild: a koi on a red tile with "WILD" written across it.
• Scatter: the four gold characters 年年有余 on a blue tile, labelled SCATTER.
• Picture symbols: the dragon head, the lion dance head, a string of firecrackers, red lanterns, red packets (angpow), a basket of mandarin oranges and the 福 diamond.
• Food and flowers: a bamboo basket of steamed buns, a plate of dumplings with chilli dip, and a sprig of plum blossom.

There are no card ranks at all, which makes the screen busy. It takes a few spins before you stop mistaking the buns for the dumplings.

Scatters, Dollar Ball and the meters

Two Scatters on the first three reels come up often in the screenshots, but none of the spins shown lands the third one, so the free-game screen is not pictured. Treat any claim about the bonus round's size with suspicion until you see it yourself.

Above the reels are three meters: Major, Random and Minor. The Random meter sits around 34,980 and creeps up by a few cents each spin; Major and Minor jump around far more between shots. A red "Progressive Jackpot" ticker also scrolls across the title bar.

Top left is the Dollar Ball badge marked ENABLE. In the Playtech games this lobby is built on, Dollar Ball is a separate side bet where you pick numbers and win if the drawn balls match. It costs extra on top of your spin, so check whether it is switched on before you start.

The bet panel

The bottom bar has Current Balance, Lines with minus and plus, Bet with minus and plus, Win, then Auto Start and Spin (which turns into Stop while the reels move). In every screenshot the player is on 1 line at 0.01, and the balance drops a cent a spin from 26.55.

One line is the cheapest way to watch the game, but it also means most wins on the other eight lines are not paid. If you want the reels to count, set all 9 lines and keep the per-line bet at the minimum.

Who it suits

This is a slot for a short festive session, not a long grind. It is simple enough to learn in five spins and it looks good during the Chinese New Year weeks. If you like the theme, Zao Chai Jin Bao is another red-and-gold title in the same lobby, and the ACE333 guide covers the app itself. You need an ACE333 login to play, so get a game ID first.