ANOTHER Chinese themed slot from Aristocrat? Yup, that's right. Only this one has a lower jackpot than 5 Dragons and Choy Sun Doa, so why would anyone want to play it?

We'll answer that question below, but the short version is that it has a free spins bonus round that you have to see to believe...

The number 8 is very significant in China. In fact, the personalised car numberplate bearing the number 8 has previously sold for hundreds of thousands of AUD there. The 2008 Olympics opened in Beijing on 8/8/08 at 8pm. 88 appears in Chinese restaurant names around the world.

We could go on, but we think you get the picture – the use of the number 88 in the title of this slot is supposed to invoke the idea that its players will get lucky. And, of course, that's absolutely true for those who do hit the jackpot.

Reel icons are your traditional Chinese fare, including lions, a pagoda, lanterns, cranes and a man with a Fu Manchu moustache. They all look nice enough, and it's good to see a change from the gold coins and red envelopes featured in virtually every other Chinese themed slot.

There's no background music, but some traditional Chinese lute tunes kick in during wins and in the bonus round.

With 25 ways to win and a relatively modest jackpot, you wouldn't think that Lucky 88 would feel like a particularly volatile title. However, based on our experience, it seems like it is.

Sometimes we've played several spins without a single win, but other times we've doubled our starting bankroll on just our second or third spin. But we suppose that's all down to the luck of the draw.

It might take you a while to reach it, but the free spins bonus round is one aspect of Lucky 88 that players are sure to love. Players can choose 3, 10 or 20 free games with different multipliers attached to wilds. If you go for the smallest number of free spins and land a win involving a wild, a multiplier worth either 18 or 88 will be triggered.

Until you reach the bonus round, it's possible to gamble your winnings in an attempt to double them (by guessing the colour of a random card correctly) or quadruple them (by predicting its suit).

You don't have to be a slots pro to realise that 88x is a HUGE multiplier that can make an enormous difference to the value of your wins during the free spins bonus round.

The only trouble is that getting there can take quite some time. If you start out by betting too high, you might find yourself putting a serious dent in your bankroll before you even get to try it. There's another bonus round that awards cash for rolling 8s in a lucky dice game, but this mini-game doesn't come around all that often either.

If you want to try playing Lucky 88 for yourself, and we recommend that you do if you're a fan of risky bonus rounds with practically unheard of multipliers, take it for a test drive in free spin mode first to determine what sort of level you should be betting at.

Yet another Chinese slots title, Lucky 88 differs from 5 Dragons and Choy Sun Doa in that it has 25 paylines instead of 243 ways to win. It's a volatile slot but the huge maximum multiplier of 88x, only ever available for one spin at a time, means that when you get lucky in this game you get VERY lucky. You may find yourself playing for a while before you trigger a bonus round, but the attractive visuals and pleasant Chinese sound effects mean that a lengthy session playing Lucky 88 is no hardship. It's just a shame that the maximum standard jackpot is a bit on the low side.