DJ Dog win lines: ten of them, fixed, over ten positions
10 is the one number on this game that everybody agrees on — the studio’s specification, two catalogue entries, a British review and the screen itself. What is less obvious is where the lines are marked and what being fixed does to the figure you set.
The screenTen lines
What a payline is, and what one is here
A payline is a route across the grid. Matching symbols that land on the positions that route passes through make a win; the same symbols scattered off the route do not. That is the general idea and it is the same on every game with lines.
What is specific here is the length. Three columns means a route is three positions long, so a line is either complete or it is nothing. There is no two-of-a-kind consolation, no four-symbol near-miss on a five-column grid, and nothing to squint at. Lines run left to right from the leftmost column, so the left column is part of every line win there is.
How many lines should you play? The question does not apply
On a game with selectable lines that is a real decision: fewer lines, fewer routes, smaller cost per spin. Here there is no such control. All 10 lines are fixed and permanently live, and the stepper at the bottom of the screen sets one figure — the total for the round — rather than an amount per line.
That is worth being clear about because the per-line habit misleads people in both directions. Someone used to setting a line stake reads the figure in the box as a tenth of what it is; someone looking for a cheaper spin goes hunting for a lines control that does not exist. The number in the box is what the round costs, whole.
How the lines are marked on screen
Down the two red pillars either side of the grid, in small numerals. Left pillar and right pillar both carry them, and the numeral sits level with the row that line begins or ends on. That is the entire on-screen index of the line set.
It is an unusual place to put it. Most games with a visible line index run the numbers in little tabs attached to the edge of the grid, and a reader who expects that will read these pillars as part of the street furniture — they are coloured and lit like the rest of the scenery. If you want to know which route paid, the pillars and the illuminated path across the grid are where to look.
What three symbols on a line are worth
Multiples of the whole round stake, because that is the only stake there is. From an outside account of the paytable, matched by a second: the wild pays 20x, the golden cat 10x, the red bag 5x, the headphones 1x, the collar 0.5x, the firecrackers 0.3x and the biscuit 0.2x.
Read that ladder and the shape of the game becomes obvious. The top line win is 20x and the bottom is 0.2x, which means the lines themselves are small money. Most of what this game can hand over is not on the lines at all.
The record symbol does not use the lines at all
The gold records are the exception, and they are the reason the line values look modest. A record carries a multiplier printed on its face rather than a place in the ladder, and it pays by landing anywhere on the grid rather than on a route — 5 or more of them together, with their printed values added up.
The values printed on them run from 0.5x to 500x, which is a very wide ladder to collect from. It is also why the eight-spin feature, which empties the grid of everything except records and blanks, looks the way it does: during it, the ten lines are still there and still fixed, and almost nothing that lands can use them.
About the lines
How many paylines does DJ Dog have?
10, and they are fixed. The studio’s specification block says ten win lines, two catalogue entries list ten, a British review calls them ten fixed paylines, and the numerals run down the pillars either side of the grid.
Can I turn lines off to make a spin cheaper?
No, and the control for it is not hidden anywhere — it does not exist. The only figure you can change is the total for the round, with the minus and plus either side of it in the control strip.
Which direction do the lines run?
left to right from the leftmost column. With three columns that means the leftmost column has to be part of any line win, and a win is always a full three-symbol line rather than a partial match.
Where are the line numbers on the screen?
On the two red pillars standing either side of the reels, in small numerals level with the rows. They look like part of the scenery, which is exactly why people miss them.
Do the records pay on a line?
No. The gold record carries its own printed multiplier and pays when 5 or more land anywhere on the grid, with the printed values added together. The line routes are irrelevant to it.
What is the return on DJ Dog?
This site does not state one, and the reason is not caution for its own sake. The studio does not publish a return for this game — its specification block lists the game type, the swing and the platforms, and stops there — and the pages this site was rewritten from named no return either. There is no figure to pass on.
What exists is a figure other people print: 95%, carried by three independent pages about the game and by at least one operator lobby. One of those pages words it as the studio having rated it so, but that is the page speaking about the studio rather than the studio speaking, and it is not what the studio's own page says. A separate figure of 95.02% is quoted for the version with the feature bought outright, which Britain does not get.
So treat 95% as a number in circulation rather than as this game's specification, and read the information panel behind the menu in the copy you are signed in to. That panel is written for your build, and it is the only place the figure is stated by something that knows it.
Ten fixed lines over ten positions is the whole line system. The feature that strips the grid back to records is next.
Carry on with
The eight-spin round is where the record symbol takes over, and the wild is the only symbol that improves a line.
If the grid itself is still unclear, the three columns settles it; the control strip covers the stepper that sets the round figure.