Popular Types of Wilds in Online Slots
29 Mar, 2023
- 🍬 Sticky Wilds: Sticky Wilds stay in place across spins, especially during Free Spins, adding extra thrill to gameplay.
- 🚶♂️ Walking Wilds: Walking Wilds move across the grid between spins, providing symbol substitution for multiple spins.
- 🎰 Jumping Wilds: Jumping Wilds randomly shift positions each spin, boosting suspense and win potential in Free Spins.
Over the years, Wild symbol has become an intricate part of almost every online slot gameplay available on the iGaming scene. Wild adds another layer of excitement to the slot gaming session and increases the possibility of creating a winning combination on the reels so it comes as no surprise this symbol represents one of the players’ favorite slot features.
Being aware of just how much players appreciate the Wild, slot providers have invested in expanding the power of this symbol, making it even more valuable and thrilling. They added fresh attributes to the Wild, elevating the symbol to the completely new status and new level of gaming stardom! These new symbol attributes have defined different types of Wilds, especially in terms of how they behave on the reels and the size of wins they can produce.
How Does The Wild Symbol Work?
The main goal of a Wild is to help a player create a winning combo. The original Wild, now often referred to as the Classic Wild, is a substitute symbol and behaves similarly to the Joker card in certain card games. Wild will take the value of any regular symbol from the slot’s paytable if that would secure the win on one of the available paylines.
Special symbols on the reels such as Scatter are usually immune to the Wild’s abilities. So, even though Wild can grant you hefty prizes, it usually cannot help with activating free spins or other types of bonus rounds.
Types of Wild Symbols
In the last several years, casino games developers have introduced a great variety of Wilds and some of them have really made an impact on the iGaming community thanks to the amazing benefits they bring to the slot-loving players. Here are the most popular types of Wilds and full explanation of how their presence on the reels uplifts the whole gaming experience.
Sticky Wilds
As their name suggests, Sticky Wilds have all the attributes of the classic Wild but with one addition only - they will stick on the grid position they landed on for the next spin or several upcoming spins. Sticky Wilds usually appear in the Free Spins bonus round where they increase the player's chance of landing crazy big wins, especially if they come carrying multipliers.
The power of Sticky Wilds is demonstrated amazingly in The Dog House bonus round. One of the main reasons this Pragmatic Play slot is so popular among players is for the Sticky Multiplier Wilds during Free Spins. Even though the game was released back in 2019, this carefully crafted and engaging gameplay is why The Dog House is still part of Roshtein’s streams.
Expanding Wilds
Expanding Wild does what every Wild does, substitutes for regular symbols, but it also expands to cover the entire reel and turn all positions on it into Wild. Given this fact, it’s not surprising that this type of Wilds is one of the most popular among players. After all, by expanding and covering the entire reel, the possibility of creating a win is increased even more than usual.
Due to its popularity among casino game players, Expanding Wild has been included into many slot gameplays. Nolimit City has more than a few games where the Wild expands across all positions on the reel thanks to the provider’s xNudge mechanics. El Paso Gunfight slot is one of those Nolimit City games that presents players with some extra spicy gaming sessions via multiple exciting bonus features including Expanding Wild.
Stacked Wilds
Having an entire reel of Wilds is truly exciting and can happen in more ways than one! Aside from Expanding Wilds, there are also Stacked Wilds that can pile up on top of one another and create an amazing opportunity for a massive win. It’s a great feature to have in a slot as it releases Wilds in packs of up to 5 usually, creating lucrative possibilities for the players.
Stacked Wilds work differently in different slots in terms of where they can appear on the grid. In certain slots it is possible for Stacked Wilds to show up on only certain reels while in some others they can show on all reels which can then lead to the stacking of Wilds horizontally across the reels.
Walking Wilds
Among all the Wilds available in slots, Walking Wild is probably one of the most entertaining. The core attribute of this type of Wild is that it will change position on the grid between spins which adds a layer of suspense. Usually, Walking Wilds go from the reel they land on and move left with every spin until they fall off the grid but it can also move from the top of the grid downwards.
The best thing about Walking Wilds is that they ensure players have a symbol substituting for all the regular symbols for a few subsequent spins which means they are more likely to land a win. All of this makes them an exciting addition to the slot gameplay!
Jumping Wilds
Jumping Wilds usually appear in the Free Spins bonus round and as their name implies, they randomly jump from one position on the grid to the other between spins. Just like with the Walking Wilds, this special attribute elevates the gameplay in terms of entertainment and possible wins. However, given the fact that the player doesn’t know where the next position the Jumping Wild will land on, the whole gaming session becomes even more exciting.
What significantly increases the gaming appeal of the Jumping Wilds in the bonus round is the fact that players can have several of them active on the grid at the same time which bumps up the probability of ending free spins with a huge prize.
Wilds with Multiple Attributes
Given the popularity of all these types of Wilds it comes as no surprise that providers made a decision to create Wilds that will carry multiple exciting and rewarding attributes. For example, besides a standard ability of substituting for regular symbols, a Wild can also come with multipliers attached, it can trigger a respin, and carry many more other thrilling attributes that can skyrocket players winnings.
In Wanted Dead or a Wild slot by Hacksaw Gaming, VS symbols get activated if there is a chance to form a winning combination with the other symbols present on the reels. The VS symbol expands and it not only has the standard Wild attribute of substituting for regular symbols, it also comes with multipliers attached which can go up to 100x. Given the fact that you can have a VS symbol land on any of the reels available, it can cover the entire grid and deliver a massive prize. Roshtein’s $18.7 million win (his biggest win to date) happened thanks to this feature!
All Wilds, regardless of their type, are a powerful ally to a slot player! Wilds are spicing things up, adding more excitement to the gameplay and increasing the possibility of landing a win. All of this makes them an extremely valuable addition to every gaming session. It will be interesting to see what will be the future evolution of the Wild symbol and how much it will improve the gaming experience.
