As an online slot enthusiast, you will no doubt be well aware that there are many bonus features you can activate within a typical video slot. One of the most popular and common of these is the ubiquitous 'Wild' symbol.
A 'Wild' symbol, as we revealed last week in our look at some of the most common online slot features is simply a symbol on a reel that when landed, can be used with any other symbol (apart from the scatter symbol) on the reels to make a winning combination.
The great thing is, if you are playing a multiple payline slot and you land one or more Wild symbol across the reels, each Wild can be used across different paylines, substituting for a different symbol on each line, in order to help you achieve a winning combination.
Due to the fact that Wild symbols are so flexible and helpful for players to make a winning combination, they are highly valued by slot players who realise their chameleon-like ability to become the symbol you need to make a win, make them a slot players key ally when trying to hit a big win.
However, over years developers have sought new and exciting ways to develop the idea of a single symbol being a Wild and over time, they have developed some new features, many of which are in use today across many of the top online slots.
At first, these new types of Wilds can appear somewhat confusing, so in this article we are going to take a look at five of the most common Wild features you'll encounter playing some of the top video slots available today.
The five types of Wild features are Cascading Wilds, Expanding Wilds, Rolling Wilds, Stacked Wilds and Sticky Wilds and we'll review each one below:
Perhaps the least used of all the wild features listed here, a Cascading Wild Feature will see your Wild symbol(s) disappear from the screen and what then happens is that new symbols (often those triggering a winning combination) will cascade (hence the name) down from the top of the screen filling in the blanks left by the departed wild symbol.
This feature often sees more than one symbol replace the Wild(s) on the reels and so this is a popular Wild feature as it means that players can often win multiple times on the same spin.
In addition, when you land Cascading Wilds during play, you often trigger a bonus multiplier which can will further increase the value of your win during this feature.
Expanding Wilds are certainly one of the slot players most eagerly anticipated features and many top modern slots offer this feature, often in conjunction with Stacked Wilds.
An Expanding Wild is simply when you land a Wild symbol (or several Wild symbols) on a single reel. When a certain criteria has been fulfilled (such as stacking a certain number of wilds, or hitting a certain combination on the reels, or triggering a bonus game), the Wild will expand and every single symbol on the reel will become a Wild symbol.
Clearly, by turning an entire reel Wild, this gives the player a far greater chance of hitting a successful combination on each spin. Expanding Wilds are often used in bonus games, especially during Free Spin features (when they may be called Sticky Wilds - see below) and they can be a great way to earn a big win, especially if you can hit Expanding Wilds across more than one reel.
Rolling Wilds are a relatively new innovation but they are one that have certainly added a large element of appeal to playing the base game of the relatively few online slots that currently offer this feature.
When you land a Rolling Wild feature, the Wild can start at any point on the reel (whether 3 or 4 symbols are visible on screen of any one reel). What happens then is when the feature is triggered, the reels are spun, however the rolling Wild reel will simply move down one space on the reel.
This means that over 2, 3 or 4 subsequent spins, you will have the Rolling Wild on at least one reel and thus give yourself additional chances of landing a winning combination across several paylines with each spin that the feature lasts for.
It is possible to have stacked Rolling Wilds (two or more Wild symbols) on a single reel, which again, gives you added opportunity to win and you can trigger Rolling Wilds on more than one reel at any given time, depending on the slot you are playing.
Understanding what Stacked Wilds are is relatively simple. As the name suggests, these are Wild symbols that are stacked one upon another to create a cluster of Wild Symbols across one reel.
In some games, if you can stack a stated number of Wilds together across a single reel, then this will then expand into an Expanding Wild, which sees Wilds then expanded across the entire reel.
Stacked Wilds are very useful for slot players as they mean that if you land a Wild on a reel, then you have a chance of landing another Wild or two across other paylines, this in turn increases your chances of hitting a winning combination.
In some new games, Wilds can also stack horizontally across the reels, as well as vertically across a single reel and this new development again gives the player additional chances of hitting a winning combination across several reels when landed.
Sticky Wilds are very similar to Expanded Wilds but they tend to be triggered during Free Spin sections of the slot only and there is a good reason for this.
When you hit Sticky Wilds in Free Spins, the reel you landed the Wilds on turns completely Wild however the reel will then remain completely Wild for the duration of the Free Spins section.
So, for example, if you earn 15 Free Spins and on the 5th Free Spin, you land the Sticky Wilds feature and expand the Wilds across a reel, you will have those Wilds available on your remaining 10 spins of the Free Spin section (plus any re-triggering Free Spins you may earn subsequently).
Of course, having so many Free Spins with an entire reel Wild increases your chances of a good payout considerably, hence Sticky Wilds are one of the most popular features for slot players.
On their own, Wilds are a great benefit to the slot player, but when used in conjunction with the features above, they can prove to be highly profitable and can trigger some of the biggest possible wins on your choice of slot.
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
