If you’re new to the world of slots or haven’t played in some time then you may be slightly confused about the term Wild Symbols. These are a relatively recent addition to slots and old games don’t tend to feature them. However, you’d be hard pushed to find a modern slot game that doesn’t come with a wild symbol.
What Are Wilds?
So what are they for? While they do add much to the gaming experience, the main attraction of wild symbols is the increased chance of creating winning combinations.In the vast majority of slots the wild symbol can substitute for any other symbols on the reels except the scatter symbol. This means that if you are one symbol short of a winning combination on an active payline but you do have a wild symbol there, the wild will take the place of the symbol you’re missing and you’ll be awarded the win. The more wild symbols that appear on the reels, the higher your chances of winning become.Generally wild symbols can appear anywhere on the reels but in some games they are limited to certain reels, for example the middle ones. They can also add multipliers to payouts. For this reason, it is advisable to read up on how to play the game before you start spinning.Many contemporary slots also use the wild symbol for the jackpot and you’ll be required to land five wilds on an active payline to walk away with the top prize.
Different Types Of Wilds
As wild symbols are so popular with players, developers have worked on new ways to make them even more exciting. To this end many games now include features such as expanding wilds, sticking wilds and stacked wilds.
- Expanding wilds can manifest to take over neighbouring symbols and, in many cases, can turn a whole reel wild.
- When you land a sticky wild it will stay in place for a certain number of spins, meaning that for those spins you are guaranteed to have at least one wild on the reels.
- Stacked wilds take over the whole reel and if you land more than one at the same time then you’re sure to be in for a pretty big win. There are numerous other types of wilds including trailing wilds and shifting wilds, all of which can boost your chances of a big payout.
Each game features a different number of wild symbols but they always appear at random throughout the game. The unpredictability of wild symbols is part of the fun and keeps excitement levels up as you anticipate using them to create a big win.