There are hundreds of games online with lots of exciting features to offer. Innovations always pop up, bringing fresh ideas to slot features regularly. Despite all these innovations, the classic features are the best for many, and they don’t get much more exciting than the wild symbols.
Wild symbols are commonly defined as special symbols that substitute for other paying symbols to help form winning combinations.
This article reviews the different types of wild symbols and their functions.
1. Sticky Wilds
Sticky wilds are the most effective types of wilds. They work similarly to regular wilds, with a slightly significant difference; they stick to the reels, as the name suggests. This means that they’ll stay in place for future spins.
Some slots employ the Sticky Wild mechanism, where multipliers are added after each wild lands on the reels. Each sticky wild can be a single, double, or triple wild symbol. Other games employ these sticky wilds with multipliers attached; the earlier these sticky wilds land, the better.
It’s worth noting that positioning the wilds on the slot’s reels is crucial. If, for example, the slot is a typical 5×3 reel format game, having wilds land nearest to the 1st reel on the left helps create bigger winning combinations.
2. Expanding Wilds
Expanding wilds are reasonably self-explanatory. If you manage to land one on the reels, it will expand and cover more reel positions. How they expand, however, depends on the game. Sometimes they expand to cover a whole reel or the entire row.
Since this is a powerful effect, it’s often limited by other mechanisms. For instance, some slots may only allow wilds to expand during free spins mode.
3. Multiplier Wilds
Multiplier wilds give a dramatic effect on the payout. As the name implies, they increase the payout of the combination they’re a part of. Multiplier wilds can change randomly or be a set amount that rises depending on the number of wilds you have in the winning combination. Other mechanics also limits them.
4. Stacked Wilds
Stacked Wilds slot between Wild Reels and expanding wilds. Wilds will land in a stack or expand. They rarely cover the entire reel. Instead, the stack is usually between two and four symbols high.
Stacked symbols can go down or up or both from the original wild. The way they work changes between different slot games.
5. Shifting Wilds
Shifting wilds wander across the screen to connect different paylines while replacing other symbols to form winning combinations. For example, if you land a wild on the 1st reel, it will shift to the 2nd reel on the next spin and then continue shifting across the reels until it falls. It can affect up to five consecutive spins, making it a sticky wild that can move.
6. Wild Reels
Wild reels are seen as expanding wilds that don’t necessarily expand. A whole reel of wilds lands on a spin, giving you a huge chance to pick up wins.
In conclusion, before playing a slot game, you must be more familiar with the wilds and their effects. It’s always best to be sure when they will appear and how often that happens.
