Wild Symbols in Slot Games - The Complete Guide

Guide to wild symbols in online slots and in classic games

It's exciting to pull a slot machine's lever, whether a virtual game or a classic, mechanical machine.

Slot machines are the biggest attraction at any gambling venue. You can win massive Jackpots on these titles by just pulling a lever. Thanks to their straightforward gameplay, people love to spin the reels. You'd rarely find a casino without these one-armed bandits.

When these fantastic creations were freshly introduced to the casinos, they offered very basic gameplay and paid-out winnings when you landed one of the few special combos. Today these games are developed with more Bonus Features. Thanks to these extra modifiers, you'll get a very loaded and explosive experience.

One of these popular gameplay modifications is the introduction of Wild symbols. In this article, we'll explain the use and different features of these Wild symbols and how they improve your spinning session. Wild symbols are not to be confused with scatter symbols which are another kind of bonus symbol that we have covered in another article.

The number 7 is the Wild symbol in the Joker Rush free slot

Wilds are special symbols you'll find on the playing grids of many free slot machines.

The bulk of the slot machines works on the standard payline-based winning mechanism, where you win a payout after landing combos of similar symbols together. For Example, if there is a slot that requires you to land a 3 symbol combo, and you only land 2 similar symbols together, it won't be considered a combo. However, if you land a Wild symbol with them, the Wild will substitute for those 2 similar symbols and will act as another symbol for that winning combination.

Wilds can lead you to some huge winnings. In some slot games, these Wilds also give you independent payouts. So, they not only substitute for other regular symbols but also give you payouts for landing Wilds together. In most cases, the Wild symbols offer the most lucrative payouts of all of the symbols. In some games, landing enough random Wild symbols can also lead to special bonus rounds. Additional rewards can also be paid out for landing a specific number of Wilds.

Thanks to all these special attributes attached to Wild symbols, they are quite important and beneficial, and you should keep an eye out for them. Your slot game will be boosted to another level if you successfully land enough Wilds at good positions on the playing grid.

As Wilds are important symbols in the gameplay, they are usually given a special appearance. Wilds can be represented by any characters related to the theme, any important object, or by just WILD written in a highlighting font.

Video: Wild Symbols in Slot Games - The Complete Guide

Wolf riches is the perfect example of wilds and scatter symbols

The Regular Wild symbols are the most common symbols you'll find across the playing grid, and they are present in almost every slot game released nowadays. These symbols substitute for all the regular game symbols and increase your winning chances. Often, these symbols also offer the biggest payouts.

Reel Specific Wilds

In some slot machines, Wild symbols appear only on certain reels and not on all of them. This means that you can land winning combos by only using Wild symbols. For Example, in some games, you can land Wilds only on 1, 3, and 5 reels or only on 3, 4, and 5 reels. Reel Specific Wilds often found in modern slots.

Stacked Wilds

Wilds can also appear in the form of long strips on the reels, meaning that an entire reel of 3 or 4 rows can get filled with Wild symbols. When the Wilds get stacked, you can get 1 or more reels filled with just Wilds, boosting your winning chances.

In some games, specific stacked Wilds are combined with stacked symbols. You can also fill up the whole grid with nothing but Wild symbols. Such a situation is very rewarding, and you can get some unbelievable payouts.

Expanding Wilds

Some Wild symbols can also expand in size to cover all the spaces on a particular reel. It can either happen on specific reels or all of the reels. In some cases, expanding Wilds can also expand sideways, which gives an interesting touch to the gameplay.

This expanding modifier is more likely to trigger during a bonus round like free spins rather than during the base game.

Sticky Wilds

Some Wild symbols stick to their positions for some time when you land them on the grid, such wilds are called "sticky wilds". In some cases, when the Free Spins round starts, the Wilds stick to their positions, and in the last few spins, a lot of spaces are filled with Wild symbols, and your chances of landing hefty payouts just skyrockets.

There are many variations of this bonus. In some cases, Sticky Wilds stick to their positions for just a single spin. In others, they stick around for a while.

Sticky Wild example from one of BETOs free slots

Contagious Wilds

These are special Wild symbols that also turn other symbols adjacent to them into Wilds. Some Contagious Wilds explode to convert others, and some set off fires. These symbol conversions can happen diagonally as well.

Moving Wilds

With time, new and interesting Modifiers are being added to slot machines, and the existing bonuses are tuned up. Moving Wilds is such an attractive bonus where Wild symbols move over the grid as you spin the grid. Wilds will keep moving, and when they reach the final row or reel, they move out of the grid and disappear. This bonus is also called the Walking Wilds modifier.

Random Symbol Wilds

Sometimes a random symbol is selected by the slot machine when the bonus round starts, and this symbol then becomes the additional Wild symbol. Some titles have a pre-determined symbol that acts as Wild, while some choose a new symbol for every round.

Added Wilds

Just like the video slots, the Wild symbols are also developing constantly. iGaming designers come up with new and interesting ways to add Wilds into the gameplay. Sometimes, the Wilds will simply be added to the reels, just like all the symbols land when the grid spins. Sometimes, there will be immersive animations on the grid which add these Wilds to the grid. For Example, a giant mummy can appear on the screen and turn random symbols into Wilds, or an athlete throwing Wilds from far away on the grid.

Multiplier Wilds

These Wild symbols are powerful Modifiers that give your payout a Multiplier boost when you use these Wilds to land a winning combo. These special symbols can multiply your winnings in the base game, the bonus round, or both.

The Book of Rampage slot is an excellent slot machine where you can witness these special Multiplier Wilds.

Make sure to check in with us at BETO to learn more about new and innovative features like the Wilds.

Book Of Rampage (Spinomenal)

Free game

Book Of Rampage Slot - Test your Knowledge of Wild Symbols

In slot machines with multiple win-lines, Wilds have disproportionate effects.

Here are 2 examples:

1. Consider a slot machine with 10 paylines. If a Wild symbol lands on the 1st reel, it becomes a part of up to 4 paylines, depending on its position.

2. In a 5x3 structured slot machine with 30 paylines, if a Wild lands in the first reel, it can be a part of 12 different paylines. The number of paylines will be even more in the case of a 50-payline slot machine.

General Advice

When there are stacked Wilds or Sticky Wilds in the game, or just many Wilds over the grid in general, maximize the number of active paylines.

Activating more paylines will give you higher chances of landing winning combos as Wild symbols will have maximum effect.

When you play all-ways titles, landing a single Wild symbol on the grid will double the number of possible winning combinations. Just imagine landing a win on all 5 reels, where matching symbols can land in any position.

For Example, landing a Wild on reel number 4 will give you 2 paths to winning, one through the regular symbol and one through the Wild. Just add another Wild symbol to this scenario, and you'll have 4 different winning paths now.

So, every time you come across an all-ways slot machine and Wilds on the grid, get excited as some massive winnings are about to land.

TRY THE GAME FOR FREE

All sorts of slot machines are developed these days by popular and reputed iGaming studios, and players get to choose from a wide range of iGaming selections. If you visit a good online casino today, you'll get numerous games with different themes, Boosters, grid sizes, and winning mechanisms.

With giant progressive Jackpots, you can land some really rewarding payouts, and innovative winning mechanisms like the cluster-win system offer you interesting ways to land winnings.

The Wild symbol is a special feature you'll get in almost every slot machine, and it's important you understand how it works and the different modifications it comes with.

We are confident this article would've increased your knowledge about Wilds. You can learn about other many other interesting Boosters here at BETO.com.