What Do You Need to Know About Wild Symbols in Slots

Wilds are among the most valuable symbols in modern slots, but what do they add to the gameplay? Understanding this powerful symbol can help you to enjoy slots even more and boost your chances of a win.

How Does a Wild Symbol Work?

The earliest slot machines only had a fixed set of paying symbols, like playing cards or fruits, each with a specific prize amount listed. Wins were made when a group of matching symbols came up together. This proved to be a simple yet highly effective approach to a game of chance that anyone could understand. However, as electronic slots were introduced in the second half of the 20th century, this change provided the opportunity to add new features.

This was a time of great innovation. Wilds were among the new features introduced at this time, with a joker often used as the wild symbol. This is based on the joker playing card that was introduced in the mid-19th century as part of the Euchre game, with canasta and war among the other card games to then use a joker.

In slots, the wild symbol, whether a joker or something else, is used to complete winning lines by standing in for any other symbol. This means that rather than getting three matching symbols, you could have two of them plus a wild to trigger that win. Although jokers are still sometimes used, online slots have introduced new types of wild symbols. Some say ‘wild’ across them, while others feature one of the theme’s most important images or characters.

Locked or Sticky Wilds

The standard wild mechanism has been tweaked to give more varied gameplay and new ways of winning. Locked or sticky wilds remain in place after any wins have been made, meaning that they provide extra chances to get a winning line.

The Way to Olympus game by Wingo is played on an 8x6 grid with the Greek God of the Sky, the mighty Zeus, standing by the side of the reels. In this game, wins are made of clusters of five or more matching symbols, which then disappear before new symbols refill the space they left. The wild symbol stays in place during the refilling sequence, giving the chance to complete more wins.

Expanding Wilds

Expanding wilds add an extra element to the way these valuable symbols work. They grow in size when they land, filling a full reel in some cases. This boosts the chance of a wild helping complete a win. It may also provide one of the most visually dramatic impacts in the game as the wild grows immediately after landing. This is one of the features you might decide to look at when checking a collection of online slots real money titles.

Expanding Wild Leprechaun by Reevo is one of the many Irish-themed slots listed on online casinos, with rolling green fields and rainbows among the typical images that represent the Emerald Isle. The wild shows a cheerful leprechaun who fills a reel and replaces any regular symbol to create a win for you… making this kind of online slots game more fun than ever.

Other Types of Wilds

Adding alternative wild symbols with varying features has proved to be one of the most effective ways for slot providers to create interesting new gameplay. Walking or roaming wilds move across the screen following each new spin, which is a way of increasing the chance of getting several winning combos with the same wild.

Wilds with multipliers are used to increase the value of any win involving these symbols. This feature is most commonly seen in the free spins round of some slots, where random multipliers may be added to the value of the wilds. In Safari Gems by GameArt, the wild symbol shows a lion that helps to trigger the free spins round, adding a new dimension to this symbol.

The Future of Wild Symbols in Slots

Wild symbols have a long and interesting history in the slots industry; initially taking inspiration from the joker in a deck of cards, these must have seemed extremely exciting to those players who first saw them appear on the reels. As these games advanced with new technology and then moved online, wild symbols have allowed us to play in new ways and added an extra degree of excitement and unpredictability to the basic gameplay.

With the online slot industry evolving at a rapid pace, we can expect to see wild symbols continue to play an important role in how we play these games of chance. The classic function of a wild in replacing paying symbols to increase the chances of a payout should continue to be their main role, but don’t be surprised if they start to appear in new ways that enhance slots even further.