Walking wilds are a unique reel modifier that we’ve seen a large number of game developers use - and, interestingly, there’s a number of different ways these walking wilds are implemented by software providers. Let’s take a look at what walking wilds are, why they’re popular, and some popular games that utilise the game mechanic. Click here to read more.
What Are Walking Wilds?
While each game developer has their own way of actually presenting walking wilds, they generally take a similar format - and that’s the consensus that once the wild appears on the reels, it will then “walk” to other positions on the reels on subsequent spins. This can happen both during the base-game and during bonuses.
Let’s imagine a game, for example, that has walking wilds that move one position to the left-hand-side on each subsequent spin. (This is one of the most commonly-seen walking wild mechanics we see.) On the spin that the wild lands on, it acts as a wild - and is on reel three. On the next spin, the wild will move to reel two. On the spin after, it’ll move to the first reel - and the spin after, in most games it will drop off the reels and disappear, although some studios have made games where the wild can “resurrect” itself and appear all the way back on reel five!
Examples of Slots With Walking Wilds
NetEnt’s Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the oldest games out there to use a Walking Wilds reel modifier, and it’s a really popular game, both due to its exciting gameplay and it’s big win-potential during the bonus round. During the bonus, wilds can become stacked to cover the entire reel - and they too are walking wilds, meaning if you land a few on the latter reels you’ve got multiple spins of guaranteed big wins!
One of the more recent games to utilise walking wilds - although in somewhat of a different way to the format we’re used to seeing - is Jammin’ Jars, a slot from Push Gaming. Here, the wild symbols jump around one position after each successful win - and, where things get interesting in this game is that a multiplier is attached to each of the symbols upon forming a win.
Imagine, for a moment, that you have two of the wilds on screen and they both contribute towards a winning combination of symbols. After the win, both symbols would jump around, and a multiplier increase of 1X would apply to both of the symbols. Now, they also multiply against one another - and with it possible to have up to four wilds, all with multipliers, you don’t have to look hard to see how it’s possible to hit some monster wins here - the game is capable of producing wins of up to 20,000X your stake!
There are many slots with a walking wilds mechanic, and you can find all of them listed right here on this page - many of which you’ll be able to try and play for free here at Slots Temple!