The African plains or the more general “On Safari” theme is one of the most popular slot themes and it provides the inspiration for different games. As such, any new slot using this as the theme needs to have something exciting and appealing about it in order to stand out from some pretty stiff competition in this genre. Wild Gambler slot from Ash Gaming has decided to come up with a unique feature in order to attract punters to try this exciting and well-presented slot.
Before we get into the more exciting features, let us learn a little about the basic game. Wild Gambler is a 5×3 reel slot which has 20 fixed paylines in play on each spin. You can increase or decrease the value of coins per spin between Ā£0.01 and Ā£10.00 per payline which means you can play from as little as Ā£0.20 per spin up to Ā£200 per spin. That is a huge coverage of wagers meaning this slot will appeal to both the small stakes player and the higher roller alike.
As you would expect, the setting for this slot is the backdrop of the great African plains, with sunny skies and scorched earth the order of the day, there’s even a skull on the floor which you can click on to look up the paytable for the slot. In looks and design, there are a great deal of similarities between this slot and Microgaming’s Mega Moolah game, although the Wild Gambler slot does not have a progressive jackpot to chase. It does however boast some excellent features of its own and you can sample them right now at Bet365 Games.
Key Information
The first thing to do on the Wild Gambler slot is set your wager, this is important not just for the cost of every standard spin, but it will also form the basis for the Lock and Spin feature, which we will look at later. The reels consist of the usual playing card low symbols from 10 through to Ace, although these have been decorated in different animal skin liveries. The higher value symbols are a mixture of animals that you would expect to find on the African plains, including Zebra, Rhinos, Flamingo and a Tiger. The Rhino is the highest paying standard symbol offering 800 coins for landing five on a payline.
To assist you in getting larger wins there is a Lion Wild symbol which can be used to substitute for any of the low or high value symbols to create a winning payline when it lands on the reels. In addition, if you manage to hit five of the Lion Wilds in a row, you can earn the largest single line payout prize of 1,000 coins. However, when you do land one or more Wild symbols on the reels you are then faced with a choice.
The key feature of the Wild Gambler slot is the Lock and Spin feature and this becomes available when you land a Wild on the reels. What you can do when this happens on your next spin is either spin the reel as per normal for the usual stake, or you can lock the wild in place for the next spin and pay a higher stake for that spin. How much that stake will be is calculated by the slot and displayed next to the Lock and Spin button.
If you elect to use the Lock and Spin feature then the Wilds on the reels remain locked for the next spin and you can then elect to keep the Wilds locked, or play a normal spin with the entire reels in play on subsequent spins. However, if you keep Wilds locked, you can lock more Wilds in place over successive spins which increases the value of the wager you will make on each spin. Of course, the more Wilds you lock in place, the more chance you have of a bigger win, but in addition, the greater the size of the wager you will need to make to use the feature.
If at any point you have a layout of Wilds you’d like to keep without adding any new Wilds to the board, you can deselect the Auto Lock Wilds option (the padlock symbol) and this will ensure any New Wilds are not locked when you hit the Lock and Spin button, but just the pattern you have on the reels when you deselected the option.
The other feature of the slot to look out for is the Free Spins bonus, which happens when five meerkats pop up from the bottom of the reels with the word “Bonus” displayed. This triggers 8 free spins and for the duration of free spins, any Wilds that are locked when the spins are triggered, will remain locked for the duration of the free spins. Furthermore, if on a free spin you land another Wild, this will also lock in place for the remainder of the free spin round.
How to win at the Wild Gambler slot
There’s a little more to the strategy of the Wild Gambler slot than most other games thanks to the Lock and Spin feature which is something that players need to give careful consideration to when playing the game. There’s little leeway in terms of the paylines and wager to play, although with the Lock and Spin feature, I’d recommend playing slightly less per spin, so that when this feature is triggered, you are not wagering amounts that you may be uncomfortable with, especially if you are on a smaller budget.
In truth, the Free Spins round and base game offer punters a relatively decent chance of earning back what you spend as this is a lower to medium variance slot. Free Spins can offer some excellent payouts, especially if you can hit the Bonus when you have several Wilds locked in place across the reels. However, you will find that the bonus tends to trigger when you have no or just one Wild in place.
The key to bigger wins in this slot is getting the most out of the Lock and Spin feature and this is a delicate balancing act. Sure you can hit Wilds and use it continually but as you collect more Wilds, the cost per spin increases to the point where even if you hit a win, you are not guaranteed to cover the size of the stake unless you hit a bigger win. As such, using the Auto Lock Wilds option when you have a nice pattern of Wilds and a wager that you are happy to pay each spin offers arguably the best option as you can play this bonus on every subsequent spin without it costing you a fortune.
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