Walking Wilds Explained: What It Is and How it Works
Are you keen to find out all there is to know about walking wilds in online pokies?
Walking wilds appear on your first (or sometimes your last) reel during a bonus round, before shuffling along the reels.
Our experts have played thousands of online pokies at some of the best online casinos Australia has available. We’ll explain everything you need to know about walking wilds, including how they work, why they’re worth searching for and our top picks for the best pokies where you can find walking wilds.
Let’s get started by explaining more about walking wilds.
What are Walking Wilds?
Walking wilds, also known as shifting wilds, are wild symbols that appear when you’re playing certain slot machines that stick to the screen.
You’re awarded respins when they appear, and they can act as almost any symbol (except other wild symbols). They’re a great way to help you make your pay lines!
They act like a random wild symbol on your first spin. Then, on future spins, they’ll start to shift, or ‘walk’.
For example, a walking wild symbol appears on the first reel during the first spin and then walks to the next reel for your next spin. It continues to move until every reel has featured the wild.
A walking wild symbol will typically start on reel one and then move across to the right, before shifting left again.
Walking wilds slots give you the opportunity to make several winning combinations, no matter which way they walk when you spin the reels.
How Do Walking Wilds Work?
Summoning the magic of these wild symbols to kickstart a bonus round isn't as easy as a walk in the park.
It comes down to luck. This special feature is triggered randomly during your game.
But when it does trigger you do benefit from respins. That’s because new walking wilds can pop up even if you’ve already triggered one of these features.
As well as moving left to right, walking wilds also move towards both directions. This is a great feature for players because it adds more time for the wild to move from the screen, giving you even more chances of respins while playing.
Top 5 Pokies With Walking Wilds
Because our experts have spent countless hours spinning the reels, we’ve built up a fantastic library of the very best online pokies Australian can offer.
Here are our top pokie picks with Walking Wilds.
Jack and The Beanstalk
NetEnt’s Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the early adopters of the walking wilds bonus feature.
The game follows the fairytale of Jack and the Beanstalk. You’ll find everything from the story littered across the reels, from the giants to the humble watering can that caused Jack’s living nightmare.
The game is played over a typical 5×3 playing area and offers a total of 20 pay lines to build your winning combinations. The bonus free spins feature offers you the chance to boost your wilds and enjoy walking wilds and wild multipliers - great for tripling your winnings.
The RTP is 96.28% with high volatility, offering a maximum win of 1,500x the original wager thanks to the variety of wilds offered.
Overall, it’s a great pokie, although it is starting to show its age compared to some of the newest slot offerings.
San Quentin
The focus of this Nolimit City game is a theme that’s not often covered in casino games - helping prisoners escape!
Players work with a typical 5×3 play area with a grand total of 243 pay lines to create their symbol combinations. There’s a giant maximum win offering players the chance to claim 150,000x their original bet – that’s not a typo!
The RTP covers a range between 94.11% and 96.03%, depending on the different parts of the game accessed. Volatility is, unsurprisingly, rated as very high and with such a large maximum payout, it’s more than justified.
Ramses Revenge
The Ancient Egypt focus isn’t new, but in our experience, this Relax Gaming version offers a subtler approach than what we’re used to seeing. It features hieroglyphs, mummies and, of course, Anubis across the reels.
The game is played across a 6×4 playing area, offering a huge 4,096 different ways to win. There’s a giant maximum win of up to 49,996x your original wager, all thanks to those wonderful walking wilds (and a couple of other factors).
With an RTP of 96.15%, it's a high volatility game. So if you love riskier slots, this could be the pokie game for you.
Fat Rabbit
The slot from Push Gaming focuses on the Fat Rabbit protagonist and his home on the farm.
Symbols range from traditional playing cards with a theme-based twist alongside everything else you’d expect on the farm, including hay bales, buckets of water and, of course, carrots.
The play area of Fat Rabbit sits at 5×5, with a total of 50 paylines offering a maximum payout of 1,000x the original wager. The bonuses available are great, and the pokie offers expanding symbols, scatter symbols and walking wilds.
The RTP is 96.45%, with variance sitting at the medium volatility marker, suitable for all types of players.
Jellyfish Flow
The Jellyfish Flow pokie from Habanero comes with symbols showcasing different types of jellyfish across the reels.
The number of pay lines is perhaps the most impressive spec of the slots - between 27 and a whopping 823,543 different ways to win. This is thanks to a combination of the variable play area, increasing from 3×3 (9 symbols) up to a huge 7×7 (49 symbols) and the bonus features, including the walking wilds. All this translates to a huge maximum payout available of 32,416x!
The RTP value of the pokie is 96.69%. Variance is also high, as you may expect, with such high maximum payouts and different potential winning combinations.
Why Play Pokies With Walking Wilds?
Although it can depend on the game you choose to play, typically walking wild slots will pay out more than traditional or classic pokie games by giving you more chances of getting a winning combination.
They offer the potential for unlimited free spins when the walking wilds feature is activated.
But like any online gambling game, in reality, it doesn’t always work out that way. There's never a guarantee of a win when you play pokie machines online - no matter what features the game offers.
How Walking Wilds Work With Free Spins
Usually, you don’t need to pay for any spins offered when the walking wilds are active.
Instead, free spins are granted for the entirety of the wild bonus. The wilds remain on the reels for either a set number of spins or until they’ve moved across each reel, eventually disappearing once they reach the end.
Walking wilds lets you build huge combinations - because of the length of time these wild symbols are available. For games that include a multiplier on the walking wilds, you’ll also benefit from larger payouts. And more time spent with the wild on the reels.
Conclusion
Walking wilds are a great feature that you can find in many different types of online pokies games.
No matter what theme or genre you're interested in playing, we're confident you'll find a game that suits your style and lets you take advantage of walking wilds.
So if you're looking for an extra thrill the next time you play pokies online, check out video slots that offer this feature. You may just end up with a winning combination!
Ryan is our resident pokies expert. Not only does he provide readers with the latest insights, innovations and technology news related to pokies, but he also knows all there is to know about pokies game developers.
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