Why Are Wilds So Popular?

Do you go wild over wilds? If you have only been playing slot games for a short while, you may wonder what we're talking about. Mind you, wild symbols are among the most popular ones to appear in any slot game. They don't appear in them all, but they do tend to show up in five-reel games more often than three-reel ones, since there is more room for them to appear.

Let's discover why their popularity has been well-earned.

They replace lots of other symbols in a slot game

Some games allow the wild to replace everything else. Others allow it to replace everything apart from the scatter, which is a common rule. That's typically because the scatter is often the trigger for some appealing bonus features in the game.

They make it easier to win prizes

When you spot one or more wilds appearing in one spin, there is a bigger chance of winning one or more prizes. Since they will substitute for most other icons, you might fall one short of getting a prize with a symbol, only for the wild to step in and complete the win.

Wilds can occasionally appear on limited reels, but many games have them appearing on all the reels. Sometimes, you might benefit from them appearing stacked on a reel too, or perhaps expanding whenever they appear.

They can come with multipliers too

Wilds can be useful little symbols to find, as we've seen. But did you know they sometimes pop up with multipliers as well? Some games include wilds that always double a prize when they appear as part of a win. If you are lucky, you might even get a 3x multiplier.

Other games might have more than one wild involved, each one showing a different multiplier value. And if two appear in a win, those values can be multiplied together to secure an even bigger win.

There are lots of different wilds around too

We're referred to multiplier wilds already, but you'll encounter other variations as you play slots. Expanding wilds, cascading wilds, sticky wilds… and there are many others as well. Watch out for the paytables that describe how each one works and reveal which ones you can expect to see as you play.

With so much to look forward to whenever you see one or more wild icons in a slot game, it's no wonder players love to see them.