There’s nothing quite like hitting a few wild symbols to score a big win when you’re playing your favourite pokies. And when it comes to wilds, more is always better. That’s what makes expanding wilds such a popular feature with players. This unique feature will ensure that any wild you hit will count in as many winning paylines as possible, potentially turning every line into a winner.
A typical wild symbol is easy enough to understand: it can substitute for any other symbol in order to help make winning paylines. Most poker machines include at least one wild symbols, since they’re an easy feature to program and are easy for players to understand: hit a couple wilds, get excited, win a big prize.
Expanding wilds take this concept one step further. When you hit an expanding wild, it will “expand” to cover the entire reel it is found on. That means it will cover every possible payline, adding a wild everywhere you might need one.
It is easy to see why these symbols can quickly add up to some huge wins. It’s impossible to miss an expanding wild: with the whole reel covered, they will help you out wherever they possibly can. And hitting two or more expanded wilds, particularly on the first few reels, can often cause you to win prizes on every single payline.
Not all expanding wilds are built the same, however. In some games, a wild symbol may have to land in a particular position in order to expand, or it may only expand to cover some of the positions on the reel rather than all of them. On other pokies, the expanding wilds will only be available in bonus rounds, and will act as a regular wild during normal play. In any case, an expanding wild is always an upgrade from your typical wild symbol, offering more ways to win with no drawbacks.
Many online pokies now offer expanding wilds as an added treat for players, including some rather popular games from major developers.
For instance, take the Captain America poker machine, available through Playtech-powered online casinos. During regular gameplay, the wild symbols act traditionally. However, if you can find your way into the free spins game, both Captain America and Red Skull will turn into expanding wilds, greatly increasing your potential for winning combinations.
Another pokie that features an expanding wild is The Dark Knight Rises, a popular Microgaming poker machine based on the movie of the same name. This is a game that is loaded with features, one of which is an expanding wild bat symbol. This symbol can be activated during normal gameplay; however, it will only occur on the third reel, while standard wilds appear elsewhere on the machine.
Expanded wilds are similar to some other wild symbols that also appear on many online pokies. While these features aren’t exactly the same as an expanding wild, they offer the same kind of potential for big wins, meaning you might want to seek them out as well.
For instance, sticky wilds are a type of wild that remains on the reels even after you start a new spin. How long these wilds will stick around for depends on the pokie you’re playing; they’re sometimes included as a part of free spins bonus rounds, in which case they might stay on the reels for the entire feature.
Another wild variation that is just like the expanding wild is the stacked wild. In games featuring stacked wilds, several wild symbols on each reel will be located in adjacent positions, meaning they have the potential to fill up part or all of a reel. The main difference between these and expanding wilds is that sticky wilds won’t automatically cover an entire reel; depending on where they stop, they could cover anywhere from one position to the whole reel.