Awhile back I wrote about Wheel of Fortune 4D, which effectively took the Golden Egypt model of gameplay and shoehorned it into a Wheel of Fortune theme, with a higher bet requirement.
Clearly that worked out for the company, as they’ve continued to roll out more reskins as Wheel of Fortune variations with a higher bet increment. This brings us to Wheel of Fortune Wild Spin, which is effectively the Wheel of Fortune variant of Scarab or Diamond Mania.
Like 4D before it, the 75 bet increment found on Scarab increases to 100 credits on Wheel of Fortune. Unlike 4D, and more like Link games, the progressives are all available at any bet. Of course, the progressive isn’t a wide-area progressive like on 4D, so it makes a difference. And betting higher does increase your chances for one.
The game retains its 10 spin cycles, with gold frames being collected when gold wheel symbols land, turning wild on the 10th spin of the cycle. No surprises there. Like 4D before it, the biggest change is when you trigger a bonus.
The three bonus symbols are now found on reels 2, 3 and 4. Getting all three yields a wheel spin that can deliver credits, free spins or the jackpot bonus.
The jackpot bonus is a hold and respin bonus, with the ability to land progressives, including the top progressive if you fill the board. As reported back at G2E, IGT is trying their hardest to put hold and respin on virtually everything coming out, it seems. So you know the drill: Start with three spins, with the counter resetting every time you land another prize. Run out of spins or fill the grid (winning the Grand in the process) to end the bonus.
It does seem like the wheel is more prone to favor that bonus from my experience, as that’s what I got most frequently on the wheel, and that seems to come up a lot for slot channels too.
The free spins, like 4D, removes the volatility choice of its predecessor, instead opting for the most volatile 10 random wilds for 5 spins. This tends to yield some good payouts but it really depends on the placement of the wilds.
So it’s a bit of a mash-up of ideas, none of them new, but if you like the games referenced or a Wheel of Fortune theme, it’ll certainly get the job done.
Wheel of Fortune Wild Spin Videos
VegasLowRoller played both themes during a session and got a number of wheel spins:
Matt Bailey Plays the Slots! shows off the free spins bonus in this video:
