What is a Wild Symbol in Slots? List of Sweepstakes Slots

Are you a sweepstakes casino-style games enthusiast looking to find what a Wild symbol in slots is? What is its purpose?

As sweepstakes slots have become increasingly popular in the US, they offer a wide variety of themes, gameplay mechanics, and potential payouts. Most of them incorporate the Wild symbol, which can drastically impact your chances of winning.

Today we will explore what a wild symbol is, how it works, its different variations, and some popular sweepstakes slot games that feature wild symbols. Let’s get into it!

How Does a Wild Symbol Work?

The purpose of a Wild symbol is to replace any other symbols present on the reels, apart from Scatters and other bonus icons, thus increasing the chance of landing a winning combination.

Let’s say you have two matching symbols on a payline, and a Wild symbol appears between them. In this case, the Wild will serve as the third matching symbol, resulting in a winning combination.

Types of Wild Symbols

In the previous section, we discussed the default behavior of a Wild symbol. However, game providers have enhanced it with several variations and modifications. We will cover the most popular ones below.

Sticky Wilds

sticky wilds the fog house slot

The Dog House Megaways – Sticky Wilds 

These symbols are called “sticky” as, unlike other Wilds, they remain in their position on the reel for a certain number of spins. They boost your winning potential, as they are present for multiple spins rather than a single one. In some games, they stay on the reel for a fixed number of spins, while in others, until the bonus round ends.

Stacked Wilds

By appearing in groups, they cover multiple positions on a reel, i.e., more paylines, increasing your winning potential.

Expanding Wilds

iron bank slot expanding wild

Iron Bank – Expanding Wilds

As the name implies, this type of Wild symbol expands upwards and downwards the entire reel to cover it. Thus, it covers all paylines increasing your winning chances.

Other Types

There are other variations of Wild symbols apart from the ones covered here. You can come across Walking Wilds, moving throughout the screen, and Multiplier Wilds, which not only substitute for other symbols but also hold a multiplier boosting your rewards from a winning combination.

Popular Sweepstakes Slots with Wilds

With sweepstakes casinos constantly increasing their gaming selection, the number of sweep slots utilizing a Wild symbol is vast. Nonetheless, we will list some of the most popular ones, some of which you may have already heard of.

Magic Piggy

magic piggy slot logo

Magic Piggy

Hacksaw Gaming will surely make your day with its Magic Piggy by taking you to a fairy-tale-like world filled with magical pigs, thrilling features, and huge winning potential.
Released in 2023, Magic Piggy is a 5-reel, 5-row video slot with 19 ways to win. Its return to player (RTP) stands at a competitive 96.19%, while its medium volatility ensures a balanced mix of frequent smaller wins and the occasional big payout. If you are lucky enough, you can multiply your bet by up to 7,500x.

Wild Coyote Megaways

wild coyote megaways slot

Wild Coyote Megaways

Are you fond of the Looney Tunes cartoons? If yes, you’ll probably be into this Wild Coyote Megaways slot by OneTouch. We from Mr. Sweepstakes consider that the relatively modest provider can draw some eyes with this title.

Released in April 2023, it is a new title boasting 117,649 betways and a solid max win of 10,000x. The game takes you to a desert landscape, focusing on the roadrunner bird, which is the Wild symbol. Let’s look at the other game’s significant features apart from it.

  • Cascading Reels – when landing a winning combination, all winning symbols are removed to make room for new symbols, with the potential to win again. The loop continues until no new winning combination is formed.
  • TNT Mystery Symbol – these are Mystery Symbols, which transform into a pay symbol when they land.
  • Free Spins – land 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatters, and you will trigger a 10, 12, 14, or 16 free spins round, respectively.
  • Bonus Buy – if you want to activate the free spins immediately, you can purchase them for 100x of your current wager.

Wild West Duels

wild west duels slot thumbnail

Wild West Duels  

One of the newest titles crafted by Pragmatic Play offers you a mindblowing max win of 20,000 times your bet. Bringing you into a Western atmosphere, the theme recreates a scene of the gun duels known from back in time. A dusty, abandoned town with no people on the streets, as if they have hidden inside, concerned about their safety, and a wild desert create the Wild West Duels’ background.

The 10 symbols are worth mentioning as well. Low-paying ones include boots, a hat, a poster with a wanted guy, a bottle with a cork, and a necktie, along with the 5 highly valuable icons represented by different characters.

This highly volatile game uses a 5×5 grid with 15 paylines and an RTP of 96%.

Sun of Egypt 2

son of egypt 2 slot logo

Sun of Egypt 2

The second part of the popular sequel by 3 Oaks sends you on a long trip to the Egyptian sands, offering 25 ways to land a winning combination with a max win of 5,000 you bet.

Scatter symbols, represented by a golden pot filled with coins, land on 2-4 reels on a 5×3 grid. Hit three of them on the middle reels, and you will trigger the 8 free spins bonus.

Part of the other high-paying symbols include a Pharaoh, a flaming Sun, a headdress, and a gold mask.

Speaking of bonuses, Sun of Egypt 2 has a lot to offer. Apart from the Free Spins round, the game also offers a Bonus Game and 4 Jackpots.

Bonus Game

The flaming Sun mentioned above is the special bonus symbol. Land 6 of them, and you will activate the bonus game, where these symbols lock, and you get 3 respins.

If you land additional bonus symbols during the round, you will reset the respins back to 3. The loop continues till you gather 15 bonus symbols or the respins counter drops to 0.

Jackpots

You can boost your winnings further with the 4 jackpots appearing randomly during the bonus game – mini 20x, minor 50x, major 150x, and the grand jackpot rewarding you 5,000 times your bet. To hit it, you need to land 15 bonus symbols.

Buffalo King

buffalo king slot logo

Buffalo King

Buffalo slots are some of the most enjoyable among US players, but Pragmatic Play sets standards with this particular title.

Buffalo King offers as many as 4096 ways to win, but prepare a significant bankroll, as the game is highly volatile. This means there could be a long sequence of empty spins, but the reward will be noticeable as soon as you land a winning combination.

The low-value symbols are card icons, typical for most slot machines. The ones that will make a difference regarding your bankroll are all animals from the Wild West, including an eagle, a wolf, and of course, a buffalo, to name a few. A gold coin represents the scatter, whereas the wild symbol is a mesa.

These creatures spin on a grid of 6 reels and 4 rows, offering a vast max win of 93,750 times your wager.

Conclusion

Wild symbols are one of the most commonly seen special symbols in online slots and sweepstakes slots in particular. Knowing how they work is essential to improving your winnings and understanding the mechanics of the specific game.

Today we went through what Wild symbols are, how they function, the various types of these symbols, and some of the most popular slots available in sweepstakes casinos featuring them. Play these or many of the other sweep slots with Wild symbol available to play in sweepstakes casinos for free.

The purpose of a Wild symbol is to replace any other symbols present on the reels, apart from Scatters and other bonus icons, thus increasing the chance of landing a winning combination.

FAQ

The typical Wild Symbol replaces any other symbols on the grid, except for the Scatter and Bonus symbols, thus potentially forming a winning combination.

Yes, many sweepstakes slots feature a Wild symbol. Actually, their mechanics do not differ from the original version of the specific game. Only their currency system does.

Apart from the default Wild symbol, you can come across Stacked Wilds, Expanding Wilds, Sticky Wilds, Walking Wilds, and more.

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Elina Blagoeva is a member of the Mr. Sweepstakes editorial team. She studied Multimedia and Creative Technologies at the KdG University of Applied Science and Arts in Antwerpen, Belgium.

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