Wild Gambler Slot Review

A slot named Wild Gambler elicits images of a newb blowing their bankroll on their first trip to Las Vegas; a madman running around thrusting coins into slots with no focus, gameplan or self control. It comes with some relief to learn that Ash Gaming’s Wild Gambler is way more inventive than that. The wild in the name comes from the wild animals who star in this safari themed slot.

Lions, tigers and rhinos snarl, snort and charge in Wild Gambler, a game where the biggest risks are to your safety – you really don’t want to get on the bad side of a rhinoceros. Thankfully there are some more innocuous creatures to be found including flamingos and meerkats.

Wild About Animals

Set in the African savannah, Wild Gambler is a cartoon slot complete with larger than life animals who could be straight out of a Pixar movie. Playing card symbols have been adorned with tiger stripes and leopard print, which helps to elevate them about their lowly status, and maintains the game’s safari vibe. Housed within a rope-lashed wooden framework, the 5-reel slot has been imaginatively designed, with an animal skull and selection of rocks forming the game controls that sit below the reels.

With most slots, you get what you’re given in terms of wilds and other symbols, with no scope for customisation. After all, if you could choose where each symbol was positioned on the reels, it wouldn’t be gambling. Ash Gaming have decided to tear up the rulebook in Wild Gambler however, allowing players to position locked wilds by selecting where on the reels a wild should appear. What’s more, after painstakingly adjusting the board till it’s just so, you can save your custom layout for future use. Pretty neat.

Lock and Load

Any time a wild lands in view, click on the Lock & Spin button to lock them in place. Why would you want to do this? Because the more wilds there are on screen, the greater your chances of winning of course. Every time you lock a wild in place, you’ll be shown the varying stake for it, positioned above the symbol in question.

The amount of control you have with Wild Gambler is unprecedented for a slot, allowing you to click on specific locked wilds and to adjust the stake for each one. If you have a feeling that one particular wild is going to prove lucky, up its stake to boost your ensuing winnings. It’s up to you how many locked wilds you choose to keep active.

Wild About Wilds

If there’s a specific wild pattern that you’re fond of, disable auto-locking wilds using the option found in the Lock & Spin box. This will keep your current layout for each subsequent spin. With auto-lock on, the padlock symbol will change to black, while a red padlock will indicate that auto-lock is disabled.

Due to the wealth of wild options at your disposal, it’s easy to forget that there’s an entire game here that doesn’t just revolve around wilds. The meerkats are the game’s scatter symbol, with five of them awarding eight free spins. What’s more, locked wilds will remain active during free spins.

Hell Yeah!

The closest game to Wild Gambler is probably Microgaming’s Hellboy. Admittedly the themes are pretty far apart, but in terms of features these games have a lot in common including medium variance and an RTP of just under 97%.

Other games that aren’t too far removed from Wild Gambler are Fumis Fortune by Cryptologic and Hot as Hades by Microgaming. Rumpel Wildspins by Novomatic is another slot that takes liberties with wilds to good effect.

Wild and Refreshing

Wild Gambler is a refreshingly different slot from Ash Gaming, one which genuinely innovates, rather than aping every other game in the same vein. Safari slots aren’t hard to find, but Wild Gambler can safely be regarded as one of the best due to its locked wilds feature and cute, cartoon graphics which make this 5-reel slot a genuine pleasure to play. Give it a spin and get ready to go wild – really wild.